This topic is probably better suited to a professional conference, but it made it on the blog question list, so here we go.
A recent article in Bookseller found that “debut authors struggle with the lack of support” and the process of publishing a book “negatively affected” their mental health. Also water is wet, snow is cold, and nitrogen is the most common gas in Earth’s atmosphere.
As I read the article, I laughed a bitter jaded laugh. I’m going to send it to Jeaniene Frost so she might have a laugh. Update: I sent it and then we laughed on the phone in bitter solidarity. It was better than crying. As someone said on Twitter once, publishing is a breeze. After the first four of five nervous breakdowns, I barely notice them.
I usually try to go for positive, but in this case, truth is best. Here is my direct advice, without any sugar coating, on how to preserve some sanity. All quotes are from the article above unless otherwise indicated.
Terms:
Editor, publicist, etc – lovely people who help to make the manuscript into a book.
Publisher – the corporate entity that employs them.
Glamorization of Publishing
The portrayal of authors in media often shows a creative person who is treated like a celebrity. They are almost always successful financially. Everyone around them understands that they are special and they makes allowances for their quirky behavior. Their editor is attentive and hands on, fully plugged into their work, not just a colleague but a friend who is ready to assist them with every personal issue.
This author walks on the beach, thinking deep thoughts or gazes through the windows of their luxurious house at the wooded vista below, lost in contemplation. The author attends parties and industry events. Their new manuscript causes hysteria and drama as various people try to get their hands on it. The author arrives to the bookstore to an adoring crowd and reads their book while the audience hangs on their every word. Their signing line curves around the block.
It’s all very high brow and glamorous. Castle would be the worst example of this. You can see how this portrayal affected people by reading the Bookseller article.
I expected a lot more support – for example, a public speaking workshop, help in public reading and addressing audiences.
“I remember crying as I didn’t know how to make good author videos – I didn’t have the right tech or the right training.”
There was a school visit (unpaid) close to the launch date, arranged by the publisher. Nobody from the publisher accompanied me and I had no guidance on what to include, I just had to make it up for myself
Bookseller
My watershed moment came shortly after signing the contract for our first book. Still very excited, I talked my husband into getting our author photo taken. We did spring for a session with a professional photographer. When we received our shots, I emailed our publisher and politely asked if they would need our author photos for the back of the book and any promotion. I got back a quick and short reply. For the authors of our level, cover photos were not needed.
Reality
You are a contractor. Your value to the publisher is tied to the amount of money your book can generate. Their investment in you and your work will be minimal.
It helps to lower your expectations. All the way down. You will know you are there when you scrape the bottom.
I found that it is best for your mental health if you let go of the idea that you as a writer are special in any way when interacting with your publisher. You are one of many contractors. Your publisher will not hold your hand or care too much about your wellbeing. At best, you will be ignored. At worst:
“I expected the author/publisher relationship to feel like a business partnership. Instead it felt like a parent/child relationship with a lot of gaslighting and fake conversations,”
“Often I’d ask clear questions but receive opaque answers wrapped in praise and flattery, which felt a bit infantilising.”
Bookseller
I’ve described this before. You will be treated like a special toddler.
One of the authors I know said the following, “When I first got a contract, I didn’t expect a debut party or a big promotional push, nor did I get it, so I wasn’t disappointed about that, but what did surprise me was the outright lies and gaslighting that happens in the industry.”
Also, I know this for a fact, I’ve heard it from multiple people, that about ten years ago, at an event organized by a major publisher, where that publisher’s authors gathered for “the state of the union,” a publisher’s representative gave a speech and told them that self publishing was done and that if they hadn’t self-published by now, they had missed the boat and couldn’t possibly make any money from it. Print was coming back in a big way. And then they distributed coloring books as party favors.
Special toddlers.
Things you can expect from your publisher
A content edit – Usually a good learning experience. A great editor will provide the author with a roadmap to vastly improve the manuscript. Experienced editors are one of the traditional publishing’s main assets.
