The changing relationship between authors and publishers
Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 06:26AM Jim, the Teacherninja, just published a very kind review of my latest book, School Libraries Head for the Edge. Jim wonders why I asked for him to be sent a review copy since he is not a "big name" in the library world. I guess I think of him as a "big name" because his blog has been in my reader about as long as any of them and I value his ideas. There you go.
Along with the roses in the review, there is a thorn in the review* that has me thinking - a lot. He writes:
No, the only major defect in the book lies with Linworth. They must have rushed this into print without the slightest copyediting. These were magazine articles written on a deadline so of course there would be typos. In a collection such as this, they shouldn't pop up with the frequency the do. I hope this is corrected in future editions because the book deserves better.
Jim is the second person to alert me to typos in the book. Generally, I am fairly relaxed about minor errors in my writing (don't let perfection paralyze you is my philosophy), but in this case, having heard from two readers about the number of mistakes in the book, it feels like they are getting in the way of the message.
I have had a long and happy relationship with Linworth. They have published four of my five books along with a second edition and I have been happy with the work they had done until now. While my book was in production, Linworth was bought by ABC-CLIO and my contact at Linworth believes my book sort of got lost in the shuffle. Hmmmm. The manuscript was sent to them in late February '09 and the book came out in early November. I guess it just wandered in the wilderness for eight months.
The only way I'll know if the poor editing job was an anomaly is to see what happens if I publish another book with Linworth under ABC-CLIO ownership. Since I was not real pleased with the formatting, layout and cover of this book either, right now that feels like a very big if.
I will have to say that in conversations with other authors, NOBODY seems happy with their publisher and I wonder if the relationship of authors and publishers is undergoing - or soon to undergo - a radical transformation.
Many of my colleagues (well at least some) either shop for a publisher or simply self publish. Those who self publish (as I did with my Machine Are the Easy Part book) can hire a copy editor and make arrangements with publishers to market and distribute their self-published materials. And some writers, I'm sure, get more eyes on their blogs than any publisher's marketing materials can attract.
Author royalties on traditionally published books are usually between 10% and 15% of whatever the book is actually sold for after discounts and wholesaling. At what point in time do authors wake up and smell the coffee and realize that if they are the ones contracting for editing and marketing services the profit ratios might reverse? When publishers start working for authors instead of authors working for publishers, the world be just a little nicer place.
Anyway, Jim, sorry for the rant. And thanks again for the review!
* Never trust a review without at least one criticism.
Reader Comments (3)
No problem. Glad you got it off your chest. It was an honor. I felt my name was out of place at first since I'm not a practicing school librarian; just a grad student. Yet I also felt that I had something to say about your work in comparison to all the other (well chosen!) books our professors have us reading. The closest one that comes to "real world" issues rather than technical ones is Toor and Weisburg's New On the Job. That one is a great start point, but not nearly as deep and thoughtful (which is fine--they have a different mission) as the essays in your wide-ranging collection.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks,
Jim
Doug, My son is an editor for a small textbook company. I sent him your post and he sent back a comment I thought you would like.
"It's difficult for me to read that about most authors being unhappy with their publishers without thinking of some of the incredibly stupid stuff I've seen and heard from authors :p"
It must be difficult sometimes to find the middle ground and have both the publisher and the author get what they want. Although it seems that if you have a contract with a publisher and proof-reading and editing are part of that contract, then typographical errors should not be happening.
Thanks again, Jim!
Doug
Hi Dottie,
What! We sweet. lovable and responsible authors not being easy to work with? Perish the thought!
Your son makes a good point - publishing is definitely a two-way street. I should probably have demanded more editorial control.
Thanks for sharing this point of view.
Doug