While traditional publishing has its share of obstacles, many authors believe it provides a stamp of approval to their work. Here’s how to determine if traditional publishing is the right vehicle for you:

1. You just want to write: Let’s face it, for some authors, DIY ends at finishing their manuscript. If you are one of those authors, don’t even think about self-publishing.
2. You believe your work will be taken more seriously if it is published by a traditional publisher: The reality is that self-publishing still has a bad reputation. Many authors who self-publish realize its limitations very quickly and wish they had found a traditional publisher.
3. You want to give your book the possibility of being reviewed by a major press: Unfortunately, at this time, many newspapers, like the New York Times, several smaller ones and even some blogs won’t even consider reviewing a book that is self-published .
4. You want to have your book available in your local library or bookstore: Many bookstores and several libraries won’t touch self-published books. Some bookstores cite pricing – many self-published books are priced too high for them to make a profit or cannot be returned to the publisher if they are unsold.
5. Self-publishing sounds like work: If finding an editor, thinking about layout, book cover design, or book distribution don’t make you feel warm and fuzzy, look for a traditional publisher.
6. You don’t have the time: Self-publishing required an investment in time, and a lot of attention to detail. If you have neither, find a traditional publisher.
7. You don’t want to make the financial commitment: If you don’t want to spend the money to get your work published, find a traditional publisher.

If the above describe you, investigate your options. In addition to the large publishers, many of whose names are well known, there are a number of independent and small presses that can be considered.

What were your reasons for going the traditional publishing route?

What are some effective tools you’ve used to publicize your book?

But should you self-publish?

Before you decide, here a few things to consider:

1. You have a deadline: Say you’ve written a story and you have a firm deadline, like an anniversary. Unless you begin way in advance, the schedule of a traditional publisher will probably not lend itself to you getting your book out in time for this deadline. But if you go the self-published route, you could. In addition, unless it’s a story that could have universal appeal, most traditional publishers won’t touch it.
2. You have a diamond in the rough: Sometimes a traditional publisher might not see the value in publishing your story, like in the case I mentioned above.
3. You want to get paid: You don’t mind paying the publishing costs because you want to keep all of what you make from book sales.
4. You want ‘Soup to Nuts’ control: If you are the kind of person who likes to have creative control over the process of producing your book, then self-publishing should be right up your alley. It’s the ‘Soup to Nuts’ approach. You write the book, you decide the format, design, layout, even select the type of font you want (or you can work with someone to do this). You also get to set the price and decide whether you want to print 100 books at a time or 500!
5. You have published before: If you have published before, you have an audience and name recognition, it’ll be much easier getting those people to buy your next book because they already know you.

If the above describes you, then self-publishing is a good option for you to consider. What do you think?

Next post: When you should not self-publish

Here to address this issue is Abby Plesser, fiction editor at Bookpage. I started out by asking what a book review is and why it’s important.

Here’s Abby:

Book reviews vary widely—both in scope and content—so I’ll speak to the reviews we run at BookPage. We aim to be a selection guide for readers, so we read and review books that have received our stamp of approval. That means we only run positive reviews—something that sets us apart from other review publications. Of course not every review is a rave, but if we cover a book in BookPage, we feel it deserves our readers’ attention.

In the simplest sense, book reviews are necessary because there are millions of books out there, and readers need guidance in deciding what they want to read. Advertising, recommendations from friends and word-of-mouth buzz can all inform readers about what they might like to try, but a good review—or an informative negative review—can really help a reader make his or her decision on whether to pick up a book.

How critical are early reviews? Why does Bookpage only do early reviews?

It varies from book to book. Personally, I find early reviews helpful because they get the dialogue going. Before a book goes on sale, you really don’t know whether it’s going to be something that might interest you. Maybe it’s a first time author, so you have no idea what to expect, but the topic sounds interesting. Or it’s a new book from an author you love, but you aren’t sure if you’re going to love the new book as much as the last book. Having a review come out before the book does—or very close to publication—can be very helpful as you make your book-buying decisions. Of course there are always books that either don’t get a ton of early review coverage—or get mixed early reviews—and go on to be big hits. And vice versa.