In rare cases, books sometimes go to print with a minimal edit. I personally know three people who had that happen. Literally, the editor looked at the manuscript and said, “Good enough,” and sent it to copyedit. You are especially in danger of this if your editor handles many titles. At one point, one of our editors edited over 50 books per year. That particular editor was very conscientious but not every editor is. I had thorough edits and not so thorough edits. But at least I got edits.
A copyedit – the publisher is obligated to have the manuscript proofread.
In practice, we hired an independent CE to copyedit our books on top of the publisher provided copyedit because they use contractors and they pay them peanuts. The quality of the copyedits varies wildly.
A cover – Not an attractive cover or a cover that makes sense. Just a cover.
As writers, we assign great emotional value to the covers because they are the face of our work. The cover is what the public sees. It’s our first chance to make a good impression.
There once was an author whose covers made her a laughing stock of the industry. Years later, the publisher decided to redo the covers. The author asked for 3 elements on the cover: a magic design, a red carnation, and some flames. The author stressed that all three elements were very important and even made a sample cover. The author received several mock up covers, which included: a pink peony, a white peony, a white lotus, a pink lotus, a carnation at an angle that made the flower unrecognizable, two asphalt roses left over after a volcano eruption, a still glowing rose, a melted-asphalt peony, and three asphalt roses.
From the publisher’s point of view, this isn’t a big deal. They simply failed to communicate to the art department that it had to be a red carnation, or the art department failed to explain it to the artist, or the artist didn’t read the brief. Any flower is fine as long as it’s in the ballpark. Also, it can be easily fixed.
From the author’s point of view, this shows a devastating lack of care. The carnation is central to the plot. At the core, this is a failure of corporate procedure. There are multiple check points in this process at which those mock up covers should have gone back to the artist because this wasn’t what the author asked for. It communicates that the publisher couldn’t be bothered to pay attention.
You can’t even blame the artist. I have watched a Korean Drama – I think it was Korean, but I might not remember correctly – where an artist was consumed by creating just the right cover for a novel because the book spoke to them. It might happen, but 95% of the time, the artist gets a summary. Blonde with a gun in leather. Make it purple.
A reasonably formatted text – I haven’t had any issues here personally and I haven’t heard many authors complain.
A publishing date – In practice, this date may be moved, and your book will likely be available before the publishing date which will often impair your chances of landing on the bestselling list. The book may be bumped for any number of reasons, and there will be times in every author’s career, when they are late delivering the manuscript, so this usually isn’t something to get heated over unless it results in a long delay.
Marketing – The publisher will attempt to sell the book to various wholesalers. You will not see this happen, but it is in their best interests to get as many orders as possible. They are offering it to stores. They might not be paying for special placement but they are absolutely trying to sell it.
Minimal publicity – They will send your ARCs out for reviews. Full stop.
Unless the lightning struck, and you are somehow the favorite child, because you are a Big Name Author or the publisher is really pushing your book, you will not get a debut party. You won’t get flowers or a phone call. You might get an email from your editor. Nobody aside from your friends and family will celebrate with you. Your editor might remember that your book is coming out, your agent definitely should, but your publisher will not. To paraphrase a villain from a truly awful movie, to you, this is a moment you will always remember. To them, it’s Tuesday.
It’s you. By yourself.
In a way it’s freeing, because instead of worrying about feelings and experiencing some guilt because you don’t want to seem needy, you can simply state, “This is what I need.” They will either say yes or no. Once the emotion is out of it, it will be a business negotiation. Except that writers literally make their living from manipulating emotions and it’s hard to cat them out.
If you want appearances, you have to push for them. You can get the publicity to reach out on your behalf and try to set up a signing for you at your local bookstore, but if you are just starting out, keep in mind that since nobody knows about your books, nobody might show up. It takes a massive promotional campaign to make the kind of splash that packs the seats at the debut.
Nobody will print bookmarks. Nobody will print post cards. Nobody will make any swag. In fact, the publisher will clutch their pearls at any suggestion of spending money on you. When the industry conventions were active, the publisher would sometimes print something like pins for selected authors and then deliver them in secret and warn the authors to not mention to anyone that the publisher paid for it.
