This is a great post. Do remember folks, that a membership with the Author's Guild is not very expensive and hooks you into a lot of free seminars and an intellectual rights legal team that can help you navigate publishing deals. It is well worth the investment in accumulated wisdom and resources. Another thing I like about the AG is its listserv which is for members only (of course) and where you can go and say "Hey, does anyone have experience good or bad with ABC Publishers?" Thanks for a really useful post, Steve.
Since many or most of your readers are poets, why not say at the beginning of this article what you say at the end: that the info about publishing in the article does not apply to books of poetry? And if books of poetry are different, why not say how?
I entered a few contests long ago and was thrilled to win three different prizes, most of all when an essay about my mother's multi-infarct dementia won International Quarterly's Crossing Boundaries Award for Innovative Prose, judged by D.M. Thomas, author of the amazing The White Hotel. It meant a lot that an author I admired picked my essay, especially since it was written as a kind of eulogy. . . . Plus, I was going through one of those dry spells as an author and the recognition (and the prize money) made for a welcome boost.
As someone who is heavily involved in self-publishing discussion, it's awfully hard to spell out to many self-published writers exactly why it's so important for them to list books with Ingram as opposed to Amazon or Draft2Digital. They find the Ingram dashboard hard to navigate as compared to Amazon or D2D, or they prefer the less-expensive printing options, or...the rationales pile up. My stance has been that print versions through Ingram are a mark of professionalism, period.
In both of my fiascos with small presses, the warning signs were there, if only I had possessed more experience. One press was only putting out ebooks as PDFs, where epub was becoming the preferred format, and required sales of 300 copies before moving to paperback. The pitch from the other press focused on making money. In both cases, I suspect I ended up leaving money on the table when I finally severed all connections. Fortunately, due to crappy marketing, I don't think it was all that much money.
This is very informative, thank you! A great publisher I know is Clash Books (https://www.clashbooks.com/). Friends published with them were very happy. Radix Media (https://radixmedia.org/) also publishes, but you can also use their printing services--and it's high-quality stuff! A Novel Idea (https://anovelideaphilly.com/) is an excellent indie book store in Philly that sells books big stores wouldn't normally. They're run by a lovely couple! I thought I would share these resources for anyone who's looking.
Winning Writers has been hosting literary contests for over 20 years. I was frustrated to read this paragraph, which suggests that contests have an extremely high profit margin:
"Contests are big business. If 300 people pay $30 each for a novel contest, the press takes in $9000. Let’s say they pay a judge $500 to read the top three and choose one. The prize money may be $500, even $1000. They spend a little time formatting the book (often they’re loaded in directly from Microsoft Word) and creating a cover. They don’t pay anything for a book until it’s ordered. Conservatively, they’ve made $7000 on a book they don’t need to sell. Their return on investment is exponentially higher running the contest than selling the book."
This analysis ignores the following substantial costs:
* Advertising & marketing
* Fees to payment processors such as Submittable
* Assistant judges who screen the entries to prepare a short list for the final judge
* Customer service (for example, our book contest routinely refunds about 100 entries every year that are non-qualifying - identifying those entries and issuing the refunds takes work)
* Web hosting (over $3,000/year for a dedicated hosting service)
* Website programming
* Accounting ($3,000/year)
I'm leaving out such expenses as health insurance, office space, and computer equipment for staff. Bottom line, the two owners of Winning Writers earn from the business roughly the median household income for their state. A high-quality literary contest is far less profitable than many people think.
Thank you for writing this. I am totally going to share it. Not long ago one of my friends almost got sucked into a poetry contest scam so I wrote a post for her about a number of well known faux presses and contests and how to find the real deals.
This article ought to be required reading for every aspiring author. It is comprehensive, fair, and accurate. Well-done. As a novelist with 4 published books, two by a small press, one with big traditional publisher and one self-published, and many contest wins, I have come to understand all of these issues; some by luck, some by generous and honest publishers and editors. As in any business, read the fine print and don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions.
All that said, legit contests can garner attention from editors at publishing houses. If an author starts small with local or regional contests with lit mags, a resume can be enhanced. And a little money for the next entry fees. Invest awards or advances in your writing is the best advice I ever got. Treat it like a business if you are serious about a writing career.
Thanks. So please tell about poetry? Some are on Ingram. Some not. I have one of each. I seem to be responsible for marketing. Bookstores are tough. Any tips?
excellent info, well written, important stuff. Argghh!. One more think, the life of small presses can be vey precarious, and if they print on demand at Amazon, that impacts how they can do things, how much amazon allows them to charge. My first small press ran into problems when she had to drop her prices so low that we were both making about 25 cents per book. It wasn't enough to keep her afloat, yet amazon seems to be is most 'user friendly' for folks to buy from.
I'd such much of what you say here DOES apply to poetry as well...the contests, the lack of regard for selling the book...the caveat being that poetry isn't a big seller in general.
The short answer is yes. For new or emerging poets trying to build credentials it takes submitting to a lot of places and waiting a long time just to see if anyone thinks you are on the right track. It takes time and experience to learn how to navigate NOT having to pay for everything, and I think most poets, including me, don't learn that until after they have paid. It is an unfair and cumbersome system that rewards those with the most resources, and those who can buy their way to success.
This is a great post. Do remember folks, that a membership with the Author's Guild is not very expensive and hooks you into a lot of free seminars and an intellectual rights legal team that can help you navigate publishing deals. It is well worth the investment in accumulated wisdom and resources. Another thing I like about the AG is its listserv which is for members only (of course) and where you can go and say "Hey, does anyone have experience good or bad with ABC Publishers?" Thanks for a really useful post, Steve.
