Well, I just read a PW article (page 5 of the print edition) in the November 7th issue, titled Whither the Midlist Publisher? It had a lot of good info in it. It talked about why the Big 6 are [mis]behavin as they are. Apparently, if the oligarchy does not feel you can sell at least 15 – 25K books…you are DE-NIED.
As for advances?
$5K is the new $50K.
Midlisters and new folk: sor-ree, the Moose out front shoulda told ya.
So, those of us who have been banging our heads at the brick walls…skill, Zen, and anything else notwithstanding…this makes sense. It’s also what we’ve been reading and hearing for years, but now we (well, at least I) have numbers. It doesn’t matter how good you are (or think you are), if you’re not a big name, have a HUUUGE platform, or can in some way sell tons of books out of the gate (forget about being “grown”; why I even keep bringing this up, is beyond me, it’s so ancient a concept any more…), Big 6 doesn’t wanna hear from ya, agent or no.
Now, what this article also said, was that there are not a lot of mid-sized publishers out there (there are a lot of small press publishers, however), but that there are some, but that this is definitely an area that could, nay should grow. Those who want the new and midlist authors. Those who make the medium-sized print runs and thrive on this stuff.
Hey, if you’re a huge entity, throwing out all kinds of spaghetti at the walls of the world, what would you do, right? In a global economy as ours? With so many more people out there writing so many more books? With money people controlling things? With such a huge glut of everything vying for everyone’s attention?
What would you do?
You’d go for the sure bet. Or as close to it as you could imagine (wait, these are business minds, we’re talking about…)–I mean spreadsheet.
I get it.
Very interesting article.
In the past, this would upset me, because there was only one way to reach readers: through a big publisher.
Now, I think it’s fine. Readers are happy to buy books on their kindles/nooks/iPads, and they don’t care if a big house published it or if I did it myself. Besides, being my own publisher is fun. I really enjoy the DIY aspect of it.
The midlist is pretty much gone. But that’s okay. Self-pub is the new midlist.
True enough! :-]
It’s always about money. Many great books don’t get published because nobody in a position of power at a publishing house saw a way to make money on a book. That’s why many ‘bad’ books get published. Somebody said “I can make some money with this one.” And didn’t. So the higher-ups tighten the company purse strings and stick with the ‘sure’ moneymakers. Besides, if you are a ‘nobody’ to them, they don’t care what you have to say. Become a mass murderer and they’ll be banging at your cell door for a publishing deal. Ah… the world we live in…