PUBLISHING WITH A TRADITIONAL PUBLISHER

by Kathy Cretsinger

Each author wants their book published the best possible way. It is our baby, and we want the best for our babies. We want to enlighten people\’s lives, and let each reader enjoy a little time away from the everyday cares of the world. This is everyone\’s dream.

We\’ve looked at different ways of publishing, but most of us plan to attract a traditional publisher. This is everyone\’s dream. We dream about signing that contract with one of the \”Big 5\” publishers. Those giants in New York City. The people who know everything there is to know about publishing.

Those are great dreams, but we have to work to get there. The advantages are many with a traditional publisher. We get an advance, more publicity, better editing, and more than we ever dreamed of. It is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It should be all that and more because you have to work hard to get that contract.

From my writer friends, it is great to be published by a large company. The recognition to be published by one of the greats in the publishing world is beyond anything we could imagine. But, you cannot go in and lay a halfway good manuscript on the table and they will gobble it up. As with most of our successes, we have to work for it.

The first thing we have to do is build a platform. Platform building can be a big job for beginners. To me, a platform is getting people to know and identify with you. People have to know who you are before they will buy your book. This is more important to traditional publishers than small publishers. When you think of everything that is involved with publishing a book, you understand why your publisher wants you to be successful. They have to pay the bills.

The bills include editors, cover designers, formatters, PR people, and probably a lot more. Each of these people have to be paid, and some are paid a tidy sum. No publisher wants an author that will not try to sell their book. You have to do your marketing. I had one author tell me one time that all she wanted was to see her book on the shelf. She wasn\’t interested in selling books. She only wanted to see her book on the shelf of a bookstore. No publisher, whether big or small, wants to hear an author say that.

What do you have to do to get published by a large company? First start getting people to know you. Let people know who you are. Learn the writing craft. Go to conferences and meet other authors. There are so many other things that I can\’t remember all of them right now. We have so many advantages with  social media, newsletters, blogs, and speaking at conferences. Everything we do helps us to sell our books. When you are with a traditional publisher, you are responsible for most of your own marketing. No publisher does it all.

It is great to be associated with  a traditional publisher. You feel like you have made it when you get that contract, but it is not an easy ride. You still have to work constantly to make new friends who will be  interested in you and your book. Show people you care about them.

Traditional publishers look for someone with a lot of followers, usually 50,000 to 100,000. They want hard workers, someone who will publish more than one book a year. They want people who will market their book. Publishing is a costly business. The author and the publisher wants to make money.