There’s no right answer to “Who is the best publisher?” Each author needs to ask, “Who is the best publisher for me?” Before you ever start submitting work for publication, have a heart-to-heart talk with yourself and clearly define your reasons and goals: What do you write? Why do you write? What do you want to get out of it? Why do you want to be published? What are your short term and long-term goals? What are you willing to do to accomplish them? The answers will help you identify what you need and want out of a publisher, and, therefore, what type of publisher will be right for you.
If you won't settle for anything less than a major
One of the many hard things about being a writer is that, along with learning how to write, you also have to learn all about the publishing industry. Unless you are the loin fruit of John Grisham or Anne McCaffrey, you don't get any short cuts. You have to learn how to write query letters, submission letters, and synopses; you have to track who publishes what and find out how to submit your work to them; you have to learn how to negotiate a contract and what each clause means...it's hard work, but it's utterly crucial.
Some of the things you can do before submitting to a publisher:
-- Check their website and get as much info as possible. Are they paying standard royalty rates?
-- Look at the books they publish: are they well edited, are they well copyedited, are the covers attractive, are the books winning awards? Are they similar to your manuscript in genre, tone, style, length?
-- Check their publishing history: do their authors stay with them for a long time, or do they move to another house after they've published one or two books?
-- Do they have a track record? Publishers who’ve been in business for a decade are probably a better option than one who just opened its doors yesterday. How fast are they growing? A publisher who has not acquired a single new author in the last five years is a daunting prospect; on the other hand, a publisher who is acquiring a hundred new authors each year may well be an "author mill" and probably can't devote much time, editorial talent, or money, to any individual book.
-- If you’re considering e-publishing, look at what e-book formats the e-presses produce their books in. Do they have multiple formats – Rocket, Hiebook, Adobe, Mobipocket, Palm Doc, Sony – that will appeal to a wide range of buyers?
-- Find out which bookselling venues they distribute to. Are their print books in your local bookstore? Do they accept returns? Are their e-books available at places that are both well patronised by book buyers and e-shopper-friendly?
-- Hang out in various writing online forums (or fora, for the pedantic) and learn as much as you can about the publisher – do their authors rave about them, or complain? Do they have red flags listed against them at Preditors and Editors, or Absolute Write, or Anthony Piers’ webpage?
So, you've done your homework, submitted the manuscript (scrupulously following the publisher’s submission guidelines), and received that O joy! O rapture! “We would like to publish your novel” response. Now what?
-- You say that you're delighted (of course!) and that you'll be happy to look at the contract. Then take a deep breath. Read the contract very carefully and negotiate it to suit your needs, since you always go on the assumption that every clause in that contract will be enforced in the most negative way possible in a court of law. Unless the information is already covered in the contract or on their website, go on to:
-- Ask what the publisher's policy is with regards to their authors publishing books with multiple publishers, either in differing genres or in the same genre.
-- Ask what is their average, high, and low number of copies sold per title, to get an idea of what kind of sales you might expect.
-- Ask who they distribute through, whether they do print runs or POD (for print versions), and whether they accept returns from bookstores.-- Ask if they nominate books for awards and provide review copies to reviewers/award judges. Of course you don't want to be aggressive and attack a publisher, but as an author, you have the right to know how the publisher is going to approach your book with regard to marketing and sales.
Negotiating the contract
Each publisher has its own boilerplate contract that they offer, and each publisher has its own criteria for negotiation. Some have a very author-friendly boilerplate but don't negotiate: everyone gets the same contract. Others start with a we-want-it-all contract and negotiate various points depending on the author's requests and 'clout' factor. The boilerplate you're offered can, to some degree, give you hints as to what kind of mindset you'll have to deal with long-term with your publisher. One-contract-for-everybody is fair in some ways, but it means that even if you're gloriously successful you won't be able to ask for higher royalties. A total rights-grab boilerplate suggests the possibility that the publisher has a tendency to screw their authors for as much as they can.
New authors have far less wiggle room for negotiation than do established authors, but blindly signing a bad contract can blight an entire career. There are several key points in a contract that authors need to ensure they’re happy with:
1) Publication date: The contract should state the period by which the book has to be published or else the contract is void and all rights return to the author. You don’t want your book to languish in a void for the next decade! Anywhere from 6 – 24 months is an acceptable range, with 12 or 18 months from signing of contract being common. Substantive editors, copyeditors, cover artists, layout design editors, and printers generally have to be booked well in advance.