BookPage is a monthly publication, so we aim to review the best books in each genre each month. From a production standpoint, we work two to three months ahead of publication dates, but when our issues hit the stands, books that are included are either on sale or going on sale very shortly.

Do some reviews carry more weight than others?

At a basic level, reviews are all about exposure. And in the sense of exposure—getting the word out about a certain book to the largest number of people—reviews in the national publications carry a lot of weight. So obviously authors (and their publishers) are hoping to get positive reviews in the big national papers—the New York Times, the New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, USA Today—and magazines—Time, People, The New Yorker, Newsweek, etc. But it also depends on the individual reader. When you read a review, you are trusting the reviewer—and the newspaper or magazine—and their opinion. So it’s a personal thing. I have certain papers and magazines that I like more than others, so I would probably buy a book based on their recommendation more than I would a recommendation from a source I don’t read or love. The same thing goes with book reviews online—as an author, you want to be reviewed positively on a site that gets a lot of traffic, but you probably also want to be reviewed on a site that you read and respect—or hope your target audience reads and respects.

Tell us about the Bookpage process, e.g., What kinds of books do you review? Do you charge? Do you accept review requests directly from authors?

We cover almost every category of books, from serious nonfiction and literary novels to suspense and romance. So we do our best each month to select the best books in every genre.

I handle fiction, so I sort through the hundreds of novels we get every month and evaluate them based on quality, likely appeal to a wide reading audience and availability through national distributors (BookPage is distributed to approximately 400,000 readers each month, and the majority of readers pick it up for free at their local library or bookstore, so we want to make sure the books we review will be readily available to them).

Our nonfiction editor goes through the same process with all of the nonfiction, and we have a children’s editor and a web editor, as well. We have a monthly editorial meeting where we sit and discuss all of the books we are considering, and then we make our decisions individually. We assign most books to freelancers for review, though we all do some writing, too. We pay our freelancers, but we don’t charge for reviews—or accept payment. And while we are happy to hear from authors directly, we have to make sure their book can pass our guidelines on its own.

What advice would you give to authors, publicists and publishers about getting their books reviewed?

I think the most important thing is to do your homework. Every review has different guidelines, and while it can be daunting, a publicist (or publisher/author) who follows review guidelines is already one step ahead of the game.

At BookPage, we ask for advance review copies (ARCs) 2-3 months ahead of publication. We like a letter from the publicist telling us what we need to know about the book: genre, on sale date, print run (if known), brief summary, etc. And we don’t review self-published titles or titles with very low distribution numbers, even though we are always flooded with requests. If you submit your materials in a timely manner, and maybe send a thoughtful email or two to follow up as publication nears, that’s perfect for us.

It’s also worth noting that no book can be reviewed everywhere, so it’s important to focus on the best places for your book to be reviewed. If you think your target audience is library patrons, then BookPage is a great place for you to be reviewed. If you are pitching a super literary novel, you probably don’t want to start with People magazine. Just use common sense. And it never hurts to get familiar with the book review sections of the big newspapers and magazines, along with the big pre-publication review sources (Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, etc.) and popular book blogs.

Good luck!

Abby Plesser, Fiction Editor, BookPage

http://www.bookpage.com/

Smiling because authors who write in English, and now French and German, can upload PDF, text, Word or HTML versions of their work, set the own prices and get 35% of sales.

Nervous because as a publishing professional who works with many self-published authors, I know that the quality of self-published works is spotty, at best.

(That said, I’m wondering if Amazon will, in future, establish any minimum requirements for writers who want to publish via their platform, offer editorial services, weed out bad writers, etc.)

But before you run out and upload your latest manuscript, there are a few things first time authors need to consider.

Working style/Personality: If you are the kind of author who loves only to write and cares little about the business aspects of publishing, this news might not affect you.

Pricing: How will you price your work? For first time authors with little or no name recognition, pricing at the lower end of the spectrum, say around $2 seems to work best. But bear in mind your upfront costs, e.g. cover design, editing, proofreading, etc. How many ebooks will you have to sell to break even? Make a profit? How many titles do you have to publish to make, say $100/month?

