It's the first Wednesday in September, so it's time to celebrate with the Insecure Writer's Support Group. This month's question is:
That's a good question.
I'm currently published by a small press. My second, after the first small press I was with closed.
There's a lot to like about them, but sales for my books have been disappointingly low despite a lot of effort at my end. Plus, as a writer living in New Zealand, it's very difficult to get my books into bookstores here. My publisher doesn't have distribution here so it's up to me to purchase books and get them into stores myself. And it ends up costing me to do this because the freight for getting books to New Zealand is so high. By the time the store takes their percentage and the publisher takes theirs, I'm losing around $10 per book I sell in a store.
There's a lot to like about them, but sales for my books have been disappointingly low despite a lot of effort at my end. Plus, as a writer living in New Zealand, it's very difficult to get my books into bookstores here. My publisher doesn't have distribution here so it's up to me to purchase books and get them into stores myself. And it ends up costing me to do this because the freight for getting books to New Zealand is so high. By the time the store takes their percentage and the publisher takes theirs, I'm losing around $10 per book I sell in a store.
Which means it's not actually worthwhile for me to have my books in stores where I live. Which kind of sucks.
I've considered self-publishing, but the issue around getting physical books into stores will be the same if I go that route. The only diffference being I get a bigger cut of the sales price. But I will also have to pay for things like cover art and editing, as well as all my marketing.
So that leaves me with the option of diving back into the query trenches to find a new agent for my next books.
Which I will probably end up doing. There's just something that fills me with dread about the idea of querying again, even though I know having an agent is the only way to get my books in front of editors at publishing houses that actually do have distribution channels that will allow my books to make it into stores here and around the world.
Which I will probably end up doing. There's just something that fills me with dread about the idea of querying again, even though I know having an agent is the only way to get my books in front of editors at publishing houses that actually do have distribution channels that will allow my books to make it into stores here and around the world.
I guess I need to give myself a big kick in the ass to get motivated to a) finish polishing the books I want to query, and b) write the darn query letter and synopsis.
Doesn't sound like much, does it?
What are your publishing plans for your current/next book? Are you happy with this plan?
My plans? LOL! Get the next books finished. All seven of them that I keep bouncing between. That's difficult--the distribution issue, but isn't it wonderful that you could land a publisher internationally rather than being locked into local ones?
ReplyDeleteGood luck with finding an agent. I have a few writing friends outside of the US and it is a bummer how much more difficult publishing is for them.
ReplyDeleteThere are difficulties no matter what path you take. You just have to find the ones you're willing to live with. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteAh. I now understand why you're looking into querying again. Hope you can find someone interested in helping you actually sell books.
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