Re: Ok, now I'm curious...
Been away from this thread for a few days. Few points:
B.T., I really didn't mean to offend you with the "guinea pig" comment. Like Rissey said, I'm just using that as a generic term for anyone who tries something new-- not at ALL saying that the only reason LBF is publishing your work is so they'll have something to experiment with. If your posts are any indicator, I'm guessing your writing skills are excellent.
I truly am wishing you and LBF all the best. Part of my job here is to help writers figure out what to look for in a publisher, and I want to add LBF to the list of publishers I can recommend without hesitation. With them, everything is based on hunches right now. Even with an experienced publisher, distribution can be very difficult. My book Outwitting Writer's Block, published by Adams Media (a reputable mid-sized house with a strong sales history), is still struggling to find its place on bookshelves, despite great reviews and outstanding online sales. New publishers are at a bigger disadvantage because they can't prove to bookstores that their books sell or that they know what they're doing with publicity.
Just about anyone can get titles listed with Ingram and Baker & Taylor, and it doesn't mean they'll find their way to bookstore shelves. Vanity presses are routinely listed with them, but receive almost no bookstore play. There has to be some kind of sales force (by a distributor or in-house reps hired by the publisher) getting out there and getting the books placements on shelves.
And back to Whatcha's rebuttal: I'm sorry that it seems otherwise to you, but I will reiterate my statement: New writers can and DO sell books to major publishers EVERY DAY. I didn't say new (or experienced) writers never receive any rejections, and I'm not sure how that got twisted. If you like, I'll start pulling out statistics and examples. Actually, here are three that all came in one issue of Publisher's Lunch:
Kyo Maclear's THE LETTER OPENER, set in 1989 in the
Undeliverable Mail Office of Canada Post, where a woman
spends her days sorting through orphaned letters and
parcels, and where she comes to know a Romanian
refugee who briefly works beside her until, one day, he
disappears without a trace, to Phyllis Bruce at Phyllis
Bruce Books/Harper Canada, by Jackie Kaiser at
Westwood Creative Artists (Canada).
Film and television writer Nina Shengold's first novel
CLEARCUT, about a salvage logger whose impulsive
decision to pick up a hitchhiker draws him into a volatile
love triangle, set in the untamed splendor of the Pacific
Northwest in the mid-1970s, to Diana Secker Larson at
Vintage, in a nice deal, by Phyllis Wender at
Rosenstone/Wender (world).
Wade Rubenstein's first novel GULLBOY, set in
contemporary Coney Island, Brooklyn, packed with
allusions to Thomas Mann, Cervantes, and other
classics, the story a peculiarly misshapen foundling and
the working-class ne'er-do-well who adopts him -- in
the process transforming himself into a workaholic
parent who tragically neglects his new son's complex
emotional and physical needs, to David Shoemaker at
Counterpoint, by Scott Mendel of the Mendel Media
Group (world English).
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Although I don't know any "famous authors" who can't get published anymore, if an experienced author stops getting offers, it generally means the author's sales record has dropped off, the author hasn't come up with any new marketable ideas, or the author's work has gotten really sloppy. It's not that publishers are closing their doors to experienced authors with great new work... or even to brand new authors with great new work.
And when I say "exposure is overrated," here's what I mean:
Take as an example a print-on-demand vanity press, or even a well-intentioned traditional press with no experience. They'll print your book. They'll get it an ISBN, list it with a wholesaler, put it on Amazon, put it on their website, send out press releases and maybe some review copies. Presto: Now you have "exposure." Your name's on a book and people can order it from the world's biggest online bookseller. They can usually order it from bookstores, too.
Problem is, that book will likely never see a store's bookshelf outside of your local area (and that's only if you can convince the manager). Three years from now, that book has sold 40 copies, mostly to your relatives. It's hard to resell it to a traditional publisher now because not only do you have to sell reprint rights instead of first rights, but you've just shown them that it looks like a bad investment.
Worse, when you try to sell your next book, you now have a track record-- and it's a bad one. If a publisher were to check into your past book sales to figure out whether or not to buy your next book, you have a big strike against you.
In the book world, the only people you want "exposing" you are the ones who have the capability to sell your book on a mass level, to the chains and the major independent stores and libraries, usually. Possibly to the educational market or by direct sales.
Whether you care about money or not, you definitely want readers, right? The more the better? If no one can find your book, no one can read it. My whole point here is that it's time to wait and see if LBT can deliver the readers.
When I mentioned the small presses I've "taken a chance" on, I didn't do so blindly. I asked questions, I looked for quantifiable results. One of the presses had put out only about a dozen books at the time I signed with them... some of which had sold almost 100,000 copies and were still going strong, and had received great trade reviews and foreign rights sales to boot. Still a risk because they had never put out a book in my category before-- which made me a guinea pig-- but a calculated risk. I trusted that they had the industry knowledge and tenacity to ensure my book's success. It was a wise risk. They've done well by me, and I plan to write for them again and again.
