One Night Stanzas

Recently I posted a quick introduction to self-publishing, and then Part I of this series, The Pros of Traditional Publishing. Here’s the flip-side!

Traditional Publishing: THE CONS
In the previous post I talked about things like getting your book into bookstores and reviews, and the importance of reputation and kudos. Here are some of the less attractive factors when it comes to having your work accepted by a publisher…

— You don’t always get to keep your copyright. This varies from publisher to publisher — smaller publishers tend to be more willing to negotiate on copyright matters — but often, when you sign a publishing contract, you hand over all your copyright to your publishing house. This essentially means that your poems are no longer your own — if you want to display them elsewhere, you have to ask the permission of your publisher, and if you don’t, you’re in breach of contract (apparently some contracts even state that you must ask permission before reading the poems at a poetry reading). Meanwhile, your publisher, as the new “owner” of your poems, is free to do with them whatever they like — which means including them in promotional material, allowing them to appear in publications without necessarily consulting you, having them translated into different languages and republished, etc. This is more important to some people than others, but you do need to read the small-print carefully and if you’re asked to sign over 100% of your copyright, you need to think about how happy you are about it.

— You’re generally subject to a whole load of Terms and Conditions, some of which you might not like. I’ve been reading the T&Cs of certain poetry publishers recently and some of the things they expect of poets… basically, I was pretty shocked. The T&Cs vary massively from one publishing house to the next, but whatever you do, read them very carefully. Ask for time to go away and think about it, and if you’re not sure about anything, seek advice. If there’s a particular condition of your contract that you’re really not happy with, query it — and if your publisher won’t budge, you might want to think about going elsewhere. It’s hard when you’ve been offered publication, and you might feel like you’re blowing an opportunity… but if you don’t want to be restricted when it comes to, say, what you can and cannot say if you’re interviewed or where you can and cannot sell your own books, it’s better to find another publishing house who’ll be willing to negotiate.

— You can end up with very little control. Once you’ve signed the contract, that’s it — your publishing house takes on your manuscript, and can control the entire process of turning it into a book. Again, it varies, but increasingly, publishing contracts contain a clause which states that the poet can have very little input in the layout or design of their own book. Most publishers have a ‘house style’ to which your book must adhere, and although it might seem like a good idea to hand it over to people who know what they’re doing, you do have to bear in mind that the appearance of a book is a huge factor in its saleability. If you have very specific ideas about how you want your book to look — and many people do, it’s not unreasonable — you need to find a publisher who will agree to at least negotiate and involve you. And if you can’t, you might want to consider self-publishing.

— You might not make any money. For me, this is a relatively small deal — and really, it should be for you, too… because poetry is never going to pay the bills, and if you’re expecting a Billy-Collins-style advance, you’re probably going to be disappointed. However, there are publishing companies out there — reputable ones, too — who’ll rip you off. For example: 100% of your rights given to the publisher for no advance, less than 10% royalties, less than 20 free copies of your book and only a small discount when buying copies back. This is a fairly standard contract for a middle-weight poetry press and yet… well, to me, that looks like a pretty crappy deal. Add in additional obligations like having to be available for certain events, having to do a lot of the PR yourself through gigging, and having to pay your own travelling expenses, and it seems like a bit of a fruitless exercise, financially. The publishing house gets the rights to your stuff for free and then profits off it, and you get barely anything. If you want to make any money at all, a smaller publisher who’ll sell you more books back at a better rate might be a good option, or you could consider self-publishing. With poetry, publishing shouldn’t be about the money, but it also shouldn’t be about getting exploited.

— You’ll be edited, big style! If you’ve never published anywhere other than in magazines and journals, chances are you’ll be totally unused to another person editing your poems. But if you get published, your editor might well want to go crazy with the red pen. Edits are generally negotiable, but if you’re unable to accept your editor’s ideas, you could find yourself in breach of contract. You need to be ready for the fact that your poems might well get torn up and stuck back together again before your book is ready for publishing, and you need to be OK for this to happen.

— You can restrict your options for the future. Some publishing contracts tie you into staying with the same publisher for three years, five years, or even for your next two or three books. At the time, this can seem really great — guaranteed publication of your next collection, an editor you’ve worked with before and a familiar system. However, things change rapidly, and by the time you finish your next collection, you might decide that you want to do things differently, but if you’ve signed the contract you’ll be unable to. You’ll also be answerable to your publishing company for the entire duration of a contract like this — which means you might have to make yourself available for things like podcasts and poetry events long after your book has been published. Again, it’s just wise to read your contract very carefully, take time to think about it, seek advice, and query anything you’re unsure about.

— You can’t escape snobbery, no matter how big your publishing company or advance is. And while you can choose to shield yourself from it to an extent while you’re only publishing in zines and journals, once you have a book, you’re essentially putting yourself right in the firing line. There’s a lot of sour grapes out there and you need to be prepared to have them thrown at you. Snide comments come in many guises — people will say you’re not good enough for a certain publisher, that you’re being published for reasons outwith your writing, or that you’re not good enough to be published at all — but generally it all boils down to one thing: “I am jealous of you.” You need to be prepared for the fact that this will happen… and if you think you’re not going to be able to deal with it, you need to reconsider your decision to publish.

— You will get bad reviews. Similarly, your book will be sent out for review and not everyone will like it. If your skin isn’t thick enough for the bad reviews to bounce off, or if you think you might end up wanting to retaliate (always, always a bad idea), you’re probably not ready to publish.

— You can’t really fall out with your editor. Once you’ve signed your contract, you can discuss and negotiate, but you can’t expect to have your own way. If you want all your own way, self-publish… don’t sign a contract and then decide to breach it. Bad idea! You need to accept the fact that, if a publisher takes your book, you’re kind of at their mercy. It sounds daunting… probably because it is! So just be ready!

Next: Part III: The Road to “Traditional” Publication

Questions? Email claire@onenightstanzas.com — I’m always happy to hear from you!

(Photo by Roddys)

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Tags: advice for young writers, publishing, resources for young writers, self publishing vs traditional publishing part 2 the co, young poets

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 18th, 2008 at 2:00 pm and is filed under Getting Started, Publishing (other), procrastination station. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.