Nobody will train you in public speaking. If you are worried, take a class at a local college. Nobody will educate you how to do a zoom. There are guides and walk-throughs online. Unless you are the front runner somehow, you will not have a handler. You are on your own. However, if you do an event at a bookstore, the bookstore staff will help you. They are awesome. One time in Florida, we did a signing with a police escort because there had been an incident prior to us arriving. The book store staff usually go above and beyond. And some readers took pictures with the officer who was a really good sport about it.
While we are on the subject, it’s probably best to let go of the idea that anyone wants to hear you read. Every person in the audience is able to read. After all, they are attending a book signing. I have been at multiple signings and the moment the author starts reading, people get bored and mostly wait for it to be over.
Try to entertain people instead. Your readers will have a better time. Treat it as a skit or a lecture you have to give. Prepare some funny stories. If you talk about yourself, make it fun and engaging. Be ready to answer questions. Remember, it’s not about you as a person. It’s about your book and entertaining your readers.
But what about ads and book tour and all that other stuff? – all of that should come with sales. It may not. Do you know what actually woke our publisher up to our success? We hit #1 on NYT. And then everyone on our publisher side was very surprised despite the record of rising sales for the previous 4 books and repeated appearance on the bestseller lists.
If you do get the book tour and the headaches associated with a publisher push, prepare to do a lot of work. Book tours are taxing, and they will leave you creatively exhausted. Conventions are worse. Meeting the readers is fun, don’t get me wrong. This is why we write – to connect. To communicate and entertain. But it is work. You will be expected to be on. When someone travels 3 hours to see you, and you can give them exactly one minute of your attention, you have to make that minute count.
You can do your own book tour if you would like, but again, you have to weigh the expense of travel against whether or not anyone would show up.
Post debut
“I am in the process of launching my fifth book and I am still supported by my publisher.”
Bookseller
Not typical.
“However, six authors – debut and otherwise – cited being dropped by their publisher, some with no explanation.”
Bookseller
Happens often. Can you make money? No? Bye.
And let me tell you, according to the publishers, if your books don’t sell, it’s completely your fault, but if they do sell, it’s 100% because of the efforts of the publisher. They will take full credit whether they lifted a finger to help or not.
Sales numbers – Good agent is essential here. Some publishers will provide the sales numbers on demand – PRH does. Others will not. Let your agent earn their 15%.
Take Away
As an author, you are your best advocate. Don’t expect the publisher to support you. In fact, expect that things could go wrong at literally every stage of the publishing process. Don’t get emotionally attached or you will be very angry and frustrated. Emotions are best saved for fiction. This part of the process is business.
Remember that the majority of people employed by the publisher are very overworked and criminally underpaid.
The average Book Editor salary in New York, NY is $58,616 as of June 26, 2023, but the salary range typically falls between $49,881 and $71,527.
Salary.com
The cost of living in New York City, NY is 38% higher than the state average and 80% higher than the national average
Rentcafe
Despite all the perceived indifference, these people genuinely love books and try their best. It’s not that they don’t care. It’s just that authors get about 5 minutes of their time before the next book comes down the pipeline, and they are greatly constrained by the corporate policies. If the publisher tells him they don’t have a budget, they don’t have a budget. Turnover is very high, especially among the publicity department.
If you want to succeed, write a good book and then learn how to promote it. Cultivate your fan base. The publisher will not do it for you. They can – and when they push the book, they push it hard. They can make your book a bestseller, no matter what they tell you. But that’s why those kind of contracts are referred to as lightning strikes. They are very rare.
The good news is that you can absolutely can achieve success without the publisher push. It’s a massive amount of work, but it can be done.
Should you traditionally publish?
Yes. I still reccomend trying. Two reasons.
One, the self-published field is very crowded. You have a lot of content being churned out, some of it by ghostwriters, some of it poorly edited, and now some of it is written by AI. An “author” can write 100 books via AI, upload them all to KU, and it might take an average reader 30 pages or so to figure out what’s going on. Meanwhile the “author” got paid for all those read pages.
The discoverability is very, very low. It’s easier to stand out through the traditional publisher.
