A publisher is not coming to save you.
Publishers have never “saved” authors.
We have this cultural misconception of a wordsmith artist as an author—a person who has a way with words and images and research, writing something powerful, and the publishing company whisking away the manuscript and turning it into such a bestseller that the author never has to write another word and still lives in the lap of luxurious royalty payouts every month.
This never was.
And thank all that is good that it never was.
Ernest Hemmingway and Samuel L. Clemens spent their evenings and weekends writing letters to fans and holding signings, just like us modern authors do. And if you’ve ever met a modern bestselling author, you’ll know exactly how many hours they put into book signings, speaking engagements, tours, interviews, and answering emails.
Selling the book has always been a huge part of what it means to be a successful published author.
Writing has always required all of who we are.
Not only for the writing part, but for the EDITING and the publishing and the marketing, too.
To be an author is to be someone who so fully owns every word that you write that you are willing to put your entire livelihood on it.
If you’re willing to sell your soul to a publisher who sees you as 90% of a retail price, go for it. People forget that publishing is a business. The author write a book and sells the content to the publisher, who then partners with a printer, distributor, and retailer, and they split most of the money between themselves.
The author is left with $1 or $2 per book, for as long as their publisher, printer, and distributor are willing to continue selling their book.
But there’s been a shift. We, as authors, now have access to our own publishing platforms, printers, distributors, and retailers.
And this is exactly the conversation that I’m looking to have with you, if you’re interested.
If you want to hold on to your words, your message, your book, then let’s keep talking about what it takes to be a publishing success in the modern marketplace.
Because, to be honest, I’m not here to pander to folks who just want a publisher to swoop down and save them from real work.
I’m here to have a conversation with authors who BELIEVE in their own words and just want some freaking help getting their message out to the world.
What are some of the things I want to open up a conversation about? Well, for starters, I want to talk more about:
If this is you, stay tuned. I’ll be holding space for my thoughts and conversations about what it takes to be a publishing success in the modern marketplace.