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Home  Browse All Articles Getting Published So You Want to Get Published?
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So You Want to Get Published? |
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Written by Kwei Quartey
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Tuesday, 17 October 2006 |
Publishing with a subsidy press may be an option for the struggling writer to get his work noticed. Here is one writer's experience.
For years, books could be only sold in one way: pages-and-cover in a bricks-and-mortar structure, i.e. a bookstore. Now of course with the Internet, you can buy a book online and have it shipped to you. You still get the pages-and-cover book, though. Can you get a book online, too? Of course. There are e-books. But let's be honest, there is a great tactile enjoyment of having a book with its cover and pages, sitting or lying down to read it, and turning those pages.
Unfortunately, in order to get published in that tactile way, a writer is at the mercy of literary agents and publishers, whose bottom line is profit, even if they ultimately want quality. In other words, a piece of fiction or non-fiction work can be of excellent quality, but if a literary agent or publisher doesn't feel that there is a "market" for it, the writer's work will go in the shredder. Technically, a would-be writer may try to get published till the day he/she dies and never succeed whether his/her work is good or not.
Although that's the brutal truth of the matter, it should not be taken as discouragement. In fact, this writer feels that it is encouragement to keep trying and never give up. Never forget the hundreds of rejection slips that great writers like Faulkner received before their works were published. In the late 1990's, I had been writing for years. I sent my manuscript "KAMILA" to a number of literary agents. I don't remember how many there were, but I do remember that I did not give it enough time. I was in a mindframe that said, "how can you not want to represent me? Well, screw you - I'll get myself published without your help." Getting published can take a very long time and a lot of patience, but back then, I didn't understand that. That's when I went to Vantage Press. Actually someone, who shall remain nameless, sent me a brochure on subsidy presses, and that's what got me started.
Publishing with a subsidy press such as Vantage (which has been around for a long time) was a curious experience. On the one hand, they gave me huge freedom to write whatever I wanted. On the other hand I paid dearly for that freedom. Publishing costs are borne by the writer. You are paying for your status as a writer whom no one knows. The quality of their editing was quite good as was their bookbinding, but the covers of their books are notably dull and utterly unattractive. I chose to design my own book cover and print at my cost. I'm glad I did, but I spent an enormous amount of money and was in debt for years as a result.
Was it worth it? Well, yes and no. Financially, no, but the entire experience was fascinating, and I "grew" in many ways from it. Would I do it that way again? No, never. Would I recommend it to other writers? Not really. There is one vital lesson to know about subsidy publishing: no one in the "other" publishing world respects it. Boasting that you are published and then revealing that it was through a subsidy press gets you not one ounce of respect. I talk about this at greater length in my blog, "KAMILA & OTHER REFLECTIONS". | | |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 16 October 2006 )
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