Monday, August 30, 2010

Day Late and...

Actually, I'm only eighteen hours late. Sorry, but it's football season and I got caught up watching one of my old favorites beat the stuffing out of one of my old unfavorites.
Well, I'm a man. Don't you expect me to go bannanas over football? My wife does; been bracing herself for this since last month. Didn't help. But she was able to comandeer the TV for an hour to watch the new design star Emily on HGTV. I think Emily's going to be a hit.
I have a question for you, an eggs in the basket kind of question. Is it better for an author to pick one publisher and stay with that one through thick and thin? Or would you spread your goodies around to several publishers? These are not trick questions and I don't have the answer. I really want to know what you think, either way.
I have three books with one publisher but, when my editor there decided to start up her own company, I knew I wanted to follow her and now have three more books in process there. In the meantime, I'd submitted several other books to various publishers and have one about to go into editing with one of them. Also, I have my first print book, out since last month, and another submitted to that publisher.
It looks like I've chosen the 'don't keep the eggs in one basket' camp. I haven't; at least not yet. In the publishing world of today, I'm not sure about much of anything except the fact that the day of nice advances on genre books is coming to an end. Since I see no way to gain sufficient notoriety to secure those top-end contracts, I want to choose publishers I think will not go under before my books have a chance to find an audience.
If you don't agree, tell me where I'm going wrong. Meanwhile, happy writing!

Dale

6 comments:

  1. I have a piece in a genre not accepted at my current publisher so I'm looking for a home for it now. I think if you spread the wealth you get more publicity and networking but I'm not looking forward to another set of standards and company involvement. I think it's wise to make sure the company won't fold soon.

    As for football, I happen to like it. I think the wives who don't should just grab the credit card and go shopping. Isn't that the perfect time to charge what you want? Providing your husband's team wins, of course, LOL! ;)

    Break out the nachos...

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  2. Once you have been at this for a while, you will discover that what one publisher rejects, another will love. Putting "all your eggs" in one basket is not a good idea for many reasons. No matter how much you respect and appreciate your current publisher, there are no business guarantees. Stuff happens in life, and it happens to even nice people. For promotional reasons, it's a good idea to have books published in more than one place because you'll have a higher visibility on search engines and more opportunity to interact with authors who write genres different than the publisher you're with might accept. Trust me...I've been with two publishers I thought were going to be golden and they both folded like a house of cards. Pitch away to other houses, and best of luck to you.

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  3. I'm another wife who loves football. All, except one, of my children love football, and the one who doesn't like it is a male. He married a woman who happens to love football too - well all sports actually. The only sport that son likes is nascar. Oh well, he suffers through on opening day and super bowl Sunday. As for all your eggs in one basket. Mine are in two right now. Will I ever put them in more, probably. We'll see how it goes.

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  4. I'm a day late in commenting on your blog, Dale. I agree with Ginger that you should try out different publishers. So many fold, as we ex-Tigers know only too well, before our book has a chance to be published. You will receive more exposure if you spread around the wealth of your creativity.

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  5. Hey Dale! Good for you, getting into all those publishing houses. Because of the contract provision that states they have the right of first refusal, I'll be submitting one more book to a current publisher. I expect to approach others with different kinds of writing that this publisher doesn't accept, so the adventure continues. Like diversifying a stock portfolio, yes? But hopefully with better returns :-) Good luck to you!

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  6. Well done for 'spreading' your word with different publishers. I agree it is best to share out your work - if Stephen King can - so can the rest of us!

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