CONTACT CAROLINE
facebook
rss
tumblr
twitter
goodreads
youtube

  • Home
  • Write Away Blog
  • Books
    • Books
    • Trompe l’Oeil
    • Heart Land
    • Gothic Spring
    • Ballet Noir
    • Book Excerpts
  • Video Interviews
  • Press
    • News
    • Print Interviews
    • Plays
    • Ballet Noir in the Press
    • Trompe l’Oeil In The Press
    • Gothic Spring In The Press
    • Heart Land Reviews
  • Contact
  • About
  • Resources
    • Writer Resources
    • Favorite Blogs
    • Favorite Artists



A Lesson From Marcel Proust

Jan 08, 2016
by Caroline Miller
a writer on his or her own, advice to publishers, Hannah MacDonald, publishers have abdicated market responsibilities, why does a writer need a publisher?
0 Comment

Recently, one of my blog readers sent me the link to comments made by Hannah MacDonald, head of an English publishing house.  She was encouraging her colleagues to be kinder to writers. One wouldn’t want to squelch a budding Emily Dickenson, Jane Austin, or J. K. Rowling.  (Click)  Rude rejection letters are luxuries publishers can’t afford because writers need to be nurtured.  “Getting your book published is notoriously difficult.”

I’d be bowled over by this empathy, if I believed it were genuine.  Instead, I suspect this publisher is sensing is a groundswell of change.  Writers no longer need publishers any more than they need agents.  Publishing a book isn’t difficult, particularly now that Amazon is a big player in the field.  The challenge comes when the author tries to sell his or her book.

In the past, marketing was the publisher’s task.  But no longer, unless you are a money-maker for a big publishing house. Authors who don’t make the highest tier are obliged to market for themselves, which raises the question. If a publisher does little more that print a book and list it in its distribution system, why keep this middleman?  A few high paid professionals have figured out  the answer and gone off on their own.

Small publishers do even less for the writer than the large ones, if that’s possible.  Unfortunately, they can be just as snooty. Not only do they insist upon a masterpiece, but they expect the author to  buy his or her books from them and unload the titles as best they can.  Selling the book to the author is where small publishers make their money.  Unfortunately, this arrangement leaves a writer to haunt bookstores, book conventions – which usually require a fee to participate — and book clubs, if he or she can get invited.  They produce their own  press releases, court the media and do any and all aspects of promotion. Eventually, a self-loathing takes hold, especially when people start crossing the street whenever they see a writer-friend approaching with an armload of books.

My question is who  changed the rules?  Who shifted the marketing burden to the writers? A publisher’s job in the past was to print and promote books for 50% of the sales.  Having washed their hands of half their responsibility, the toughest half, why pay them?  As I say, getting a book into print is easy.  And frankly, MacDonald’s admonitions that publishers should be kind to authors is a little late and a dollar short.  Like Marcel Proust, who self-published, authors are discovering they can sink or swim on their own without carrying a publisher on their backs. 

Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust courtesy of pinterest.com

 

Social Share

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

*
*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

Subscribe to Caroline’s Blog


 

Archives

Categories

YouTube-logo-inline2 To access and subscribe to my videos on YouTube, Click Here and click the Subscribe button.

Banner art “The Receptive” by Charlie White of Charlie White Studio

Web Admin: ThinPATH Systems, Inc
support@tp-sys.com

Subscribe to Caroline's Blog


 

Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Sitemap | Privacy Notice

AUDIO & VIDEO VAULT

View archives of Caroline’s audio and videos interviews.


Copyright © Books by Caroline Miller