Category: Guest Bloggers

David Takes on Goliath: Or How the Small Presses Are Taking on the Big Guys

For many aspiring authors, the dream of publication leads to one destination: Goliath’s front door, otherwise known as the BIG publishing house. We’re all familiar with the names of the titans of the industry: Penguin, Pocket Books, Random House, and St. Martin’s Press. The common perception is that if you can rise from the slush to be published by one of these companies, then you are all but assured of success. But are you? Is this truly the only way to become a success in highly competitive industry?

Before you answer that question, let’s take a look at a different model, the David to the Goliath, the much maligned and misunderstood small press. Quick, what is the first thing you think of when you see the words “small press”? Poor quality? Bad writing? Do you immediately think, “Well, they weren’t good enough to publish anywhere else, so they had to settle for a small press?” If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you are wrong. Small press does not equal bad writing, just as self-publishing does not equal bad writing. Small press equals a different mode of publishing. One that is becoming increasingly popular in the wake of the shake-ups coming out of the halls of the titans.

Listen up, writers, that sound you hear coming out of New York is David taking on Goliath—and winning. How is this possible? Because the small presses have an advantage that the big ones don’t—adaptability. While the bigger houses are crumbling under the same business models they have employed for decades, small presses are adapting to the new mode of communication. How? By offering readers another way to get their information, from traditional books that can be printed on demand to electronic books that can be downloaded to computers, e-readers—even cell phones.

Small presses have learned how to harness the power of the Internet. While the big houses are scrambling to get on board by offering digitized versions of their backlist, small presses are already offering digitized versions of their frontlist. And in this age of high-tech toys and instant communication where word of mouth is measured by the speed of a text message, that option could mean the difference between success and failure. People like to have a choice. Small presses offer that choice, not only in the form of the book you want to read, be it print or electronic, but in the content, as well. Small presses don’t publish according to trends and what is selling big now. Small presses publish quality works that might be a little too quirky, controversial, or genre-defying for other publishing houses.

This was one of the reasons I decided to publish with a small press. When my book couldn’t find a home with Goliath, but captured the interest of David, I chose to publish with David. And although the leg-work involved in garnering buzz for my book has been time-consuming and sometimes arduous, that decision has paid off for me. I had more control over the look of my cover than I would have had at a bigger house and my book was available for sale on Amazon.com much sooner than if a bigger house published me. In today’s digital age, that availability is paramount. It is my belief that this will be a key factor in the continuing battle between David and Goliath. Availability. Courtesy of the Internet, we are accustomed to having something delivered to us with the speed of DSL. So success might come down to a simple question of: How long are we willing to wait for a new book from a big house when a small press can offer one in a third of the time? What do you think? Are we, as readers and writers, still restricted by the old stigmas regarding smaller presses? Or are the small presses the way of the future?

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Please leave a comment or question for Margay to enter to win a copy of NORA’S SOUL. To read the back cover copy of NORA’S SOUL, please see yesterday’s post. To learn about Margay, please visit her website.

Conversations

My dream of becoming a novelist came to fruition after forty years of work and struggle (I’m actually 50 years old, but for the first ten years of my life I wanted to be a spy, like Natasha on Rocky and Bullwinkle), and it has been everything that I imagined it to be…and so much more. There have been ‘moments’ and experiences that I never expected, and yet I count them among the sweetest.

What at first petrified me has proved to be one of my most eagerly anticipated activities…the book club group appearance. From schools, to libraries, to churches, to senior centers, my visits with these fictionally fond factions has brought some of the more fulfilling and stirring conversations I’ve yet encountered. There is something particularly satisfying about being in the midst of truly dedicated readers; it’s like group therapy and we all have the same affliction, love of the written word.

So, fellow literary lovers, in the fertility of my imagination, I have pictured us gathered around a wonderful outdoor fire pit, sparks flying up into a sparkling summer night sky like iridescent birds newly freed from a cage, a sweet glass of wine in our hands as we have a conversation about my book, writing, and stories in general.

My debut novel, THE COURTIER’S SECRET, is dedicated, in part, to my dearest friend of almost thirty years. She gave me her unwavering loyalty and the use of her name, Jeanne Yvette Mas du Bois (can’t get much better than that when naming a heroine for a French historical), but I’m often asked if the character is based on her as well. Her mother is relieved to hear that the answer is no. The Jeanne of my novel is all me. Her inability to keep her mouth shut during circumstances when less is more is definitely mine. Her desire to be more than the limits of her gender dictate, and the frustrations when those desires are repudiated, is also very much mine.

Some of the other characters in my book are based on real people in my life; I have too often encountered the catty women who make Jeanne’s return to court so difficult (thought I won’t name them). I have NOT met any man who has beaten his wife and children.

Discussion-Round One: How often do you feel writers base their characters on real people? Do you think it is done with greater frequency and ease for the ‘evil’ characters?

Readers are often intrigued by an author’s road to publication and mine has been a bit bumpy, a tad curvy, and often uphill, but it is the greatest journey I’ve yet to encounter. Like many writers, I started at a young age, became waylaid by life and the path to ‘earning a living,’ and then finally got down to business. The first novel I ever wrote took me seven years to produce (while giving birth to my two sons, working a part time office job, and writing short fiction, book reviews, and non-fiction articles) and still sits in my hopeful drawer, a medieval fantasy full of hope. My second work, and what would become my first published novel, took nine months of research, nine weeks to write the first draft, six months to find an agent, and four months to find a publisher. HOWEVER (yes, caps) I had to completely rewrite the ending to make the sale and accept a cover I wasn’t crazy about (looks much more romance oriented as opposed to historical, which is more accurate).

Discussion-Round Two:  Should artists be willing to sacrifice for their art? And should they hold that art to a principle and be unwilling to compromise its content for the sake of its commercial viability?  

Why historical fiction? This is one of the most often posed questions and one that is easily answered. It is not only what I love, it is the sound of my voice. All writers have a voice and finding that voice can be part of their artistic evolution. My first published short stories were actually horror, but I was often rejected in the genre for having ‘too formal a voice’. Then I turned to my other love, the historical, and found it to be a perfect fit for my voice. I adore learning of characters, conflicts, and conditions of earlier eras and am amazed, time and time again, of the parallels that exist with modern day life. How often, I wonder, will humans make the same mistake? How can we learn from them?

As a writer of historical fiction, there is always a fine line between how much historical fact to include—what serves the story—and how much should be included just because it is an astounding event?

Discussion-Round Three: For those who love historical fiction, how much fact is too much; how much is not enough? For lovers of other genres, what is it about those genres that keeps you coming back?

Yes, I know, that’s a lot to talk about, but as I said, such talks have become one of the greatest gifts that have come my way as a writer. Join me in discussing any (or all) of these topics and enter to win a copy of THE COURTIER’S SECRET. Let’s clink our glasses together…to life and the stories written about it!

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Please leave a comment to enter to win THE COURTIER’S SECRET. To read the back cover copy of THE COURTIER’S SECRET and to check out Donna’s bio, please refer to yesterday’s post (cleverly situated just below this one). To learn more about Donna and her books, please visit her website.

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