Working With Small Presses
I gave a talk on this subject to a group of writers at Willowbridge Bookstore. This is the essence of what I said: The publishing industry is changing and it's changing fast. POD used to be a bad word—this is what’s happening right now. Dorchester Publishing/Leisure Books is not going to publish mass market paperback anymore—only POD and e-books. St. Martin’s just announced they are switching to POD. And I'm sure it won't be long before other big publishers will be doing the same. Why? Economic issues mainly. It's much too expensive to print books that may end up being warehoused. Most of the small presses have been using POD for years—and at the same time, publishing e-books. Paper books will not disappear, but things are changing. When looking for a small press make sure that not only do they do print books but also e-books. You want to be able to sell both. When submitting to a small press, do exactly what the guidelines tell you. Every small press seems to have diff...