Article in today's Guardian newspaper: Macmillan are starting a new imprint to help get new authors into print. In return for a thumping 20% royalty and a handsome hardback binding you get no advance, no editing beyond copy-editing (if your MS needs more input you will be refered to a freelance editor who you pay for), you give them world-wide and electronic rights, AND they have first refusal of your next book on the same terms.

The Society of Authors says the risk is that Macmillan won't back books properly that have cost them so little. But Macmillan says it helps get people into print otherwise. Lots of other people have views - the article's probably on their website. Would WWers take this deal?

Emma

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I've gone back and read the article again: The Soc of Authors say they're 'sceptical, if not cynical', it was someone else who was wary of lack of promotional effort.

I was just going to post about this. You can read the full article here.
My first reaction to it is, they must be joking! But ask me again when I've had rejections from every agent in the book.

So,let's see if I've got this right. They say they're not getting enough new authors through since they scrapped their slush pile. They could always suggest to agents that they need more submissions.

They're not prepared to employ more people to either look through unsolicited submissions or to 'nurture' promising material. If something is promising, it's up to the author to pay for line editing (choosing someone from their list of approved freelance editors perhaps?). Uh huh. But getting this done won't guarantee publication.

If they do decide to publish you, you must sell all rights, and give them first refusal under the same terms on any second book.

They admit they won't be devoting much to marketing but claim,

"We won't be spending as much on marketing and promotion as on novels that have had big advances; but we believe we can find new ways of promoting and selling these books."

They're going to sell them at a higher price (doesn't say they're HB)So not only is the deal crap for the writer, but they're going to make more money out of them.

This sort of deal would be perfectly acceptable from a one person publishing operation bringing out a handful of books a year, but from one of the largest publishing congomerates?

Like I say, ask me again in a year or two.

Cas

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or even publishing conglomerates

This may be a slightly lateral view but one advantage that there might be in this deal is that you could get a major publisher to put out your book without too much interference from them. Macmillan once asked me to do a proposal for a children's fantasy series. It took me three months, the editor liked it but the acquistions committee wasn't certain enough to spend money on it. It was a little darker than such things normally are but I guess the point is that if they had taken it, it would only be with massive changes. The lesson I learned was don't do work up front for publishers without being paid for it. But with this deal, perhaps less 'commercial' stuff could get in print.

But, using the above example the other way round, it indicates - as the SOC say - that you probably won't get any financial backing from the company and, let's face it, the primary advantage of publishing with a company like Macmillan is that they have distribution and advertising power. Take that away and you might as well think about self-publishing where you can keep all the rights and most of the royalties.

Terry

Cas, you're right, not HB just 'very posh with a ribbon marker' selling at £15! I'm not sure it's pure rip-off, as Terry says, you could see it as rather efficient self-publishing, where the two things that are hardest for a self-publisher - distribution and marketing - are at least in theory taken care of.

Emma, I probably didn't make myself clear, but actually I was saying that with this deal you probably won't get much distribution or marketing, and given that those are the two main advantages of publishing with a big company, it may not be worth it.

Terry

I was trying to look at it objectively, but there were several things about it that reminded me horribly of PublishAmerica, in particular paying for your own editing and the higher selling price of the book. I wonder if the news ways of promotion and selling include requiring each author to submit a list of 100 potential buyers for their book?

If they start to do the sort of marketing you can do yourself, then you might as well self publish.

Cas

I think what I meant was that you'd get more d&m than straight forward self-publishing, where you get none at all. It would certainly be tempting for Macmillan to work less hard on you than a book they've paid an advance for, but you would be in their catalogue and computer and warehouse, and in theory their reps would sometimes pull you out of their case and show a bookshop. I suppose if as an author you were in a position to be sure that they'd treat you equally with their conventional imprints, this is a reasonable deal. But of course, as a first-time author, you're not, and the first-refusal on the next book' clause is a bit of a giveaway as to Macmillan' motives.

Having said that, in lit. fic. at least, 'being published' isn't just a matter of gratification, it's also a qualification - the hurdle between you (a.k.a. me) and all sorts of other things - teaching for example. It would be worth a lot to get over that.

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Yikes! Of course I didn't mean that being published is ever just a matter of gratification - there's paying the rent, too, and many other things.

Thanks for sharing this information, guys.
Is MacMillan, a UK Publisher?
I have no intelligence in the publishing business, but let's say you accepted this offer from MacMillan. Technically you could send them a pile of shit for your next(second) book, have them refuse it, and then option your next(third) book to every publisher/agent in town, right?

Or does this break some sort of publishing business ethical law?

Silverelli - Macmillan are a huge, international publishing house, who for some years haven't accepted unsolicited submissions at all, except from agents. They are very old, have many imprints across the full range of academic, educational, lit., non-fic and pop fic., and are respected, but riven with internal rivalries and competitivenesses. But their size means that anything they do gets looked at very hard by the rest of the trade.

The kind of second book you're thinking of is a not terribly honourable but known practice called a contract breaker. Many agents would say two-book contracts are a bad idea whatever.

It occurs to me that in economic terms, they're trying to shift the risk from the publisher to the author. Maybe it's really the relatively broad-minded editorial department trying so circumvent their own narrow-minded acquisitions committees, on which (we're told) they are consistently outgunned by Marketing and Sales. In which case, all power to them. I suppose one might try to bargain for a contract which reverts to a normal deal for the next book if sales of the first are over 2,000, or whatever the current 'doing well' figure is for lit. fic.

Thanks Emma,
Yes, now I think I remember them, having their imprint on my textbooks, when I was in school.

I’ve heard a rumour that PM have made many of their editors redundant. I wonder if there’s a connection?

Dee

I wonder if there’s a connection?

It wouldn't surprise me at all. It strikes me that this is part of an effort to try and outsource the risks, and reduce costs, while making the authors pay for most of the pre-publication costs too.

Cas

On the other hand you could pay those nice folk at Waterstone's £700 and have your book published and put on sale in a nationwide chain of bookshops!!


Mike

Really????

How does that work then?

Dee

Hi, Dee - not sure; it's a new scheme which I read about in the Sunday Independent. They seem very keen and promise that all titiles so published will be part of a featured display in their branches. Worth calling/dropping in to your nearest branch and finding out. At least the work will definitely go to print and definitely be put on sale!!


Best,

Mike