It used to be there was only one respected book publishing option for aspiring Canadian authors, and that was the traditional trade publishing route. Most new writers still envision this process when they think about having a book published: seeking out a trade publisher that will publish their type of work; mailing a query letter and sample chapter to that publisher with a self-addressed stamped envelop attached; and anxiously awaiting a response within three to six months as to whether or not the work will be accepted. More often than not, the work is rejected, and it is onto the next submission in the hopes the next publisher will say yes.
Trade (Traditional) Publishers
There remains, today, a common misconception that trade publishers will only reject manuscripts that are poor in quality. In fact, this is not their only determinant. Most receive thousands of manuscript submissions each and every year from which they select fewer than one dozen new authors to work with—a discriminatingly low acceptance rate. Obviously, budget and manpower play a huge role in their decisions. But one must also consider that many of the small Canadian literary presses, in particular, are funded by operating grants which contain strict guidelines as to what types of work they can/cannot publish. Sometimes, their hands are simply tied, and talented authors are overlooked as a result.
Vanity Publishers
You've probably heard the term "vanity publisher" as the less respected publishing alternative. Vanity publishers have earned their notoriety by accepting and publishing 100% of the manuscripts that are rejected by trade publishers without much consideration to quality or content. The best way to recognize a vanity publisher is this: their primary concern is profit so they will publish anything for anyone who has the money to pay for it; they hire under-qualified staff at reduced wages so they can charge enticingly low "publishing package" rates; and they won't actively encourage writers to improve the quality of their work. A vanity publisher will take what they receive and publish it as is ... no matter what it looks like.
The truth is, neither of these choices is optimal. It is one extreme to another. The first option can discourage a perfectly talented writer from ever publishing a book; and the second option doesn't urge writers to grow, learn, and present themselves in a professional manner.
Supportive Self-Publishing Houses
Thankfully, there is now another book publishing option in Canada that combines the best of these two methods, and it is called supported self-publishing. The below list provides a snapshot of what you can expect when publishing your book with a supportive self-publishing house compared to working with trade and vanity publishers.
Qualified Staff:
Like a traditional trade publisher, a supportive self-publishing house employs highly-qualified staff to polish and perfect your book.
High Acceptance Rate:
Like a vanity publisher, most supportive self-publishing companies will accept the majority of manuscripts submitted to them. The reason for this high acceptance rate is that the authors (self-publishers) are the ones who pay all the costs associated with publishing their books. The support company merely compiles all the publishing tools these authors need in a convenient “one stop shop” package so they don’t have to do it themselves.
Maintained Creative Control:
When trade publishers agree to pay for the publication of books, they essentially become the owners of those books. They agree to purchase the publishing rights because they believe they can make a profit from owning and selling these books. When you choose the supportive self-publishing route, you are choosing to pay all your own editing, production, and marketing costs in exchange for maintained creative control over your work. You also keep all the rights to your work which may prove profitable if/when that book begins to sell well. (On the flip side, if your book doesn't sell, then you may not be able to recoup your original costs. That loss is yours as the self-publisher. That's the risk you take if you choose this route.)
Timely Turnaround:
Due to the volume of material they must consider, trade publishers' manuscript review processes can take anywhere from three to six months; and most will reject multiple submissions (a.k.a. simultaneous submissions), meaning the company will automatically disregard manuscripts that have been sent to more than one publisher for consideration. If your book is accepted upon review, the production process can take up to another six months to complete. On the other hand, once you submit your electronic book cover/interior files and payment to a supportive self-publishing company, you're pretty much ready to go. It's that easy to get started. The editing and production processes can be completed in as few as eight weeks.
Help With Administrative Tasks:
Supportive self-publishing companies will do most of the same legwork a trade publisher does: obtaining ISBN numbers; managing publishing agreements; designing your copyright page; finding/organizing editors, copywriters, indexers, graphic designers, etc, for you; typesetting your book; and dealing with printers/distributors.
Royalties:
Like a trade publisher, supportive self-publishing companies will pay you royalties on whatever books they and their distributors sell on your behalf. You can also buy copies of your books from them at a significantly reduced price to sell on your own. (Think of them as your book manufacturer/wholesaler, and think of yourself as a retailer.)
Editing:
Unlike vanity publishers, a supportive self-publishing company recognizes the importance of editing and proofreading to polish and perfect a book and will strongly encourage clients to have their books copy edited in the very least. (Trade publishers usually take it a step further and arrange stylistic/substantive edits for all their books.)
Modern Printing Methods:
Most supportive self-publishing companies use a modern digital printing method called "print on demand" (POD) rather than printing large runs of books the traditional way. An electronic copy of your book is stored with a special POD press that allows as little as one copy to be printed at a time. This is helpful because you can easily resubmit your book's e-file to the POD printer if you need to make any corrections or updates along the way. This new method of printing also eliminates expensive warehousing costs. That said, because the books are being printed only a few at a time, the production cost per unit is a bit higher, and this is reflected in the price of your book. (i.e. The same book may retail at $9.99 when printed the traditional way while it may retail at $12.99 when produced using modern "print-on-demand" methods.)
Sales and Marketing Support:
Trade book publishers actively market and sell their frontlist books on behalf of their authors. They are well-connected. However, because they produce new books once or twice per year (spring/autumn selections), the shelf-life of each book is typically six months to a year. After that, it moves from the frontlist to the backlist and becomes less of a priority than the new releases. The advantage of supported self-publishing is that you are not confined by someone else's publishing schedule. You can publish a book at any time of the year, and you can be assured your book will always be given top priority because you are the one in charge of marketing it. A good supportive self-publishing company will help you do this by providing timely, relevant, and effective sales and marketing ideas to lead you in the right direction.
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The introduction of supported self-publishing to Canada's book publishing landscape is definitely good news for writers. By combining the quality and expertise of trade publishing with the flexibility of vanity publishing, Canadian authors now have more control than ever before to produce a polished result they can be very proud of.
Kim Staflund - Canadian Book Publisher and Author
