Plan B Publishing

Before we can talk about publishing, it's important to first distinguish between the different types of publishing. Publishing can be broken down into three basic methods, the most well known being traditional publishing. For anything you ever wanted to know about the publishing industry, I've included some information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Publishing (Not recommended unless you are intensely interested in the publishing process). Let's continue! Traditional publishing houses have been around for many hundreds of years, and almost everyone is familiar with them. Generally, traditional publishing houses accept manuscripts from individuals, which are then reviewed by a staff person, and then either accepted or rejected.

When sending a manuscript to a traditional publishing house, there are multiple components that are required, such as a cover letter. For anyone thinking about submitting a manuscript to a traditional publishing house, the most comprehensive guide for doing so is the book Writer's Market which comes out yearly. This immensely thick book can be found in the reference section of just about any bookstore and has many very helpful resources, such as:

A guide to writing a cover letter
A list of publishing houses
A list of publishing agents
A list of contests by genre
And more

I picked up Writer's Market 2009 myself just the other day and am slowly going through the contents. It's a very helpful tool for anyone wanting to submit to a traditional publishing house.

Now we get to the pitfalls of traditional publishing. Because of the overwhelming wealth of manuscripts being submitted everyday to publishing houses, chances are more slim than ever that books will be reviewed and accepted. In fact, according to some experts, without a publishing agent advocating a work, the chance at getting published through a reputable publishing house is almost non-existent. In addition, the wait time for a manuscript to be reviewed can sometimes be over six months. Your manuscript could be sitting in a veritable pile of other manuscripts on the desk of an overworked publishing agent for who knows how long. Because of this, many publishing agents aren't accepting new clients.

Some are, however, and if you can find them and set up a meeting, there are a few things you can do to set yourself apart from the rest of the crowd. Publishing agents like to see initiative and and overall love for writing. One of the tactics that's becoming more and more popular these days is to have a successful blog under your belt. There are many dozens of forums where bloggers gather in todays internet world, chat chat chatting away with other bloggers -- writing, reviewing, and commenting on each other's works. My personal favorite is Hub Pages. I love the literary community and topics being discussed. For an example, see Benji Mester's Hub Page Profile.

If you can show up to an agent's office with not only a manuscript but also a working blog with lots of dedicated fans complimenting your work, not only will the publishing agent see initiative, they'll be able to review little snippets of your work and see how random people in the online community are responding to it. My advice to anyone currently writing a manuscript is to go out immediately and start blogging on at least one blogging forumn. Who knows, you might get even more inspiration from having conversations, and write about topics you never ever dreamed you would touch.

That's a short review of traditional publishing. Next, we'll move on to self-publishing. There has been some debate in the past decade over whether self-publishing should even be called publishing at all. Self-publishing in the minds of many, is more akin to printing up your story on your HP home printer and passing it out to all your friends for a couple bucks a pop. Because of the fact that self-publishers have limited or no restrictions on what can be printed, there isn't that feel of having a book that's been tried and tested in the fires of harsh reviews and strict edits.

Self-publishers are popping up more and more in today's publishing commnuity. One has only to type in "self publishing companies" into a google search to be hit with a barrage of websites eagerly wanting their business. The pros of self-publishing are obvious:

1) Self-publishing houses will print virtually anything
2) Generally short wait times
3) Some distribution and advertising (Depending on the publisher)

The cons, however, are daunting:

1) The author generally pays all costs
2) The distribution is far more limited in scope than traditional publishing houses
3) There is a negative stigma attached to self-publised books. The feeling that the author couldn't make it with the big boys.

For this reason, self-publishing is not generally an advisable way to compete with larger, well-established publishing companies. Generally, if an author goes the self-publishing route, they're hope is usually that their work will be seen by a representative of a larger house, then re-published with the newer house.

The third style of publishing, online publishing, is a very recent phenomenon. Ebooks are gaining popularity everyday, especially with digital readers like the Amazon Kindle making it easier than ever to buy and enjoy ebooks. Because of the ease of online publishing, there are a plethora of websites dedicated to ebooks. The pros of this style of publishing, however, are limited. For, while online publishing is the easiest form of publishing, Ebooks are virtually a dime a dozen, and the quality of books published online is often lacking. There is also very little money to be made in online publishing, unless the information is specialized and authoratative in an area of self-help. Self-help ebooks, by authorities in their respective field, often are sold at premium prices, and often are paired with specialized services and offers.

The fourth and final style of publishing is the one we at Plan B Publishing are hoping to create. I'll call it interactive publishing for now. What we hope to do is to combine aspects of all three current forms of publishing to give our featured authors every tool they need in order to successfully compete with the already well-established publishing houses. We call it interactive publishing, because one of the main goals of the site is to create a widely used Author's Blog where readers actually interact with the authors.

With access to wholesale printing, our goal is to sell and distribute ebooks and physical copies worldwide. By blogging in current forums and submitting articles to online sites, our authors will be able to gain an audience and interact with them. With costs very low, our authors will be able to keep their earnings, and not be left with just a tiny slice of the pie that they themselves created. We're already in the process of training our first two featured authors. So check us out and see the difference.