Since many or most of your readers are poets, why not say at the beginning of this article what you say at the end: that the info about publishing in the article does not apply to books of poetry? And if books of poetry are different, why not say how?
There’s a famous quote by the publisher Alfred Knopf regarding book returns. Standing in his warehouse he said, “Gone today, here tomorrow!”
I entered a few contests long ago and was thrilled to win three different prizes, most of all when an essay about my mother's multi-infarct dementia won International Quarterly's Crossing Boundaries Award for Innovative Prose, judged by D.M. Thomas, author of the amazing The White Hotel. It meant a lot that an author I admired picked my essay, especially since it was written as a kind of eulogy. . . . Plus, I was going through one of those dry spells as an author and the recognition (and the prize money) made for a welcome boost.
Next time please START the article with the last line about how this doesn’t apply to poets. Thanks!
Excellent piece!
As someone who is heavily involved in self-publishing discussion, it's awfully hard to spell out to many self-published writers exactly why it's so important for them to list books with Ingram as opposed to Amazon or Draft2Digital. They find the Ingram dashboard hard to navigate as compared to Amazon or D2D, or they prefer the less-expensive printing options, or...the rationales pile up. My stance has been that print versions through Ingram are a mark of professionalism, period.
In both of my fiascos with small presses, the warning signs were there, if only I had possessed more experience. One press was only putting out ebooks as PDFs, where epub was becoming the preferred format, and required sales of 300 copies before moving to paperback. The pitch from the other press focused on making money. In both cases, I suspect I ended up leaving money on the table when I finally severed all connections. Fortunately, due to crappy marketing, I don't think it was all that much money.
I’d like to see a similar column about poetry, the separate beast.
This is very informative, thank you! A great publisher I know is Clash Books (https://www.clashbooks.com/). Friends published with them were very happy. Radix Media (https://radixmedia.org/) also publishes, but you can also use their printing services--and it's high-quality stuff! A Novel Idea (https://anovelideaphilly.com/) is an excellent indie book store in Philly that sells books big stores wouldn't normally. They're run by a lovely couple! I thought I would share these resources for anyone who's looking.
Winning Writers has been hosting literary contests for over 20 years. I was frustrated to read this paragraph, which suggests that contests have an extremely high profit margin:
"Contests are big business. If 300 people pay $30 each for a novel contest, the press takes in $9000. Let’s say they pay a judge $500 to read the top three and choose one. The prize money may be $500, even $1000. They spend a little time formatting the book (often they’re loaded in directly from Microsoft Word) and creating a cover. They don’t pay anything for a book until it’s ordered. Conservatively, they’ve made $7000 on a book they don’t need to sell. Their return on investment is exponentially higher running the contest than selling the book."
This analysis ignores the following substantial costs:
* Advertising & marketing
* Fees to payment processors such as Submittable
* Assistant judges who screen the entries to prepare a short list for the final judge
* Customer service (for example, our book contest routinely refunds about 100 entries every year that are non-qualifying - identifying those entries and issuing the refunds takes work)
* Web hosting (over $3,000/year for a dedicated hosting service)
* Website programming
* Accounting ($3,000/year)
I'm leaving out such expenses as health insurance, office space, and computer equipment for staff. Bottom line, the two owners of Winning Writers earn from the business roughly the median household income for their state. A high-quality literary contest is far less profitable than many people think.
Essential publishing info in a nutshell, much obliged, Becky!
Thank you for writing this. I am totally going to share it. Not long ago one of my friends almost got sucked into a poetry contest scam so I wrote a post for her about a number of well known faux presses and contests and how to find the real deals.
https://zinagomezliss.substack.com/p/on-contests
Again, thanks for the great post!
This article ought to be required reading for every aspiring author. It is comprehensive, fair, and accurate. Well-done. As a novelist with 4 published books, two by a small press, one with big traditional publisher and one self-published, and many contest wins, I have come to understand all of these issues; some by luck, some by generous and honest publishers and editors. As in any business, read the fine print and don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions.
All that said, legit contests can garner attention from editors at publishing houses. If an author starts small with local or regional contests with lit mags, a resume can be enhanced. And a little money for the next entry fees. Invest awards or advances in your writing is the best advice I ever got. Treat it like a business if you are serious about a writing career.
Thanks. So please tell about poetry? Some are on Ingram. Some not. I have one of each. I seem to be responsible for marketing. Bookstores are tough. Any tips?
excellent info, well written, important stuff. Argghh!. One more think, the life of small presses can be vey precarious, and if they print on demand at Amazon, that impacts how they can do things, how much amazon allows them to charge. My first small press ran into problems when she had to drop her prices so low that we were both making about 25 cents per book. It wasn't enough to keep her afloat, yet amazon seems to be is most 'user friendly' for folks to buy from.
I'd such much of what you say here DOES apply to poetry as well...the contests, the lack of regard for selling the book...the caveat being that poetry isn't a big seller in general.
The short answer is yes. For new or emerging poets trying to build credentials it takes submitting to a lot of places and waiting a long time just to see if anyone thinks you are on the right track. It takes time and experience to learn how to navigate NOT having to pay for everything, and I think most poets, including me, don't learn that until after they have paid. It is an unfair and cumbersome system that rewards those with the most resources, and those who can buy their way to success.