Two, it is a learning experience. They don’t just give out book contracts like candy. Your writing must be good enough to qualify. It will make you a better writer. Once you are in, if everything goes well, you will get the benefit of the NY editor with decades of experience. Learn from it, apply it, and when you build your audience, take full advantage of your earning potential by going self published.
Will you traditionally publish after you wrote this?
Yep. You bet. Magic Claims showed that the POD model can’t meet our demand. We must have a print partner, especially for longer works. There is simply no good alternative if print and discoverability is given any kind of consideration. Don’t get me wrong, we are not quitting self-publishing any time soon. But would we work with a publisher? Sure.
Hopefully we can work with someone who will treat us as a member of the team rather than a person to be managed.
I can’t decide whether to laugh or cry, but my admiration for authors has risen a hundredfold. Thank you House Andrews for your perserverance as well as your amazing imagination! PS my book devouring horde sweatshirt is perfect and I plan to wear it to bookclub tonight!
“Blonde with a gun in leather. Make it purple.”
I laughed and I laughed. Because the first thing my caffeine-starved brain asked is, “A purple gun? Is that a thing?”
Is the Blonde purple? Is the cover purple? WHAT SHOULD BE PURPLE?!?
And that exactly why the author gets a cover with a purple woman on the cover and promptly has a breakdown.
Btw, the Hebrew cover looks much better – a badass young woman with a gun, flames in the background and an arcane circle. I’m a librarian, and our readers love the Hidden Legacy series. We don’t have Kate Daniels in Hebrew yet, but the Hidden Legacy books were published recently… For some reason, it’s located in our “romantic” section along with erotic books by Maya Banks, etc.
Whilst not erotica, the Hidden Legacy series is a romance series 🙂. It is published in the US by Avon HarperCollins, a romance imprint.
I truly don’t understand publishers on this. Maybe it’s just them being overworked, but I’ve actively NOT bought books I would have originally liked a paper copy of because the cover was wayyy too ugly. Not willing to have that sitting on my shelf, lol.
Please people, my money is waiting for you
There are a lot of things that go into cover choice, but cost and genre-specificity impact the most : https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/covers-and-genre/ and https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/covers-costs-and-artists/ expanded on the subject 🙂
This reminds me of Nalini Singh’s first Psy-Changeling book “Slave to Sensation”. The original cover showed Lucas Hunter in purple. Only the reader didn’t know it was Lucas until you read the book. The cover changed once the publisher caught on to the fact that the book and the Psy-Changeling series sold and still selling a lot of books.
I still miss the purple cover, though.
My morning brain immediately leaped to the technical issue: how do you get a handgun to function reliably after covering it in a purple leather wrap?
I didn’t think about it too hard until after the first comment. then I realized my mind automatically pictured a blonde lady in leathers holding a gun(NO purple!). ((I think it was my mental version of Andrea on the cover of gunmetal magic tbh))
When I read the prompt again I thought “purple leather holster”? and promptly went down a rabbit hole of “maybe she is not wearing leather?? it’s the gun??”
so yeah, lots of options!! good for brainstorming, bad for someone who has a specific vision.
😂🤣😅😁👍💕
My first thought was the leather clothes the blond is wearing would be purple. 2nd thoughts went generic cloudy purple haze in the background!
I was imagining the gun in a little purple leather outfit
Living in the grown up publishing world 101. So informative! Thanks! Coloring books?! 😦
I’m wondering if they were the adult meditation calming colouring books!
Wow. What an informational write up. Thank you!!
With some of the uhhh… .questionable content I’ve found and accidently tried to read on Kindle Unlimited sometimes I think, yeah I could definitely write something better than this. If this person can sell a book, why can’t I? hahaha. Something something side hustle.
But aside from those poorly ghostwritten/ai stories…. yeah, it’s intimidating when I hear about how much work it is. Especially to write things of actual quality, that other people would want to read. I write for fun currently, and my day job pays well– why I’m so busy all the time. I would have to scale back to a much laid back job to write an actual full novel. I would spend wayyyyyyyy too much time in front of a computer otherwise.
But really, to do that…. everything I hear is basically “if you are not super duper passionate, stick it as a hobby”.
