What assisted publishing did for me – a cautionary tale.
The New Year is supposed to be a time for looking forward and this January is no exception. But before I start in on 2017 I have some unfinished business from last year. Very soon my two published novels will have no presence on Amazon, until I get my head round the intricacies of self-publishing and re-launch them myself. 2016 was a demoralising year. Here’s what happened.
The year started well – by February I had completed my second novel. But my small, independent publishers declined it, citing a temporary closure of their list. Fair enough, but the novel was the second in a series; a standalone story in the same setting as the first, so difficult to attract other interest. Not to worry, though. The publishers were launching a new division, designed to bridge the gap between traditional and self-publishing, where authors would shoulder some of the publishing costs themselves. Hey, even the Brontë sisters helped finance their first publications. And I was offered a good deal. Both my novels would be published under the same umbrella, a level of consistency would be achieved in the cover design and pricing… sounded good. I signed up.
I must stress that this is purely my own experience, and I’ve thought long and hard before writing about it here. I’m certainly not saying that all companies are the same, but “assisted publishing” didn’t turn out quite as I’d hoped. Who would have thought, back in those heady days of April 2016, when I submitted the final version of the manuscript – already edited and proofread – that I would still be waiting for a paperback copy in December?
Delay followed delay and assistance was in short supply, but by the end of August we were finally ready. Cue much celebration when the download went live on Amazon. But no print option and no paperbacks. September came and went. I couldn’t arrange a book signing with no books. The books were finally delivered at the end o
f October.
But hold the champagne. I opened a copy and discovered that the publisher had mistakenly sent the Kindle file to the printer. It had a contents page but no page numbers, and all the copyright and publishing information was at the back. Not ideal.
Ho hum. More thumb-twiddling as we waited for the reprint. Nothing but tumbleweed arrived in my inbox until finally, on 20th December, a new consignment of paperbacks arrived.Surely they’d be correct this time? Er… not quite. This time the acknowledgements page had gone AWOL.
True, I have had apologies, a small amount of free Facebook advertising and a partial refund, but these are meaningless when set against the months of delays I’ve experienced. I wasn’t even able to arrange a Christmas promotion on the Kindle editions 
because the publisher had control of the Amazon account and they had to arrange this for me. Or they might have done if they’d responded to my repeated requests before closing the office for the holiday.
So what have I learned?
- Ask questions. Find out what’s included in the price and who is responsible for what. It can be very frustrating when your Amazon pages are administered by your publisher but they don’t respond to your emails.
- Even if you’re being assisted, it’s important to familiarise yourself with the different aspects of self-publishing. Find out what is involved with the various self-publishing and print on demand platforms so you can make informed decisions about marketing, pricing and seasonal promotions. I was ignorant of a lot of this stuff and relied too much on the publisher doing the best thing.
- You might think that, if you go with a small company, you will have all their attention. Not necessarily. Small companies don’t have huge resources, and they will concentrate their fire power on their big earners. If they overstretch themselves by taking on too many clients, you might suffer.
- Find out what happens when the contact comes to an end. If your publisher has managed to place copies with one of the big wholesale book distributors, will these be pulled when the contract finishes? Mine were.
- You only need an ISBN if you plan to make your book available to libraries and bookshops but you may be offered one as part of the publishing service. The ISBN attributed to your book is unique. But it is assigned to the publisher, which means your title can’t be distributed independently, or by any other publisher, using that ISBN. If you decide you need an ISBN, you might want to consider buying it yourself.
The contract has now been terminated and the manuscript and cover files in the process of being returned, expunged of the ISBN, barcode and all references to the publisher (which gives me another set of problems….) The whole sorry experience has taken more than ten months and it’s left a cynical aftertaste. I have been thoroughly deflated and disappointed. My writing has been affected and I seriously considering packing it all in. Glad to say I’m over that now.
Next time I’m going it alone. It can’t possibly be as bad as this…. can it?
Maggie Cammiss 
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I’ve self published nine books and seriously, i have no idea what you paid for if you delivered an edited and proof read file.
You can download a cover template and word paperback format template file from Createspace and copy/paste your manuscript into it. You will need to jig a few things around to suit yourself, but once that is done you upload the book file and your cover wrap to Createspace, and when that is accepted and proofed by their system, you can download a kindle ready word file of your book. It’s easy enough to use a free ISBN from Creatspace, and when you upload to Amazon you can get a free ASIN number. Createspace let you proof your book online too. It takes maybe a week to get your book online as long as there are no errors.
Your experience is one of the reasons I have avoided publishers, although one of my series is being translated /published by French and German publishers- there is no upfront cost to me and decent royalties. Any publisher who asks an author to pay up front is not worth it. Run!
Self publishing is straight forward if you do your research and put a bit of time in. There are also lots of self publishing groups on Facebook where authors help each other out when they get stuck.
Best of luck with re-publishing your novel.
Thanks Isobel. I know all this, of course, but the circumstances were exceptional. I already had a working relationship with the publisher and I assumed I would benefit from their experience, which I did, to a degree. As a woman of a certain age it was comforting to have someone hold my hand and guide me down the self-publishing route. I now know that I would have been better (and a whole lot quicker!) going it alone. Thank you for the support and all the information.
very sorry to hear of your disappointing experience, Maggie. Gillix
Thanks Gilli. Over the hump now; onwards and upwards x
A very restrained post, Maggie! Well said – no doubt there are quite a few authors who will relate to your frustrating experiences, both with A and O. What a way to run a business! I’m finding it very hard to find the motivation to pick myself up and carry on. x
Thanks Anne – my thoughts exactly! Can’t let the buggers grind us down though, so I’ve picked up the reins and jumped straight back on!!
I’ve just read this Maggie and I know exactly what you mean about promise and delivery from this organisation.
Sorry to hear you’ve been affected by this complete incompetence too, Chrissie. It’s utterly soul destroying, but we learn from our mistakes, don’t we?
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So sorry to hear you’ve had a rotten experience. I used a publishing services provider who was top-notch for my first five novels and they were outstandingly good. They still prepare my files and cover for me even now I’m ‘flying solo’.
I carried out a whole research project before going down this route and interviewed each finalist for two hours before making my final decision. The Alliance of Independent authors provides a guide and precautionary check list to their members for free and for a small fee for non-members.
http://allianceindependentauthors.org This saves a lot of tears!
Thanks for the advice, Alison. The company I used have the AIA logo on their website. They also traditionally published my first novel so I thought I was in safe hands. I won’t be as naive next time!
We all learn from experience! I wish you the very best of luck in the future.
Thanks Alison x
I’m in the UK and have gone the solo route. I contacted BookprintingUK and they were wonderfully helpful and easy to use. I made one BIG mistake, I thought a digital proof would be enough, and they thought I knew what I was doing, so didn’t point out how much more realistic a physical proof is.Only when I saw the books did I realise why! They were lovely about it though, and even gave me a reduced reprint price. I honestly have no stake in the company except that they are still printing each book of my Danny Sharp series ‘Time and Again’, at a very reasonable price and their quality is excellent. They made it very easy, and I can recommend them.
Thanks for this Yen, and I’m glad you had a positive outcome. I think the disparity in our experiences lies in the difference between printing services v publishing services. I was offered assistance in distribution, marketing and publicity etc etc, none of which was forthcoming. Hey ho, we live and learn. I was refunded most of my outlay but it was a very bruising experience all the same!