Marketing/Publicity: How will you find your audience? Just as you would with a bound edition, you have to get the word out about your ebook. Do you have a website or blog, Facebook or Twitter accounts? Will your ebook supplement a print edition or is it a standalone?

Research: Do your homework. How are works similar in genre to yours priced? How well do these authors do?

It is a brave new world we are charting in publishing. No one knows for sure how ebooks will affect print publishing or what the business will look like a year from now. I am excited by all the options available to authors and encourage them to take advantage of the ones that fit their needs and working style.

Share your comments below about publishing your ebook via Kindle or the future of publishing.

True, she does also recommend books via her magazine but getting into the magazine doesn’t seem to have the same clout and cachet as being selected for the book club. Maybe one of her final acts could be to introduce some up and coming authors or some young adults who are writing – something different than what she’s done before?

As a book lover, I don’t need Oprah to tell me what to read. In fact, I’d already read several of the books she’d selected before she put the spotlight on them, like Edwidge Danticat’s, Breath, Eyes, Memory or Garcia Marquez’s, One Hundred Years of Solitude, which I even attempted to read in the original Spanish!

As a book publicist, I’m always meeting authors who’d give their first born to get their books picked, which is what prompted me to write my last post, Managing Expectations, Part I: Getting on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

So while some industry people have described this as “a blow” to publishing, I’m betting that Ms. Winfrey isn’t done with publishing yet. As a self-professed book lover, whatever the format of the new show, on her OWN network, Ms. Winfrey will find a room for books.

Anyway, I wondered what the people closer to ‘home’ had to say about this news and was surprised at the number of them who admitted that they don’t watch the show. But maybe it’s the company I keep? I catch Oprah only a few times a year, I just don’t have the time for much television.

So, here’s a sample of some of the responses:

Carolyn Butts, publisher, African Voices

I think it will be devastating since Oprah has made it one of her missions to support literature and the Oprah Book List has helped create bestsellers. Her support of Push and producing the film “Precious” is a prime example. I hope she continues OBL in “O” magazine and her other broadcast enterprises. It is a huge loss for the African-American community to see Oprah, a media force, leave her post after 25 years. There is no other prominent and trusted household name in television right now that has a talk show and the versatility to provide a platform for politics, the arts and spirituality related topics. – Carolyn Butts, www.africanvoices.com

Nalo Hopkinson, author of several novels, including The New Moon’s Arms

I’m afraid I don’t have a clue. I haven’t had a television in decades and have never seen one of her shows in its entirety. Too, she’s never promoted science fiction, so she hasn’t been a big blip on my radar as far as being a novelist goes. Nalo Hopkinson, http://nalohopkinson.com/blogmain

Christopher J. Farley, author of several books, including Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley and editor at TheWall Street Journal

It’s not good for books. She was a friend and supporter of literature. Whether she picked your book or not, her public embrace of reading and authors sent a signal: books matter. One can only hope that she continues to support literature in her new venture, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. – Christopher J. Farley

Carol Taylor, author of the Brown Sugar books and the forthcoming novel, The Ex Chronicles

How like Oprah to give us two years to get ready for the end of her show and the beginning of her media empire… Part Deux? I love that woman. I mean what’s not to love? I certainly can’t imagine the last 25 years without her. Can you?

All the hits from Harpo, oh the brilliance of that one, my name spelled backwards is Lorac; oh wait, it’s taken. But I digress. Those bright shining moments in TV history with our self-help guru, motivational survivor, queen: The weight loss, the weight gain, Steadman and the never-ending engagement. Or the lesbian rumors, the road trips, the book club’s million little fictional memoirs, the couch jumping, the tear-jerking, the Girl’s School and the Girl’s School scandal, and the philanthropy. I can remember every cinched at the waist outfit (especially the leather one) and every hairdo, even the weaves, especially the weaves! And of course the show on weaves! And last but not least, her quest for world media domination. I most certainly don’t want to even consider the next 25 years without Oprah: The weight gain and the weight loss, (and of course the weight gain), the weaves, the tear-jerking, the philanthropy, the lesbian rumors, the road trips to LA, (and this is just in her private life) and the actualization of her own, literally, cable network called the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). God I love it!