2) Rights: What rights are they buying – E-book? Trade paperback? Hardback? Serial? Foreign language? Movie? Strictly speaking, a publisher should only take the rights they're planning to use and capable of using. If they're taking the option to license secondary rights (like translations and movies) then the split should be similar to what an agent would take: 20% publisher: 80% author. Ensure, too, that there is a clause stating “all rights not specifically granted to the publisher by this contract remain with the author.”
3) Reversion of rights: The contract should specify for what period the publisher purchasing the rights. Sometimes it's a limited time of three or seven years. Sometimes it's until the book goes out of print: in which case, make sure that's got a specific definition somewhere in the contract since, with Print-On-Demand and e-book technology, a book can technically remain in print forever. “Out of print” is generally defined as selling less than a certain number of copies per year (for small presses, about 200). If the contract says the publisher holds the rights for the life of the copyright (that's from time of publication until 70 years after the author's death, i.e. forever), get the clause changed. Once they stop actively printing, marketing, distributing, and selling the book, the rights should revert back to the author, so that the author can re-sell the rights somewhere else. Every contract should specifically state that when the contract expires all rights revert to the author.
4) No-compete clause: The contract may have a no-compete clause along the lines of Author agrees not to publish a work with any other publisher within X months of publication of the current work. It’s strongly preferable not to have a no-compete clause; if the publisher insists on one, try to limit it as much as possible to match the current work under contract in terms of genre, length, and publisher type.
5) Options clause: The contract may have a clause along the lines of Author agrees to give Publisher first option on her next Work(s). The publisher's argument is: We're investing money in you, and we want a promise that you're in it with us for the long term. The author's argument is: I'm investing my novel (and my sweat, blood, heart, ego, ten thousand hours hunched over a keyboard, etc) with you, and if you want me to come back to you with my next book you have to earn my loyalty by doing a good job with the first one. They're both right, but they have to find a common ground they're both willing to live with.
It’s strongly preferable not to have an options clause; if the publisher insists on one, try to limit it as much as possible. Ensure the contract defines “next Work(s)” in terms of number, length, genre, pseudonym used – it’s not so bad to promise the publisher they can have first crack at the next book in a series, but definitely bad to promise them everything you’ll ever write in your life under the same terms as the current contract. Depending on genre, the publisher may want to option future books set in that world, or featuring those characters. This may be fine – or it may tie up your future manuscripts unreasonably if you plan novels with those characters in a genre other than what this publisher puts out. The clause should also specify how the submission is to be made – full manuscript, or proposal, or synopsis and sample chapters? And make sure the contract states how long the publisher has to decide whether or not to accept your next work, whether you can turn them down flat or negotiate the contract, and whether you’re obliged to let them match someone else’s offer.
6) Royalties and audits: The contract will state the royalty rate and how often royalty cheques are sent out. Often the rate will escalate with the number of copies sold. Royalties can be paid as a percent of the cover price or, less ideally, on net as a percent of the publisher’s profit. If your contract pays royalties on net, make sure that somewhere “net” is clearly defined: it should mean “the price that the publisher sold the book to a distributor or bookstore for”, but it can mean “the publisher’s profit -- after they subtract the distributor’s discount and the cost of editing, cover art, printing, three-martini lunches, webpage design, and trips to conferences.” Royalty payments are usually “less returns”, which means you don’t get paid for a copy that got returned by a customer or retailer. This isn’t applicable with e-books but is common with print books. A “cost recovery clause” that allows the publisher to withhold royalty payments or pay a reduced royalty rate until they’ve recovered all their investment in the book is highly undesirable. Also, it’s advisable to have in the contract an audit clause that says the author can hire somebody to audit the publisher’s accounts. There are companies who are devoted solely to auditing publishing companies for no upfront fee; they take a cut of whatever the author is owed. The fact that these companies stay in business kind of tells you something: miscalculations are common, and they're generally in favour of the publisher, even though they're probably almost always honest mistakes.
By all means, get as much advice and information as you can about publishers. But, in the end, it needs to be an individual choice. One author’s dream publisher is another author’s nightmare. Know what you want, know why you want it – and then do your best to get it.