THE ART OF SMALL PUBLISHING

Why is a publisher called small instead of large? It is the number of employees. A small publisher has a smaller number of people working with them than a large publisher does. Most small publishers work out of their home and outsource the printing of their books. When I owned a small publishing company, we had five people working with us. Our aim was quality books, not number of books published.

There are other differences in a small publisher vs a large publisher, but one thing is the same, marketing. No matter how you publish, you, as the author, will be responsible for your marketing. All publishing companies do help some, but with self-publishing and small publishing you are more responsible for marketing. It is always good to begin to let people know you are out there early.

There are other differences in a small publisher. Let\’s look at several of them.

You will not receive an advance with a small publisher. Through the years, authors tried to encourage us to give them an advance. The advance is money up front, which a small publisher doesn\’t usually have. We\’ll go into traditional publishers next week, and I will explain the advance more there.

You will receive royalties sooner. Although most distributors/printers hold all royalties for three months, you still receive some money early. How much money will you get? It depends on your book sales. If you are not selling books, you will not receive royalties.

Your books will be printed  quicker than with a traditional publisher. Because of the small number of people working, your book can be printed earlier. To have a quality book, we only printed around eighteen books a year. That is a lot for a small publisher. When I sold my company, we were scheduling books two years in advance.

You can order books for book signings through your small publisher. I\’m not sure how you do it with a traditional publisher, but we ordered books at a discount for our authors.

Small publishers do not usually put books in bookstores. The cost is the reason. Most bookstores only put a book on the shelf for three weeks. After that, if the book does not sell, it is returned to the small publisher or destroyed, and the publisher pays for the cost of the book. Either way, it can put a small publisher under the bus. Most small publishers only sell online.

We found we got to know our authors better by being smaller. We had time to talk to them and get to know them. There is a family feel with a small publisher.

If I skipped something, please ask me about it. I am willing to answer any questions.