But wait…

“In 1997, Oprah said she was planning to retire, but then renewed her contract through 2002. In 2002, she said she would depart in 2006 – the show’s 20th anniversary year – but in 2004 she ended up re-upping through 2011, after riding a wave of high ratings and a revamped program in 2003. If Winfrey does end up shutting down Oprah, it could be painful for TV stations – particularly ABC’s owned stations, which make up the show’s core station group – that use the show to lead in to local news programs. On the other hand, Oprah’s ratings have been declining – this year they are down 14% — while the show’s license fees remain high, an expensive combination for stations.

While Discovery Chief David Zaslav said Friday morning that CBS Television Distribution’s The Oprah Winfrey Show will depart broadcast syndication in fall 2011, Harpo isn’t so sure. Zaslav told analysts: ‘The current expectation is that after fall 2011 her show will go off of …  syndication, and she will come to OWN,’ the cable network that Winfrey’s production company, Harpo, is creating in conjunction with Discovery.

Viewers, on the other hand, might not notice Winfrey’s departure. Last January, Harpo and Discovery announced that OWN will take the place of Discovery Health on cable. That immediately wins it carriage on 70 million-plus homes. Exactly what Winfrey’s on-air presence will be on the network has not been clarified, but the talk-show queen and her strong eponymous brand are sure to be ever present. ‘In addition to providing her talent, and personal commitment, Winfrey will have full editorial control over the joint venture and will be responsible for OWN’s programming, branding and creative vision,’ Harpo and Discovery said in a press release at the time of OWN’s announcement. OWN launches next year. Winfrey also hosts a program on XM Satellite Radio called Oprah & Friends, and appears monthly on the cover of her popular magazine, O.” — By Paige Albiniak — Broadcasting & Cable, 11/7/2008

So maybe, Oprah’s not leaving… Oh, who cares? Because we’re all talking about Oprah; as if we ever stopped. What with the plays, movies, BFFs Tyler Perry and Lee Daniels, director of (Oscar-buzz worthy) Precious. We’ve got another 2 years to talk about it. Oprah too.  I mean, honestly, no matter if she stays or goes, you’d better get ready for the ascension of Oprah’s cultural idolization with the actualization of her media juggernaut… Part Trois? Whatever it is, I’m all in. Like I said, I love that woman, (and I don’t even watch her show) she’d better not be going anywhere. - Carol Taylor, http://www.brownsugarbooks.com/

What do you think? Please leave your comments below.

So what do I do when my author asks, Can you get my book on Oprah? Well, first, I take a deep breath. To most creative people, their book (or painting or whatever) is their baby. Just as I wouldn’t fool with a mother and her child, I don’t fool with my author and her book and, by extension, her dream.

After I exhale, I explain as clearly as I can how and where her dream hits the Oprah reality. The reality? Oprah picks winners and makes them into stars. Very few authors make it to the Oprah Show or get mentioned in her magazine.

They know this. I know they know this but I also want them to understand that as good as I am, I can’t wave a magic wand and get Oprah gushing about their book. I explain that with the limited amount of time I get to spend with an author, it is best spent getting other, more accessible media, local, radio, blogs, etc., interested in talking to them than concentrating on Oprah. (But I don’t ignore her either. After all, I’d love to see my author get on Oprah!) I also show her that we can use that media interest to build a platform for her book and perhaps get it a chance to get noticed by Oprah. It’s not as exciting or sexy as being on Oprah, but it’s critical.

I do something else. I ask the following questions (or some variations of) that gives me an idea how much homework my author has done:

1. How often do you watch the Oprah Winfrey Show?
2. How many book shows have you watched? Name 5 books that have been featured.
3. Which of the books you just named is closest to the topic/s you deal with in your book?
4. Why do you think your book should be on her show?
5. Do you read the O Magazine?
6. Have you read any of her summer picks?

