Without Authors, Publishers Got Nothing

The Case for Author-Centric Publishing and Good Collaboration

Many publishing companies claim to be author-centric. It’s a new buzzword, really, and exists in the first place is because traditional publishers have become the opposite.

That publishers would want to keep authors at a distance, keep authors in the dark, would rather not deal with them in the first place, is always confusing to authors. After all, authors are the lifeblood of publishing. Without authors, there are no books. But authors can cause publishers headaches aplenty, in the way of their unaligned (and sometimes outright poor) opinions and tastes, and by way of sometimes being prima donnas, needy, anxious, absent, missing deadlines, etc.

My tenure as Executive Editor at Seal Press showed me both ways of operating as a publisher. We were indie, feminist, and guided by an egalitarian ethos, so we mostly opted for author engagement. We took their opinions to heart. We let them veto covers and our proposed titles and subtitles. For the most part, we encouraged creative collaboration. And, sometimes we didn’t. When an author proved herself to be “difficult,” sometimes we closed ranks. Sometimes we pushed something (an edit, a cover, a title) she didn’t like. Sometimes we left her in the dark about publicity plans, marketing efforts. Sometimes we shut her out.

I preferred the former way of operating, of course, and will say that the shut-outs weren’t common. But I saw them. I participated in them. It’s not like anyone sat around a table saying, Time to ice out this author. No. It was subtler than that, and unless the author had a strong agent to advocate for them, they had little power against the house. The house controls the money, the creative vision, the prospect of canceling the project and demanding the advance come back. It’s an unequal dynamic that can create unhappy outcomes.

Nontraditional publishing touts its commitment to being author-centric because a lot of us come out of traditional publishing. We may have disliked this dynamic. I know I did. My strongest dislike, however, was the lack of transparency. We often kept authors in the dark about their publicity budgets. The rationale, I believe, was that we didn’t want to let them down when they saw that the amount allocated was less than they’d hoped or expected. But that orientation to the relationship robbed authors of their agency to do more on their own.  

Emerging publishing models (as the Independent Book Publishers Association calls hybrid, co-publishing, and partnership publishing) are author-centric because that power imbalance is not there. When an author invests, collaboration is the default. As a hybrid publisher, I’ve occasionally clashed with my authors over covers, titles, subtitles, and other creative decisions, but I’ve never overridden their desires. Engaging with my authors makes me better at what I do because I have to make our case, to explain why we want what we want, why we think our creative decisions will make their book more salable. These exchanges enroll authors, and make them more invested in the process, too.

What follows are the 5 pillars of author-centric publishing, and what aspiring authors should be thinking about when considering who to publish with:

1 - Transparency
Transparency in publishing means that the publisher is upfront and clear about what authors will receive by way of services. This includes publishing services, but also extends to sales and distribution, marketing and sales. Many published authors I’ve met over the years have no idea how their sales and distribution works. That may be for their lack of interest, but this can also happen because their publisher doesn’t care to inform them, or it’s in the publisher’s best interest not to. As an author, make sure to ask and understand the ins and outs of your partnership with your publisher: what’s included and what’s not, how distribution and sales work, and how they handle marketing and publicity.

2 - Not selling authors what they don’t need
Author-centric publishers will not sell authors on services they don’t need. This is often one of the primary differences between a publisher and a service provider, because service providers are more focused on selling services, and less so on being a publisher invested. in selling authors’ books. I’ve seen add-ons for authors that include things like having a presence at book shows to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars, or putting into contracts guaranteed buys for authors who will never sell the number of books the publisher insists they commit to. Authors, be mindful of what you’re agreeing to, and understand the pros and cons of additional services. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, and hire industry pros like the Authors Guild as a sounding board.  

3 - Collaboration with education
To be author-centric, a publisher must be collaborative. It requires taking authors’ ideas to heart, and educating authors about why their ideas, direction, or desires for the creative parts of the process (like covers, titles, subs, and interior design elements) might not be in the best interest of their book. A big part of my job is steering authors through the design process. We don’t let authors design their books. I spend a lot of time explaining and educating about our design decisions. This is in the interest of elevating our authors, and our own brand. Collaboration is a two-way street. If authors are expected to collaborate, publishers can do so, too. My collaboration tool of choice is education, and most authors understand and appreciate our choices once they understand why we’re making them.

4 - Setting appropriate expectations
One of my hybrid publisher friends joked with me the other day that he spends more time trying to convince authors not to go with his company than he does selling them on what they do. This is the sign of a good publisher because it signifies that he wants authors to go into the publishing relationship with their eyes wide open. Expectation setting makes for happier authors. Poor expectation setting runs the gamut from predatory companies that make false promises to well-inentioned companies that are more guilty of avoiding reality checks with new authors. When authors come to me and say they’re going to be New York Times bestsellers, that they’re going to sell 10,000 books, or that their book is going to become our bestselling book ever (all things authors have said to me), I always talk to them about the realities of book publishing. This is not to kill any author’s dreams, but to bring them down to earth. I don’t want any author coming back to me two years down the road and saying I colluded with them, didn’t warn them, should have, could have. Expectation setting breeds better partnerships.

5 - Consistency
Consistency means that all projects get consistent treatment, that publishers are consistent in their messaging to authors, and that authors can rely on that consistency. Anyone should be able to order five books from a given publisher and see the consistency of their quality, to talk to five authors who’ve worked with a house and hear that they’ve had relatively consistent experiences. Lack of consistency may speak to authors getting different kinds of treatment (which is one of the downfalls of traditional publishing because of hierarchies: the more important the author, or sometimes their agent, the better the treatment). Emerging publishing models are more democratic by nature, and as such author-centric practices should be baked in. Writers thinking about publishing with a company that claims to be author-centric can and should talk to other authors. Don’t be afraid to vet where you’re going.

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I’m a proudly author-centric publisher. This doesn’t mean that every single one of my authors loves me or has had a perfect publishing experience. In business collaborations, you will run up against personality clashes, disappointments no matter how you set expectations, and more. This is a tough business because authors turn over to publishers something so precious to them—their creative brainchildren, an extension of themselves. As a publisher, I know I’m in an honored position because authors place their trust in us, and I take my author advocacy seriously. There are many great publishing companies out there with this same orientation toward the business, so do your due diligence in finding them.

If you’re a writer who’s going to be published or an already-published author, you deserve to work with an author-centric company. It’s all the rage right now for companies to say they are, but dig to find out whether they truly are—and look for some signals of the five pillars in your publisher search. You’ll be thankful later!