One of the best things about publishing these days is that you have options. Here’s a partial rundown of the ever-growing list:
– Self publishing
– Corporate publishing
– Independent publishing
– Academic publishing
– Digital publishing
– Digital-first publishing
– Partner publishing
– Crowdsourced publishing
– The sweaty guy down the street with a mimeograph in his basement
Not all of these avenues are created equal, and not all are best fit for your project. You need to objectively analyze, choose one, and pursue it with conviction.
Simultaneous submissions are OK and should be encouraged. We’ve covered that before. But once people start to venture down that route, there are a couple of common mistakes that should be addressed.
Do not submit to agents and publishers at the same time. As an agent, this ties my hands in several ways. The most obvious is that it can limit who I send the work to and the time I have to pitch. Part of an agent’s job is knowing which editor at which imprint at which division at which publisher is best fit to handle a particular manuscript. Most often, an author submitting on their own simply will not know, and that can result in dire mistakes.
Case study:
One submission in particular looked like a solid offering fit for a Big 5 publisher, and I requested the manuscript. Soon thereafter, I got a notice from the author that they had three offers for publication. Three! That quickly! Amazing! Upon asking who had offered, I learned that they were three publishers I would not trust any manuscript with, let alone one that may have had much larger potential. With the author not wanting to throw away three sure chances at publication and me not wanting to be associated with said publishers, I turned it down.
Another often overlooked reason why this is a bad idea is that a good agent will not just take your manuscript and forward it to publishers. A good agent will work with you and your manuscript to make sure both are ready for primetime. If you forego the help of an agent, you run the risk of presenting an inferior product and sabotaging your chances of success at a publisher who might be a great fit for your type of manuscript.
Case study:
I received a submission that was very promising, but there were a few issues. It was too short for its target market, and though the prose was good, it could have been improved in certain areas. It also wasn’t quite cohesive enough as a piece, but that was an easy fix. I sent the author notes and was ready to offer representation when I learned that the author had been submitting to publishers the entire time and amassing quite an impressive list of rejections. A lot of these outlets were very good publishers that I could see accepting the manuscript if they were presented with the manuscript in its optimal form. The author had essentially undercut my B targets and several of my A targets, and I had to reject.
Also, do not self publish while your work is on submission to an agent or publisher. This seems like an obvious one, but it has to be said. Once your book is published, it is published, and that can never be taken back. That ties the publisher’s hands and limits what they can do. In very rare cases can a self-pub book get picked up by an agent and publisher, and it’s usually after sales in the tens of thousands at a competitive price point over a very short time period.
Case study:
I received a proposal that had a new angle and a definite audience. With author platform being so important these days, I Googled the author, as I would with any potential client. I found a decent website with links to the author’s blog, social media, and the book…now for sale on Amazon. I clicked the link just for fun, and I found out that the author had published in the time between the author’s initial query, my review of the requested proposal, and the point at which I was ready to contact the author. And as with most self-published books, it simply was not selling. I had to reject.
Hopefully you can learn from these authors’ mistakes. You don’t need an agent to get published, but if you want one, you should be absolutely sure of your choice and then stand behind it. No matter which publishing option you choose, pursue it with conviction and confidence, and don’t look back.
