What are you looking for in a publisher?

I am a new member here and wanted to post my meet and greet here for you guys.

We are a new Christian publishing company and I came here to learn what your needs are and what you expect from a prospective publisher. I know the expectations will vary depending upon your comfort level with performing some of the work yourself and staying within a reasonable budget but what are you guys looking for from a publisher?

Question Two: Would you walk away from the publisher if their prices were low thinking 'you get what you pay for'?

The first two responses focused on the importance of selling your book to the publisher. Is that all you are looking for? Who will buy your book?

Goodbook, you hit on a couple things in your response. There ARE two very different sides in this: those who work tirelessly to gain a publisher's approval of their manuscript and those who want their book published with or without a publishing company.

We 100% agree with the last line in your response. Everyone deserves having their voice heard. Traditional publishers care nothing for the content of your book. The only motivator for them is making sales. "Can the author's name alone sell thousands of copies quickly?" "Does the author have an established following that will eagerly purchase anything released?" It is all sales driven. Here in the Christian genre we think that is the wrong incentive.

We were wanting to hear what you guys wanted in a publisher, apart from the amount paid. Maybe I should flip the question and say what we are offering to see if it appeals to you. We aren't able to purchase every book from every author for a sum large enough for them to feel it was worth their time and effort. The solution we chose is to let the author take the risk but also reap the reward.

We saw many publishers who take advantage of anxious authors by charging outrageously high fees for services, offer minimal to non-existent support after going to print, deliver an inferior product, or simply walk away with the author's money.

So we decided to fill the need with very low prices without sacrificing quality by reducing our profit. The loss has to happen somewhere so we will take the low profit. No required purchases, you keep the rights to your work, no tricky clauses in the signed agreement, and no mark-ups on the books you purchase. We keep a variable amount off each sale which is around fifty cents. The rest of the money is the author's payment for their investment and their hard work.

We distribute through POD to keep costs down but can switch to offset printing and warehousing should the author prefer that avenue. And submit a digital version in the various formats to the top e-book distributors.

SepiaandDust, I'm not sure why you have taken such offense to the business model we have chosen. For whatever reason you do not want to see Christian books published if they are not through traditional publishing. We disagree with the 'select few' mentality as mentioned earlier.

As for you telling me who published you, I think in your haste you misunderstood what I was saying. I wasn't asking WHO will publish you. I am quite familiar with who publishes books. I was asking if that is all that mattered to you? Is finding someone to buy your book the most important aspect?

We see spreading the Gospel as most important. Most readers do not care who published the book. Many couldn't even name a publishing company. What does matter is Christ and Him crucified and getting that message out. God has many authors who are willing vessels and want to share the Truths they have been shown. They shouldn't be told their message cannot be published because their name cannot guarantee enough sales.

I am aware that the publishing industry looks down on our business model and any model other than traditional. But I really don't care about the opinion of the industry giants and as little as I am they don't really care about me. I'm not taking business away from them.

SepiaandDust, I just see it differently. The traditional publishing method doesn't make one book better than any other. So the traditional publishing method isn't superior. If it is the one you prefer that is absolutely fine. If another author considers the alternatives that is absolutely fine, too.

As pointed out, editing does make a huge difference. And not just cleaning up the typos and grammar slips. The flow needs to engage the reader and carry them through the book. That isn't accomplished through magic and it isn't accomplished simply because a publishing company bought the rights to your book.

As for the author's reach, technology and the multitude of social networks allows word-of-mouth to spread faster and easier than it ever has before. Books need availability and we can cover that with ease. Books also need exposure. There are low cost tools and methods which anyone can use to begin generating attention.

Goodbook, yes, nothing is more annoying when you are trying to read a book and can't get past the painfully obvious typos. Makes you wonder if the author/publisher even proofed the final product.

LaSorcia, self-publishing has a very strong group of supporters. There are hundreds of tools at the author's disposal to help them through the process to churn out a really nice, polished product. If the author puts the effort into it, that is, otherwise it is 'garbage in, garbage out'.

For printing, we will use POD distribution unless the author specifies a preference. This method lets the distributor digitally print the book as needed. The value in this method is no large initial book order along with warehousing fees. It also prevents the losses which can occur if any of the books get damaged while in storage. This keeps printing costs low without losing quality.

The books the author will buy for themselves will be digitally printed. Offset printing becomes affordable when a large number of books are needed, typically around the 1200+ mark.

The large publishing houses have seen the shift and they all created imprints to cash in on this change. The old, rigid way you mentioned is not the only way to get your book out there anymore. There are some, like SepiaandDust, who resist this change but for most authors it is welcomed and the ease of 'going to print' is only going to get better. Fierce competition will make sure there are always high quality options so the author doesn't have to sacrifice the clean look and feel of their books.