What Are Publishers?

What is a book?

the content – “I wrote a book”

the container – “I dropped a book”

What is a publisher?

“publishing” means making the content public, regardless of the container
globally, when people talk about “publishers” (as opposed to indie- or self-publishers) they usually mean the big 5
in NZ, small presses are more common
small presses and self publishers have more in common with each other than small presses have with the big 5
when we use the same tools to marry content and container, the differences between the different kinds of publishing vanish

What’s in a name?

there’s a continuum of self-publishing <-> author-publishing <-> indie publishing <-> small presses <-> large presses
some self-published work is obvious, some traditionally published work is obvious, but most books are somewhere along the continuum
what’s the difference between the self-publisher who hires a structural editor, a proofreader, a layout artist and a cover artist and the small press who publish some books written by members of the editorial staff?
what’s the difference between a manuscript that was vetted by an agent then by an acquisitions editor, and an indie book that everyone is talking about?
with every passing year, the lines separating the kinds of publishing blur a little more

The elephant in the room

quality – if anyone can chuck their novel up on Amazon, how can you know it’s any good?
isn’t a book that was chosen by a publisher inherently more likely to be good than one the author just decided to put out there?
probably: it’s hard to judge your own work, though there are ways to get around that – beta readers, critiquers, editors
just because a book is more likely to be better if it passed through the hurdles of traditional publishing, that doesn’t mean that it definitely will be good
big publishing looks for commercial successes, so independent publishing can afford to take a chance on experimental, controversial material
self-publishing isn’t new, and it certainly isn’t the death knell for literature

What can book publishers do for authors?

What can an author do alone fairly easily?

What is it harder for an author to do?

Some authors aren’t interested in or able to do it all for themselves, there will always be a place for people who can help.

Places to find indie books:

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