Publishing with a Small Press--Part 1, Definitions

Hi, there, a few months ago I started a series on publishing with small presses. Well, book deadlines and life in general interrupted my good intentions. I'm reposting the first installment for those of you that missed it. Please post your comments, additions, corrections. This is a collaborative post.

Next week, I'll post Part Two.
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This is the first post in a series on Publishing with a Small Press. I welcome any comments or corrections, as I strive to make this information as accurate as possible.

First, I want to start with some definitions:

New York Publisher (large press): These publishers typically have offices in New York City. They do large print runs for their author's books, which are distributed to book stores. They pay royalties (a percentage of the book's cover price, usually about 6-8 percent). The author gets paid an advance before the book hits the shelf.

Vanity Publisher (Self-Published): These presses typically publish anyone if you have the money to pay them. You will be expected to pay for things such as cover design, editing (if there is any), may have limited distribution, if any. They are good choices if you're publishing something for a targeted group of people, such as a family history.

Small Press (epub or Epublisher):

These presses operate like NY presses. They do not charge any fees to the author. They provide editing, cover art, and distribution. The distribution varies between publishers.

I find that there are two primary types of small presses:

Electronic or ePubs: Their books are primarily available electronically. They usually do not pay an advance unless it’s quite small. The author earns royalties (usually about 30-40 percent) from the cover price of the book sold in the small press’s bookstore and royalties from the distributor (usually a percentage of what the publisher receives). Many of these presses also offer their books in print via print on demand (see definition below) and through distributors such as Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

Traditional Small Presses: These presses do small print runs. Their books may or may not be available via other distributors. They may pay a small advance. I'll admit that I don't know much about this type of press. So if someone can fill us in, that'd be great.

Print Run: NY pubs do a print run of each book published. The books are then distributed to bookstores. Unsold books can be returned to the publisher for a refund. Returns of fifty percent or more are not uncommon.

Print on Demand (POD): This is a green alternative to print books. Over half of the books printed by NY pubs are not sold and are destroyed. Print-on-Demand books are printed when the buyer places an order. They are usually more expensive to buy as the process is more expensive than a print run. POD books are rarely available in bookstores because they are not returnable.

My next post will include the pros and cons of small presses.

New Book Trailer for The Gift Horse

Sit back and enjoy my new video for The Gift Horse, a mainstream contempory romance from Bookstrand and Book 3 of the Evergreen Dynasty Series.

Buy Link
Read Chapter One

A New Five-Star Review

Woo Who!!! I just received word that Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? was given five stars by Whipped Cream Romance Reviews.

Between her fun sense of humor and her supporting characters that are as alive as the main characters, Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed? jumps off the page and comes alive.The intense conflict that rages between Jake and Harlee sets the stage for an extremely hot affair between the two. Smoldering sex, honest affection, and true humor make this a story worth reading and rereading!

You can read the entire review at Whipped Cream.

I'm also up for Book of the Week. I'll post the link where you can vote tomorrow.

Mardi Gras Bash 2009

Join us at the Midnight Seductions Yahoo Group on February 24 for a Mardi Gras bash. We hope to see you there.

The Gift Horse--Available Now from Bookstrand

As a long-time horsewoman and dressage rider, I’ve wanted to write a novel that revolved about dressage and horses. I pictured a romantic mystery, and I wanted it to be different. Killing horses for insurance had been done before. I needed something new.

I also wanted to cover a topic that had been bothering me for a long time. When money enters the picture, how far will a horse trainer go to win ribbons? Will she compromise what’s best for the horse? Will she choose the horse over money or achieving her goals?

When I conceived the idea of The Gift Horse, I wanted to make the horse a secondary character. Equestrian-related fiction often misses the boat on this. They don’t give the horses personalities or allow them to play a part in the book other than being a cardboard animal that appears in the background. My horse character needed as much personality as my human characters. So I turned to my own Hanoverian mare, Gailey, as my model, and believe me, she has a lot of character. Gailey’s sweet mare act will charm the pants off you if there’s a treat involved or if she’s looking to win you over. If she’s not, she puts on the alpha bitch-mare face and makes sure you understand that the princess is annoyed. Gabby is essentially my mare with a little more ambition. My mare wouldn’t buck, as it would be too much work. Gabby bucks with enthusiasm, which often sends her rider flying.

I loved writing about Gabbie, her quirks, her crush on the hero, and her opinions on horse shows, love, and ribbons. I even put a few scenes in the horse’s point of view.

The Gift Horse was released today in ebook format. You can read the first chapter here, and purchase the book here. I hope you’ll check it out. Please let me know what you think, as I’d love to write a sequel if there’s enough interest.

Animal Characters in Fiction

I blogged today at The Romance Studio on using animals as secondary characters and writing from an animal's POV.

Check it out: http://theromancestudio.blogspot.com/

Publishing with a Small Press

About a month ago, I promised a series on publishing with a small press. Well, life got in my way, including a long bout with a nasty cold and two book deadlines. I turned in one book this weekend. The other is due on February 28. Once I'm done with that book, I promise I'll continue this series.

Other news:

I'm now a member of Midnight Seductions Authors. Please join our Yahoo Group and check out our blog.

I'm attending Lori Foster's Readers Conference in June in Cincinnati. I'd love to meet some of you there.

I'll be on a romance author panel next week at the Tumwater Regional Library. Afterward I'll be doing a book signing with the other panel members.

I'm very excited about The Gift Horse being released on February 17 from Bookstrand Publishing. This is my first mainstream equestrian romance.