And I relate this story to illustrate my point. Earlier this year, I caught the episode of the Oprah Show that comedian, Steve Harvey, first appeared on when he was promoting his book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy and Commitment. Just before she brought him on, Oprah said, and I’m paraphrasing here, she kept watching the sales of the book and when it got to some number (200,000 is in my mind but I could be wrong), she decided to bring Steve Harvey on the show. (Later, she brought him back for a follow-up show.)

Two things struck me about what she said: the first, and most important to me, is book sales. Even for Steve Harvey, Oprah watches the numbers. (Now that could be that Steve Harvey is a black and Oprah might have been thinking about how her predominantly white audience.) Whatever. But if she’s doing it for Steve, chances are, she’d doing it for other authors. So, if only your friends and family are buying your books, Oprah isn’t going to make it a bestseller.

Second, how open she was about her process. Now, I catch Oprah only occasionally but I’d never heard her mention book sales as a criteria for getting authors on her show. If anyone has, please let me know.

While I’m not going to say here that authors give up their dreams after I give them my little speech. My goal is to help them understand that just because they’ve written a book, doesn’t mean Oprah is gonna come calling.

The best thing authors can do, for themselves and for their readers, is to write the finest book they can. In the final analysis, that’s still who they’re really writing for.

I had set aside a day to finish some overdue personal projects and by about 10:00 a.m., I had built up a nice rhythm. I was humming along smoothly when suddenly, my mouse just stopped.

I unplugged it. No joy. I plugged in another mouse, nothing. Finally, I logged off, waited a few minutes then logged back on. The cursor just sat there.

My regular computer guy was nowhere to be found and since I still had not transferred all my files to my laptop, it was of no use to me. At least, not then.

I could see the day I had planned so carefully slowly frittering away. Without the mouse I was just as stuck as the cursor, which was now blinking mockingly at me.

For a good minute, I couldn’t think of what to do next. I remember actually saying to myself, what can I do? I had been so focused on the day, I couldn’t think of anything else.

The idea of throwing the darn thing out the window thrilled me for a second. Then I came back to reality.

I felt I had lost an actual body part. When did my computer, and more specifically, the mouse taken over my life like that?

I called my sister in the UK. I hadn’t spoken to her in months. We chatted for over an hour, about my mouse, about my 2 year old nephew, whom I still haven’t met, about life. I realized how much I missed talking to her!

Except for a few people, everyone I talk to regularly is connected to work. When did that happen?

It felt so good to reconnect and laugh that I called my aunt in Canada. I had promised back in July or August to call her about a trip to Montreal I’ve been planning. Now, it was November. Where did the time go?

I checked again, the mouse was still immobile.

Sometimes, for a change of pace, I go to the stores just to look. I couldn’t remember the last time I did. When did that happen? I hadn’t been to the supermarket in a while either. I love to cook but lately, it had become less time consuming to get take out. I decided to go to Marshall’s.

While I browsed the 400 thread count sheets, I tried to reassure myself that nothing serious was wrong with my computer. But then I remembered: it is nearly 7 years old, what if something is wrong?

I rushed back home to prove to myself that I was right. The flipping thing still wouldn’t budge.

In frustration, I turned on the television. Hadn’t done that in a while. It felt indulgent and a complete waste of time. Better to catch up on my reading, I thought. But my mind wandered so I opened the laptop and began checking out computers.

Just then, a friend called. His suggestion: reboot the computer. My mind screamed, I’ve done that a million times, already! Instead, I decided to humor him.

But I think he was the one who probably had the last laugh. He had to tell me what key did what. The keys felt foreign, my fingers felt clumsy. Finally, after about 30 frustrating minutes of what do you see on the screen? what is it doing now? did that work?, I powered on and surprise, surprise, the mouse began moving again, as if by magic.

I can’t remember when I felt so relieved!

Then something else hit me: I had been held hostage by a little thing not even the size of my hand. That can’t happen again. I hate being so totally dependent on anything.

Since then, I’ve copied over nearly all my files to my laptop, I’ve also set aside at least an hour weekly that’ll be completely mouse-free. I need to become acquainted with the keyboard again.

What would you do if your mouse died?

Marcia Mayne Book Publicity