WHAT IS COLLABORATIVE PUBLISHING, AND WHAT CAN IT DO FOR YOU?
When authors speak about publishing, their experiences often fall into three camps: self-publishing, mainstream publishing or collaborative publishing. But what are they?
Self-Publishing
Self-Publishing is the stock phrase for the independent authors of the #amwriting community. Usually, indie-authors manage their own cover design and formatting. They are often computer literate and internet-savvy, as a lot of self-published books are produced online.
Sometimes authors approach their local printing company and order a hundred or so books for their own use, which they sell locally.
We absolutely encourage authors to pursue this route if it is the right option for them. Some incredible authors are self-published.
However …. if you are set to be one of our authors, you’ll come to us because you don’t want to be a lone voice in the bustle of the internet world – you want to take advantage of our experience and to see us championing all your hard work to bookshops as well as Amazon. And you definitely value the respect that is given to a book that has been thoroughly edited and is represented by a publisher.
If this sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch.
Mainstream publishing
Mainstream publishing is the term used for the route into print where a larger publisher signs you into a contract and, hopefully, pays an advance.
At first glance, this seems like the ideal option for most authors.
However … if you are set to be one of our authors, you’ll come to us because you want to know in advance what your marketing strategy is. You’d like to sign a publishing agreement which is written in clear language and leaves you feeling fully understood as an author. You’ll also enjoy feeling confident that your book is being pitched as the gem it is, and not mis-sold as something else.
In short, you want a publisher who is passionate about helping you to fulfil your dreams as an author and one who treats you as the unique voice you are.
If this sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch.
Collaborative Publishing
Collaborative publishing covers a huge spectrum of different kinds of publishing. It can vary from assisted self-publishing (sometimes called hybrid publishing) through to our form of collaborative publishing, which is very close to traditional publishing and is our preferred route into print. We classify as an independent publisher operating on a collaborative basis. This means that the author shares some of the costs of getting their work into print, but in most other ways we operate on a mainstream publishing model, particularly in terms of how we present and distribute our titles. We have experience of all three main routes into print, and aside from sharing the initial risk in this way, we operate very much on the mainstream model of publishing. All our authors experience professional editing and automatic access to the distribution network that supplies UK bookshops and Amazon, but with the benefit of greater flexibility and the room to ensure they feel empowered by the choices they are making about their work.
We give plenty of marketing support and we only publish titles we can be passionate about. We’re also quite unusual because this is what we term true collaborative publishing, so we also pay generous royalties.
We treat every single one of our titles as the unique work it deserves to be. Our authors like the fact that they have a publisher representing their work and they know that the high standard of their writing has been recognised. Our authors tend to be very committed, but are also looking for the support and confidence that we can give them.
If you think you would like to become one of our authors, please get in touch.