Publishing Possibility

A Literal Literary Loser Ponders Potential Plot Point

I’ve shared my rapid - and patronizing - rejection.

I’ve shared my rapid - and questionable - acceptance.

I’ve even shared my acceptance and rejection - in one!

Now it’s time to talk about my latest offer - which, I must admit, I find rather intriguing.

Having been left without an agent or a publishing house in 2022, I’ve been fighting a war on two fronts. Every morning, I send out a minimum of three queries. Some are to agents. Some are to publishers who accept unagented manuscripts.

Up to this point, I’ve either had my books published by major houses (Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Berkley, Avon, Dell) or I’ve gone the self-publishing route with titles I felt I could market better myself.

Now I have an offer from a micro-publisher.

They’re new and have only released a handful of titles.

I asked to see a sample of one of their previously published books. One arrived in the mail the next day. It looked nice. Catchy cover, solid layout, readable, compelling.

I asked if they could put me in touch with any of their current authors for references. Unlike the house which ghosted me after such a request, I received those email addresses immediately. I contacted them all, and each had nothing but glowing reviews for how their book had been edited and promoted. (I suppose it could be a deep con, but then they would have had to write and release phony books by phony writers all so they could trap me with their clever scheme. And that seems… excessive.)

I read the contract over. Several times. At no point did I see red flags such as requiring the author to buy a certain number of copies, or asking for money for cover design and/or marketing. As far as I could see, there was no request for money from the author at all.

There was even an advance.

Was it an amount comparable to what I’d received in the past from major publishers?

No.

Was it an amount larger than what I’ve made so far from some of my self-published books?

Yes.

I’m tempted to go with it. After all, I’ve done the big publishing thing. I’ve gotten a big advance, seen my books at Barnes & Noble’s. But I’ve also gotten lost among the hundreds of other authors the house was releasing that day/week/month. All of the press I’ve received, I got myself by reaching out to people I know in the newspaper and TV business. Any personal appearance and author visit I’ve booked, I got by literally emailing every community center, synagogue, senior living facility and book club I could get contact info for.

I had the prestige of a big house behind me. But I was still doing all the public relations work myself.

If I went with a micro-publisher, would I get more personalized attention? Would I finally have the partner I’d been searching for? One who had as much to gain from my success as I did, and so would be putting in an equal amount of work?

I don’t know.

But I am leaning towards finding out.

The contract looks good. But I am not a legal expert in publishing.

I have sent the contract to a legal expert in publishing.

I’ll let you know what they say.

Stay tuned!