July 8, 2011

If you’ve studied a market guide lately, you might have come away in total confusion.

These days you’re met with warnings like, “If you don’t like indies, don’t bother querying.” Or a company says it’s a “legacy” publisher.

What’s with all the new terminology?

Olden Days

When I started publishing thirty years ago, it was simple. You either went with a traditional publisher (they paid you, and they did 98% of the marketing) OR you got fooled into signing with a vanity press (you paid them to print your book, plus you had to do 98% of the marketing yourself.)

The choice was an easy one if you wanted to have a career where you made money.

It’s a New Ball Game

Today our choices are basically the same, in my opinion (except you have a few FREE self-publishing choices like Kindle). But the terminology has mushroomed as new companies tried to distinguish themselves with new titles. So you had independent publishers (“indies”) springing up, resentful of the old “vanity press” title. But for the most part, independent publishers require that YOU pay them and YOU do most of the marketing.

Are you confused by the terms e-pub, POD, Kindle, self-pub, Smashwords, and more? If so, Tracy Marchini has done a book called Pub Speak: a Writer’s Dictionary of Publishing Terms to clear up the confusion. While I haven’t read the book personally, I have seen several very good reviews of it. If I were starting out in publishing, I think I’d need a copy.

Pub Speak: A Writer’s Dictionary of Publishing Terms is a dictionary for both new and established authors that contains over 400 definitions, including:

• - contract and royalty terms
  - ebooks and audiobooks
  - fiction and non-fiction
  - publishing terms
  - retailers, book clubs, wholesalers and distributors
  - social networking and collaborative publishing
  - trade associations, events and publications
  - writer’s organizations, awards and publications

This book just might bring an end to the confusion…for now, anyway!

6 Comments »

1. 

   Not sure I agree that if a publisher calls themselves an independent publisher it is a vanity or more recently subsidy publisher. Those companies may have adopted that name, but there are still plenty of what I think was generally called small presses or specialty publishers who would also use the term independent publisher. They don’t require their authors to pay them anything and use the same contract models as the larger legacy publishers. There are also “self-publishers” who have started independent publishing houses which don’t require any author they sign to pay them anything. They made the leap from self-publisher to small press. I think the big thing in this publishing game is to think outside of labels that are being thrown around. Look at what the companies actually are and do instead of relying on what they “call themselves” to vet them out. The terminology is probably going to continue to evolve as the industry continues it’s shift and finally settles in the next couple of years.

   Comment by Angelia Almos — July 8, 2011 @ 8:56 am

2. 

   Angelia, you’re right about the confusion with independent publishers. Many years ago, it was synonymous with “small press,” which did the same things as the larger publishing houses except you usually got a smaller advance and smaller print run. But people expecting that today when they sign on with an independent press will largely be disappointed. The ones that don’t cost the author money are the ones that don’t cost the publisher money either–either POD (print on demand) or ebook publishers. But if they’re going to actually print your books and have them in the warehouse, an indie publisher these days will likely charge the author for it. Sometimes very BIG bucks too.

   I absolutely agree with you that you MUST look beyond a label or what the company calls itself and see how they actually operate.

   Comment by Kristi Holl — July 8, 2011 @ 10:15 am

3. 

   One of my e-friends just got it – and says though she knows her business lines (old style – established) she had been hesitant about all the new fandangle-y, and terms. And she says, it opened up her eyes to new possibilities she had backed off from.

   She said it’s a GREAT thing to have for sorting out markets and updated legalese, packs a lot of current useful data in one place.
   She is recommending it to all – and says she got a copy at Borders! (accessible!)

   Comment by jen — July 8, 2011 @ 1:05 pm

4. 

   Thanks for the recommendation, Jen. If it’s at Borders, that says a lot for it, I think. The new legalese is evolving at a rather alarming rate lately!

   Comment by Kristi Holl — July 9, 2011 @ 1:16 pm

5. 

   This article is so timely. Thanks, Kristi!

   Comment by Brittney Breakey — July 10, 2011 @ 12:52 pm

6. 

   You’re welcome, Brittney!

   Comment by Kristi Holl — July 11, 2011 @ 1:17 pm

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