I’m typing away, so excited. My memoir is nearly complete. #1 on the New York Times’s Bestseller list, my book’s spine boasting one of the “Big 5” publication companies like Random House or Simon & Schuster, and the dollar signs I’ll earn. I’m finishing the last paragraph in my dream’s warm embrace when ice floods my veins. “Well, sh*t.” Tunnel vision is no longer a privilege.
The Old Way
Signing with a traditional publisher means giving away my story, allowing it to become theirs. A bill of rights, each disappearing as you move the pen toward the dotted line. There is always revision, compromise, and things you do to improve your book. There are also instances when “this book” changes to the point of compromising what it meant all along. Typically, books need happy endings. They need to fit into specific lines within genres, even specific topics. They need a lot to make your story more “sellable.” Sometimes, after all those things, your story is a lie and just not you.
Changing the entire story is rare. Gripes are usually about the cover, angle, synopsis, pricing, etc., but it’s still a possibility, which was enough for me. I’ve had clients experience it. Getting published, that dream, was nothing like they thought it would be, and there is nothing they wouldn’t do to take it back. Rights robbed, creative control stolen (you have no say in what happens to your story), and receive laughable pay, 5-15% of total sales when a book can take years, and significant financial investment on the author’s part before what? Giving it all away? Unless you’re the next James Patterson or Danielle Steele, you get little marketing support, so you’re taking the tiniest split and doing the work yourself. Pretty crap deal. I know this. Why would I ever think I’d be any different? Because I didn’t think. I was lost in the dream.
A client reached out the next day, disheartened. After scoring two agents for a book that we’d worked on together, her work was in the wind again. Why? Because of lines. Not enough sex to be romance. Too much “human stuff” to be action/adventure. Too this, too that. This book, part of a series, is franchise material. Then, I was struck by a montage of previous clients who were rejected under similar circumstances. Writers who came from marginalized communities were told to tone things down. Be less angry. But they should be angry!
At the time, I was also fact-checking a book for a client. I learned only 7% of published books “accommodate” blind and/or visually impaired individuals. Only 1% is printed in Braille. I was so shocked. How many people are deprived of the world’s stories is not okay.
Where’s the author/reader engagement beyond promotion? Recognizing all “the wrong” in the industry became my new tunnel vision, but this was something I could do something with: open a traditional publishing house that was anything but traditional.
A New Vision
The publishing house I envisioned would make an author’s initial investment nonexistent. Like me and any respectable press, it’d be choosy. Seriously, our vetting system is ridiculous. Aside from the finest writing and captivating stories, we’re a brand. A story needs to meet our brand, and the author does, too. However, for everything else a traditional publisher does, we whip it around. We work as partners with authors to ensure the finest quality, which they don’t pay for. We have the privilege of sharing the books we choose with the world, not the other way around.
An author has put a lot of time, work, and perhaps money into their work before they submit it to us. We’re not going to charge them for things such as book editing or upselling marketing packages. If they’re in, they’re in. We’re taking care of everything with as much or as little input as authors want. They maintain that creative control, so they have that power. (I mean, some just want a vacation.) Their stories are their stories as they maintain those rights. However, their book is a product that we, as a publisher. That means it’s the best quality, or we look bad.
We’re new, so we need money, which means we need books to sell probably more than an author cares about selling their book. Efforts in publicity, marketing, and promotion are not a top-tier addon. We don’t leave authors hanging, but we do need them to show up. When they do, they’ll be paid right rather than insulted, but those authors need to be as hungry as we are if they aren’t already. They need to interact with readers beyond sales. They need to connect beyond their book’s promotion (though, yes, they need to do that, too). Real engagement, allowing readers to have an entirely new experience. We don’t want them to feel things; we want to transport them. We want them to experience it all with us. We want this to not end with the book. We want them to always be in it and always want more and to get it. When I say readers, I mean all readers.
What Happens Now
I don’t like rules. We just never hit it off. Perhaps because I don’t like being told what to do or because I don’t believe in limitations. That’s what labels are: restrictive. Genres are labels. Forget them. As a publisher, we’re looking for books that do. We want genre mashups, bending and twisty. We want books that go beyond them. Not stories that cross lines or genres but rather ones that wipe it all away. I don’t want writers to dance around their truth, afraid to put someone off. If someone is too polite, their message can become lost. Don’t pull back, let it all out. Life is messy, complicated, often loud, and always changing. It’s not a formula, and as much as someone may want, sometimes real stories don’t have that happy ending. We want what’s real. Authentic. A lack of conformity or fear. Thankfully, we have it.
Our book catalog may come across as unfocused as a brand right now when it’s not. All the books we’re sharing with the world are real. Uncensored, necessary, or simply really fun messes, and we’ve reviewed several manuscripts to end up with nine, while several others are still in review. We have the pipeline of the exact books we WILL publish, and those books have also been committed. So, we have the goods.
When we have enough financial backing, authors will be paid as they should be and will never be charged for anything if their manuscripts are accepted. Having money isn’t just about making it; saving it is just as important, which is why we’re seeking out other artists and freelancers who are affordable without sacrificing any quality or uniqueness. (Seriously though, we won’t turn any money away if you want to contribute. If so, look over our rewards page if you need further incentives.)
We are being very mindful and on top of accessibility. Accessibility is equality, and accommodations are not accommodating because they should be automatic. All our content has closed captions. We’re searching for ways to include image descriptions into things without obscuring others’ views. I will probably make a vlog version of every blog. I won’t be reading a script, so they may vary a little, but I understand people prefer one to the other, and those visually impaired and/or blind may rely on sound. We’re looking for a Braille nonprofit to donate our catalog to so that they can print the books we publish in Braille without paying for them. No one should be left behind, and that does not make us special. That is a universal statement. No one.
Talk is cheap; actions are not. We’re taking action. We’re making moves. This vision can be a reality. We can do this, but only if there is a “we.” A revolution is not a person; it’s people. Please join us and be a part of that “we.” You won’t be disappointed.