Publishers on My Mind

Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

My current work in progress is ready to venture out into the world. To walk out on its fledgling legs to see who will help it to the next stage – publication. But sending it out to every publisher out there would be a waste of time, for me and the publishers.
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So, research is the next step. But not just research on similar titles and an interest in my genre. No. My search now has many more items. 

After narrowing down genre, interests, and open for submissions, next is what is their distribution like. Are they eBook only? Print and eBook? How many retail sites currently list their novels? Are they only on Amazon?

Different publishers have different focuses and are at different stages in their growth. This can be reflected in how they go about distributing their publications.

Another hot topic is how many titles have they published? How many do they need to have before I feel they’re secure enough they won’t vanish between signing my novel and publication day? (Having recently gone through this, this topic is at the forefront of my mind.) Do they need to have five or more titles already published? What if they have that many in the pipeline, but only have one book actually published so far?

Then there’s looking at mission statements, how much say the author has once the contract is signed, cover art and everything else.

There’s not right way. It’s about what feels right for the author and the novel. But with a novel ready to go out seeking publication, these are the things on my mind.
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Thinking about agents will be for another day. lol