The Three Camps of Book Publishing
With 38 years of experience, Jim DeFilippi has done it all: traditional publishing with HarperCollins, independent publishing with, The Permanent Press and direct publishing. He started Brown Fedora Books in 2009 which is a collective of authors working to promote their direct publishing work. So far his total book output is in the 30s— crime, humor, history, screenplays, stage dramas, even some poetry and cookbook. Today, he gives us his take on the world of book publishing.
***
The term “self-publishing” does not exist for me. In my one-dimensional and egocentric world, the three separate approaches to publishing a book run as follows:
One. Traditional Publishing
By that I mean the big publishing houses, those that have been around for decades and continue to dominate the panache and finances of the industry—places like Random House, HarperCollins, and a few others. Very few others, and getting fewer.
I call these places the Dinosaurs. I often tell young writers who have just completed a book manuscript to devote six to twelve months in pursuing the Dinosaurs— the literary agents, acquisition editors, etc. If your hunt goes nowhere, proceed to the next steps.
The Ups of Traditional Publishing:
Your book will be meticulously and beautifully produced for you.
Your book will be backed by a solid advertising budget— book tours, ads in the New York Times, etc.
Your book will sell more than 5,000 copies (it better), maybe a lot more, and you might get onto the pages of People Magazine and that shrinking book table at Costco.
Movie deals. Yummy.
The Downs:
It is nearly impossible to land a contract with these places, unless you are a celebrity, a Grisham or Clancy, or seen as an exciting new and unique moneymaker.
You hand overall creative control of the book—its title, cover, and content.
It will take six months to a year, or even longer, for your book to land in readers’ hands.
Two. Independent Publishing
This term gets a lot of use. It usually means smaller publishing houses, often a Mom and Pop operations, usually putting out a specific genre for a target audience. That’s the type of independent publishing I’m talking about here.
But don’t get confused, independent publishing can also mean authors who create their own imprint for business reasons but are essentially doing direct publishing (more on that in a minute.) And it can mean small publishers who will charge a fee for services like editing the book, find an agent, try to place the book with a bigger house, or actually publish the book themselves. My personal reaction is to run like a thief the moment you are asked to pay money for the book you have written. You have already paid your share of the operation.
The Ups of Independent Publishing:
Your book is much more likely to find a home.
Your book, although usually a paperback, should be indistinguishable in appearance from ones published by the big boys.
Your royalty rate should match that given by the big boys.
The Downs:
Less prestige.
No advertising, except what you can do yourself.
More difficult to get reviews in major publications.
A movie version? Maybe the graduation project of a student filmmaker.
Three: Direct Publishing
Whereby the author completes each step in the publishing process by hand. The term ‘direct’ is an Amazon term, but since Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) is by far the most common way to do this, let’s go with it.
The Ups of Direct Publishing:
It costs nothing. Amazon etc. will take a small share of your book sales, but your royalty percentage will be as good or better than that with the big boys. I often tell the tale: HarperCollins published my first novel, sold it for $22 per copy, I got two bucks. Now I publish on Amazon, sell an ebook for $3, and still get the same two bucks.
It’s not too difficult a process, and Amazon’s support team is amazing. You’ll be helped along by a real human being whenever you cry for help.
You maintain complete artistic control over your work. You design the cover (great fun), chose the title, work the content with your own fingertips.
You get immediate worldwide distribution. Finish a book on Tuesday, be selling it to the entire universe on Wednesday.
Your payments are on par with the other methods (See above).
Your book will be both a paperback and an ebook. I think Barnes and Noble even has a hardcover option.
The Downs:
Your book will be indistinguishable from the hundreds of thousands of others that are being put out in the same way.
Your book will not be reviewed by any traditional publications.
You won’t sell many copies. You might catch lightning in a bottle, but probably not. (I have three pals—one who went from KDP to major movies and a line of best sellers, another who sold 30,000 copies of his series with no promotion at all, a third pal who consistently gets on big time Best-Seller lists. But you won’t and I won’t. We’ll be lucky to sell a hundred copies.)
The only way your book will get into the movies is if you slip it into your back pocket as you walk by the ticket-taker.
That’s It
This is of course just my personal take on what’s happening in the field of publishing. I am no expert. I come to you filled with decades of prejudices and rejections and disappointments and scant information, although I have published books using all three of the methods mentioned here. Most author success stories follow the arch of starting at the bottom and working up. My path has been in the opposite direction, but I still consider it a success story.
I’ll end with a tale I heard a few years ago. Two renowned literary critics were discussing F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, THE GREAT GATSBY.
The first critic said, “Fitzgerald must have died a miserable man. He wrote a great book which never achieved any commercial or critical success in his lifetime.”
The second said, “F. Scott Fitzgerald died happy.”
“Why?”
“He knew he had written a good book.”
