Very thorough and even-handed breakdown of the pros and cons of being published by the three basic routes: main, corporate-owned publishing house, indie publisher, self-publishing...

http://editorialass.blogspot.com/2010/08/moonrats-rundown-of-publishing-options.html

EMma

Really useful post, Emma. Thanks for finding it.

R x

Nice to have it nailed down like that. Anyone can be forgiven for thinking that a big publisher is better than an indie simply because they are "bigger!"

Would you rather have a lead title with an indie, or a midlist with a major?

A few other things to add to the pot of pros and cons here.

Major (pros)
You can drop the name of your publisher and people go "oooh"

Major (cons)
- more likely to be dropped due to a balance sheet.
- less chance of getting put forward for competition (small fish, big pond)
- if you're midlist, less chance of getting into the shops. This sounds crazy, but even Random House have trouble getting titles into Waterstones. They succeed by throwing lots of balls at the coconut shy, knowing that many will miss. If you're the ball that falls, you're going to rely on amazon - might as well be self published!

Indie (pros)
- more chance of "growing" as an author, building an audience as you develop.
- less books published means a higher chance of them putting effort into distribution/reviews/competitions for you.

Indie (cons)
Possible financial difficulties.

Good article. Thanks, Emma.
G

Anyone can be forgiven for thinking that a big publisher is better than an indie simply because they are "bigger!"

Yes, exactly, and it's soooo not as simple as that.

The high turnover of editorial staff is an issue, too; a friend of mine had five editors handling one of her novels, and only the first, who'd commissioned it actually liked it; and there's nothing worse than an series of editors who don't get your book, so can't help you with it, and then understandably has no enthusiasm for the resulting dogs dinner, so that lack of enthusiasm transmits all the way through the house.

(That's one reason for that frustrating 'I couldn't quite fall in love with it' rejection - the consequences of trying to work on a book you don't love are disastrous all round...)

Emma

I know a writer whose editor went on maternity leave, and the young replacement came in all guns ablazing and editorial changes ahoy! It caused a lot of friction and long term problems.

Must be a nightmare when you think getting a deal is the end of the road, not the beginning of the stress.

Yes, that can happen quite a lot - inevitable, I guess. But tough on the writer, for whom the editor is the closest thing in a publishing house to their best friend and supporter...

Emma

I got a call a couple of months ago from my editor to say... she would soon be going on maternity leave!

eek.

This was great - thanks Emma. Gave me a much needed idea for a blog post too, so double thanks!

Thanks for the link Emma Plenty of pros and cons to weigh up before thinking about publication.