In these days of the new revolution of publishing, authors have more choices than ever for getting their books into print and into the hands of readers. The big publishers have a lot of flaws: they can be arrogant, they sometimes don’t treat their authors well, they go for what they think will sell instead of what is good, they feed rice to birds then laugh when they explode–you get the idea. For all their flaws, however, there are still a number of things that they actually do well.
- High-quality covers
- Some may look better than others, but there is no denying that the covers of books produced by large publishers look very good. The large houses have an edge in this area, because they can afford to retain top-notch talent in-house, or use their size and volume to get good rates with top-notch studios.
- Ultimate distribution
- It’s easy, almost trivial, for small and independent publishers to get their books carried by mainstream distributors. Unless your book is with a large publisher, however, you can pretty much forget about seeing it in mass-market paperback outlets, airport bookstores, or places like that. The big, long-established companies have the best hooks into distribution by far. In fact, just getting your book into mainstream bookstores will be a challenge without a major publisher.
- Projecting competence
- Despite their confessed habit of publishing celebrity trash and recycling television talk show drivel, mainstream publishers actually have a reputation for being a “filter” for published material, screening content so that only the best gets through. People still tend to assume that if it comes from a major publisher, it has merit, and that if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.
- Ancillary rights sales
- As with distribution, the large publishing houses have all the best hooks into ancillary rights sales. Though you may see your book translated and sold overseas or tapped for the big screen no matter what your venue, your chances are still much better with a large publishing house without. For one thing, books published through large publishers are seen as more competent. For another, the large publishing houses are part of media conglomerates, which usually have affiliates in overseas publishing units and film units and so on.
- Opening doors
- An author trying to get on a television show or into a bookstore for a signing stands a much better chance if he or she is published by one of the large publishing houses. Television producers think the products of the big houses are more exciting because they’re better known and, well, bigger. Bookstore owners know that they need the big houses more than they need the small publishers or independents. It isn’t about quality; it’s about sales.
Authors should be aware of these things, because those who choose not to go with one of the big publishers will have to work harder to get good results in these areas.
