Creation Books...Another Con?
Michael Colmer
In message <337923...@dial.pipex.com>
Theword <mal...@dial.pipex.com> writes:
> Creation Books aka Pantheon Books - Another con?
> British Publishers, it seems, possess all the spine of a jellyfish when
> it comes to considering the work of 'new' or 'unknown' authors.
-snipped -
> Oh, and whilst I'm crying in my beer, The Writer's & Artists' Yearbook
> is a waste of money too. > Gary
Gary,
Takes stamina to be an author buddy.
Here writes one such - a survivor of some x14 published tomes.
A total of some 2million unit sales. Despite which proven track
record I am still waiting an editorial decision
on a mss submitted seven YEARS ago . . . .
Publishers ( on both sides of the Atlantic pond ) are lemmings.
If one has success with a certain title or genre then the rest will race to
create clones.
Gone are those heady days when some intuitive publisher backed
his hunches. Today it's number crunching committees - all of
them terrified for their jobs and hesitant to take any risks.
Which is why all these parasitic vanity publishers are cashing in.
BUT . . . for all this never forget that it took Richard Adams
- author of bunny book "Watership Down" some x48
(repeat 48) rejection slips before he found someone with
the guts to publish his global best seller.
And the other option is to self-publish using your own DTP system
which gives you total *control* from conception to publication.
Another of the many authors spurned by trad publishers
was the woman who was related to Richmal Crompton
( author of the "Just William" series ) who wrote about her
aunt. Undeterred she upped and DTP'd her own book.
A half page review in the "Daily Mail" tabloid won her
a total sell out and several reprints.
It's really feels nice to reap the entire cover price for
yourself , rather than 10% repaid - very grudgingly -
by yr publisher some 12 months later.
Gary pse don't blame the W&A Year Book.
Praps what you are really being told here is that
if you truly believe in yr book then get it moving.
To help you there are at least two small press groups in the
UK ( and several in the USA) dedicated to helping folk
publish their own works.
Good Luck,
I'll see you at the next Foyles' Literary Lunch !.
-Michael -