The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Pint-Sized Presses
January 14, 2016 8:34 AM   Subscribe

I have my fourth novel coming out as an author. As with the others before it, it is being published through a small press. What is the line between what comes with the territory of having a small outfit and what is unacceptable? Too many details inside, mushy-grimy snowflakes.

After a long period of trying to find an agent or acceptance at one of the larger publishing houses, three years ago I decided to send out my recent works to small presses. At that time I had three books I believed publishable which I submitted to three different presses. Well, I got interest and then contracts for all three. If that seems a bit unusual, the decisions took place over months of time, e.g., if you can fix these issues, we may publish.

My experiences with the three were different levels of support and professionalism. One was terrible, the editing suggestions were sparse and often worse than the original. I've pretty much disowned them and they haven't sent me a single quarterly report. One was professional with rigorous editing and the basics of publicity, etc. The third was somewhere in between. They published my first work after a reasonable amount of editing and then provided skimpy publicity. I signed a contract for the sequel which is my upcoming book release.

This second round of interaction with them has been less professional. The editing has been minimal. (I'm good, but not that good.) The second round of edits went straight to advance copy without my viewing them. I received the advance copies yesterday. And this might be enough to freak people out, I was asked to design the book cover.

I'm conflicted. There is an opt-out clause but that would leave them in a lurch for the work they have done. One further problem with opting out is that I like the publishers as people. They have spunk, they rescue obscure literary works through their press, and I have a sentimental feeling because they published my first book and have so much cheered on my work. They have dealt with me fairly if not well.

I'm worried that the book will come out full of those little grammatical errors to which I am blind and it will look unprofessional. Is it too late to do anything? What should I do? (Pay for a fast professional edit and get the changes back? Demand that they hold the presses? Try to opt out of the contract?) Release date has been set for the end of March.

What do I want from this? To have a book I'm proud of. To not have a book with grammatical errors. I no longer expect much by way of publicity from them and I expect to handle that on my own. I do not maintain starry-eyed dreams that every book I write will be a strong seller, but I would rather this book not impede my writing career.
posted by dances_with_sneetches to Writing & Language (5 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Sorry that my answer is mostly questions, but I hope it gives you some things to think about. I've worked in big six publishing, with small presses and with a self-publisher.

Are you talking about minimal developmental edits or minimal copyediting and proofreading?
Have they given you a timeline for copyedits and proofing? (It's not uncommon for galleys to be done before copyedits, due to turnaround time, and reviewers are okay with that.)
Could you request that they assign the copyeditor who did your previous book, assuming that you were happy with that one?
Have you had a come-to-Jesus talk with them about their level of professionalism and the options that you're considering?
How are they doing (as far as you can tell) with other authors - ie, are they a sinking ship since your last publication?

I would guess that the least feather-ruffly option would be to have a serious talk with them about your concerns as soon as possible, and make copyedits the hill you die on (ie, they get this right or make room in the schedule for your own paid copyeditor to have time to do a thorough job), then take your work elsewhere in the future.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 8:44 AM on January 14, 2016 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Copyedits are what I am concerned about. There were some developmental edits (not many, but I'm satisfied with those.)
There has been no specific timeline.
No, I haven't confronted them about this.
They had broke off from their previous publishing group, so the editors are not the same (other than the fact that they do editing).
How are they doing with other authors? I believe their previous set of authors were very good. (I made it a point to read two of the books before joining up.) I have not read a recent output (their output is small) other than one of the publishers presenting their own work.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:54 AM on January 14, 2016


My novel was published with a small press. They definitely had minimal editing in terms of suggesting overall / macro edits and rewrites, but they did have page-by-page copy-editing for grammar and spelling issues, another look-over for scientific issues (since it's moderately sci fi) and another round later of proofreading. They had a staff designer for book covers, but I opted instead to hire a designer for that. They also sent me an early printed copy for any last-minute changes, since they work via Print on Demand. They were a little loosey-goosey about timelines, but gave me a rough time frame with ample time to work within, and stuck to it.

They did pay for some PR for me, but I think that is rare - my book had strong early reviews and I think they hoped it would increase the visibility of their house as well as my work.

What you are describing sounds like it's a lot looser than you should be comfortable with. You can opt to pay a copy editor, and possibly ask for reimbursement, but you may be on your own.
posted by Mchelly at 9:02 AM on January 14, 2016


I strongly recommend you take this question over to Absolute Write. Ton of industry professionals there, and you can ask about the specific house/editors if you need to.
posted by restless_nomad at 10:34 AM on January 14, 2016 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: Thanks for the feedback. I guess this post was born out of frustration from when they incorporated the most recent edits into the advance copy without showing me them first. I should communicate my concerns with my publishers. I try to hard to avoid conflict.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 5:34 PM on January 14, 2016


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