This is a cross post from a writer I've known for a long time Trick Falls at www.communati.
You're almost done polishing the manuscript for your first novel. Now what?
If you've been following the advice of pros like Donald Maass (Writing the Breakout Novel), then the names of prospective publishers will have been dancing in your head for months.
If you are already widely known and have a page-turner manuscript that will sell 50,000 copies or more, then you might contact (through an agent) one of the five publishing conglomerates: Bertlesman, Time Warner, News Corporation, Disney, or Viacom/CBS. This group of five controls 80% of book sales.
If you've been around for a while, you'll see that a lot has changed in publishing, including the fact that most of the grand old U.S. publishing houses have been bought out and merged into some very big fish.
Bertlesman, for example bought Random House in 1998. This is the largest trade book publisher. You'll find the remnants of previously independent publishers listed as imprints or divisions in the Berlesman stable, including Crown, Doubleday, Knopf, Ballantine, Bantam, Dell and Pantheon.
I always enjoy reading Janice Harayda's One-Minute Book Reviews Blog, but this week's series of posts about independent presses has been especially interesting.
She lists (with comments and links) five great independent presses. If you don't think a bean-counter conglomerate house is the place for you, consider one of these:
Dalkey Archive Press - avant-garde books
CavanKerry Press - a great place for poets
Academy Chicago - excellent fiction and nonfiction
Milkweed Editions - largest nonprofit literary publisher
David R. Godine - I like Harayda's comment about Godine: "Dr. Phil and Howard Stern don’t stand a chance at his firm, and if Lindsay Lohan writes an autobiography, she’ll have to pray that Simon & Schuster will take it on. Instead of chasing celebrity tell-alls or advice manuals, Godine has made a grail of producing books that are as intelligent as they are beautiful."
Among the interesting publishing statistics on the website of book promotion guru Marilyn Ross is this comment: "In November of 2003 it was reported that the independent and small publisher base had grown at an annual rate of 21% since 1997."
It's nice to know, as Ross reports, that there are between 300 and 400 mid-sized publishers out there. One of them might just be the new home for your finished novel.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Where to Find a Publisher
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1 comment:
Thanks so much for your much appreciated post. A visitor to my site followed the link for Milkweed Editions, clicked on its "Submissions" page and learned that the press reads manuscripts that don't come from literary agents.
That's probably true of most, if not all, of the firms in the series. And it's one more reason why good writers shouldn't get discouraged if they can't find an agent: There are many presses, like David Godine and Milkweed, that could still do a wonderful job with your book. And you'd be in great company at any of them (and many others).
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