The challenges of independent publishing (2)
When I set up Amaurea Press, I was coming into it from the perspective of editing and designing the books themselves. Naively I thought that this was all I would need to worry about; and as it was something I was already quite experienced doing, and was something I enjoyed and considered myself quite good at, it seemed logical for me to be dedicating myself to this. And to begin with, this seemed fine. With Print on Demand platforms such as Ingramspark and KDP/Amazon making the logistical side of publishing quite easy, all that was needed was to upload the finished article, and let them worry about distributing to wherever in the world the readers were to be found.
But though the entry level to publishing has been brought down to a level where pretty much anyone can start publishing books (as can be seen in the large number of ‘independently published’ books available on line, with varying degrees of quality) – this really is just the ground floor. Having found ourselves publishing an author who could rightly expect us to be getting her books into physical bookshops, and who has the possibility of attracting some media attention, it was necessary for Amaurea to up the game. It’s one thing to have books available on-line, quite another to have them properly circulating within the book trade.
How to get into that though? I realised quickly how little I really knew or understood about the whole behind-the-scenes sales and distribution processes that underpin the book trade. Even simply getting the book printed was a challenge – finding a printer, discussing what was needed with them, and then, suddenly being faced with a whole range of options that are pretty much taken care of for you when just printing demand. I felt woefully ignorant and lost, facing a dauntingly steep learning curve.
But then, while researching possible printers, I discovered CPI Antony Rowe, which serendipitously turned out to be based just down the road from my hometown, where my father still lives and which, of course, I intermittently visit. The team at Antony Rowe were from the outset welcoming and helpful, and (importantly) very understanding of my position as a newcomer. They helped walk me through the choices open to me. They steered me towards Gardners, and establishing Amaurea’s existence with them. They even gave me contact with Rupert Harbour, of Harbour Publishing Services – who was just as supportive, and turned out to be happy to become involved as Amaurea’s sales consultant. Through him, we found ourselves managing to secure a distributor (Gazelle), and lo and behold, we found ourselves with a functioning sales and distribution set-up (and printers), of appropriate scale for the still very small scale that Amaurea is operating at.
But while getting the right infrastructure in place was of course the largest hurdle, there have been a whole series of small details, which seemingly everyone established in publishing just know about; but which coming from the outside, I have had to discover as I go along. Like the fact that most new books get published on a Thursday. Why that should be, I’m still not quite sure. But nothing is more telling that one is a rookie than announcing a different publication day. Or what the standard sizes for UK book trims are – again, something I stumbled over, having come along the route of US-based Ingramspark’s standard sizes, which are, it turns out, different. Maybe it seems obvious, and yet I had to find this out in practice.
So I found myself in the position of a toddler who is attempting to stand on their own, after just starting to crawl. Who is trying to take their first halting steps. And their too lies a danger: of trying to run before I could even walk. Feeling a burst of enthusiasm, I launched myself off. Only to trip over my feet and fall. Barely had I got to grips with dealing with printing options, than I had gone ahead and over-optimistically ordered several print runs. Using up all our available resources, believing that with all that had been done, the promotion obtained, booksellers would be clammering to stock them, readers to buy them, and the books would naturally fly off the shelves. Ha! Such naivety. Such overreach. Trip. And splat. And pick yourself back up, to go back to taking those baby steps. Like life. Publishing is a long game, it has no quick fixes.
And it is so much more than simply putting together a good book. That might be the most satisfying part of what we do, but unless we can sell it, unless we can get it to readers, succeed in getting potential readers not only to hear about it, but take the step of obtaining and actually reading it – then what has it all been for? And that is probably the biggest challenge that we are having to face as we develop Amaurea. The problem that all publishers have faced to get where they are, and continue to face every day. It may be a lot easier to set out in publishing these days than it ever used to be, but that in itself means that if you venture out, there are so many others out there too, competing for the finite attention of the world’s reading public. It’s a bit like Mount Everest. Long gone are the days when it was a place where few ventured, and even fewer succeeded. Now there is a line of prospective climbers littering the path.
This makes it a challenge to become economically sustainable as a publisher. Certainly starting small helps. To break even we need to sell a lot less than larger companies do. But those larger companies have the benefit of staff dedicated to different aspects, and are able to dominate the market. While we scrabble around in the interstices, with minimal capacity, and facing the reality that if we don’t succeed, then all this comes crashing down.
So we have to continually be reviewing where we are, what we are doing, where we are going, and how we can get there. We have to continually take deep breaths, and not give in. Not give in to that feeling that we are outsiders trying to break in. Reassure ourselves that we have as much right as any to be pursuing this game. To be scaling this mountain.
And above all, try to keep sane.
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