E Publishers Versus Normal Publishers
Your choices use to be really simple. Either you try to get your work published the normal way, making the rounds of the various publishing companies or you used a subsidiary publisher. When using a subsidiary press you must pay to have your novel published. Some writers, who have the money, do choose to go this route. Most writers do not use subsidiary publishers because they want to say they are legitimate writers.
But today are choices are a little bit more broader. We still have the normal publishers and most of these publishers prefer to see all queries and letters sent via normal mail delivery. There is still the subsidiary publishers, too. But there is a new choice. The new choice is the E publisher.
The internet super-highway to the world is ever growing. Now there are E magazines that publishes poetry and short stories. And there are E publishers. They actually sell novel size books online that can be downloaded to ones computer, after paying a fee.
There are advantages and disadvantages of using E publishers and the normal book publishers. First, lets talk about E publishers.
They are not really that hard to find. Type in e publishers into any search engine and many choices will appear. You can also find these publishers listed on various newsletters for writers via your computer. Like all publishers, each company is different, yet they all share in a few basic principals. First, see what types of novels they publish. Some companies publishes a vast array of subjects, others only publishes a certain type. Before you check the submission guidelines, you may want to check the types of payments they will grant a writer. Most E publishers can not afford giving a writer an advance pay. This is one major disadvantage of e publishing. But an advantage is the fact that an E publisher can usually get your novel ready for sell in a month or two. The normal publishers usually take six months to a year before publishing, if not longer. While we are on the subject of pay, you should also realize that you usually do not make as much money with an E publisher. E publishers usually do not sell as many copies of novels as an normal publisher would. Yet, in keeping this in mind, you also can be a success with an E publisher faster than the normal publisher. With an E publisher if a novel sells 500 copies the novelist is considered a success. You have to sell a lot more with an normal publisher to be a success.
With both publishers, you can help your own sells by word of mouth. The more people that knows you and your work, the more sells you can make. The difference would be that when working with normal publishers, they usually like it when you can go to book signings and the like. With E publishing, you can do most of your promoting via the computer, sending out emails to various people, including people in the business.
If you do chose to go with the E publishing route, make sure you read all the paperwork thoroughly. With some E publishers, they do not like it when you submit your work simultaneously to other publishers. Most normal publishers don’t seem to mind when you submit simultaneously, they just like to know when you do this.
Another thing you must look at when reading the contract with an E publisher is whether you retain any rights to your work. Some E publishers will allow you to attain the rights to having your work republished with an normal publisher, you may just have to add a note that it was previously published with the e publisher.
You may think it is easier to get your work published with an E publisher. Sometimes this is the case. But each day the e publishing industry is growing. They get tons of submissions daily, just like the normal publisher. And neither types of publishers are going to buy anything they do not think is good or sellable.
So what do you do? Study all the publishers individually. Decide what is the most important things for you. Is it more about seeing your words in print or is it more about the money? Can you wait for success, even years? Or are you the type of person who needs to see his or her work published now?
Just like each written piece is different, so is each writer.
Do you research and do what is best for you and your career goals.
No matter which publisher you try, good luck. And happy writing.
