How books get from the writer to the reader, and how you benefit from knowing this information.
Big Four, mid-sized and small presses, university presses, distribution.
Teaching Submit Strategically** over the past two weekends. I realized how important it is for writers to understand the industry, from the Big Four publishers down to who handles what in the distribution chain.
**The class went really well—the second weekend better than the first as I improved Zoom-ing in conjunction with PowerPoint-ing. One student emailed me, "I'm a tough customer and your class was literally one of the most useful classes I've ever had.” Keep that in mind as you check out my fall class offerings.)
How our industry produces and distributes books
1. Writer finds an …
2. Agent, who places the book with the …
3. Editor, who works for the ...
4. Publisher, who gets the books to stores via …
5. Distributors
Bookstores want to stock books distributed by Ingram
Most publishers distribute through Ingram
Publishing has four seasons
Not a shock, they are winter, spring , summer, and fall.
Larger presses publish in all four season. Smaller do as well, or two ,or even once a year.
Some presses release continually throughout the year, seasons be damned!
Fall is the most prestigious. Publishers release the titles they hope will win prizes.
Spring is excellent for debut authors
Less competition with bold-name authors
Can promote as a spring as well summer read
Publishers: There are four categories in traditional publishing
The Big Houses aka: The Big Four
Penguin Random House
HarperCollins
Hachette Book Group
Macmillan
Small presses/Mid-sized presses
There are many. Many, many, many, and many of them have excellent reputations, their authors win big prizes, and they can be as competitive to get into as a Big Four house.
However, some can be approached without an agent. Check their submissions pages.
University presses
Similar to small- or mid-sized press
Some can be very impressive
Your Contract
One- to two years from signature to book-in-hand is standard
18 months is best amount of lead time: gives you time to build your media presence and plan your launch.