Well, at least I’m having fun xD
And this is why I have a Manila envelope of all my stories hiding under my mattress lol
As a lifelong avid reader (and with definitely no interest in writing), I find these types of posts fascinating and so educational.
Thank you so much for giving such an in depth look into what goes on before I get that much w**ted for book in hand.
On a side note, my niece was an assistant editor for a very large publishing house and got burned out after a couple years. I better understand her decision so thank you for that insight as well.
Idk if this is viable, but maybe a trad pub imprint could pick up the Wilmington series and do a print bundle? I would totally buy the novellas together in the same hardcover (I don’t love POD quality while reading). I buy all of your self-published books in POD, but I never touch the print copies because it’s an uncomfortable reading experience.
Obviously this is dependent on multiple factors, but the demand would be there!! 🙂 Or maybe SubPress could do a bundle with a limited print run.
More hardcover editions are coming from both Subterranean (for the most recent 3 instalments in the Innkeeper Chronicles) and from Arcane Society ( Iron and Magic and Blood Heir).
I know House Andrews are very interested in having pretty special editions in general 🙂, so although there’s no news on that front yet, there is all possibility that the Wilmington series will also be available one day!
Subterranean’s work is so beautiful. My signed Innkeeper compilation has a place of honor away from grungy fingers.Best of all, it’s less than a hour east of where I live, so I can support a local business!
Wondering if you know if Subterranean will reprint original Innkeeper trilogy? Gave my copy as a gift and wondering if I’ll get a chance to buy another.
I have asked 🙂, waiting on the answer.
I’ve followed SubPress for a long time and they almost never reprint, even with high demand. They’ve only made two exceptions (Murderbot and Malazan) and only because the resale prices were going for $1500+ for each book. 🙁
Nooooooo……..🥺
Maybe the BDH could convince them? We are mighty. I can actually understand not wanting to re-print the fancier one (to keep the exclusivity), but maybe the still really nice but not quite as fancy one could be done?
Mod R, could we start a request campaign for Subterranean? 🤞 😁
Check eBay, may have a crazy price but may not. Many things find their way to the bay.
Love your books. Miss hardcovers, and I can’t get our local library to continue to accession any if they are not hardcovers. That’s a shame, as there are enough fantasy/SF lovers around here that our tiny little village library is setting up a (walk-in closet size) room just for this category. They eagerly await anything I can donate.
But I am part of the BDH, and will support you in any form you publish in.
You are amazing for donating to your village library!
Hopefully the library will relax the ‘hardback only’ rule so that everyone can have access to the author’s complete collections.
Very informative! I can totally see this as a Ted Talk or Master Class 😀
A lot of similarities with what you describe and my experiences advocating for family members through schools, social services, and healthcare systems. I raise my Vicky Baby mug and salute you!
+1 on Ted Talks / Master Class
i would rather have HA spend time writing books than ted talks or teaching!! 😁
I recently listened to that book and boy, Vicky’s actual response to Linus was much longer and more intemperate. The ‘Vicky baby’ quote was later.
Wow! Tough business. You are very fortunate to have Nancy Yost and NYL on your team.
btw, has our goofy & delightful writerly muse – the black suit w/ pointy shoulders, the center part, the winged eyebrow (I wish I could do that!), the white quill pen – has he been given a name?
I go with Wilbur or Sebastian, depending on the day & his wonderful facial contortions.
HA, you have the best friends!
I don’t think he’s been named yet 😂. He needs something FABULOUS!
He always reminded me of a raven, for some reason 😅. Maybe because of the “why is a raven like a writing desk” riddle.
How about Roman? He can be named after one of our favorite Kate Daniels characters. 😀
🤣 Roman would eat this guy for breakfast- with a side of black coffee, of course!
😂🤣😂
😁👌
True!
Tarquin. To me he is Tarquin.
But that might just be me!
Voting Tarquinius as well.
+1
+1
Sounds like a good BDH summertime contest idea!
+1! I’ve wanted to name him since his first appearance! A contest or voting would be fun! 😊
Archibald!
One vote for Archibald!
Tarquin. He’s definitely Tarquin.
Pretty well matches up with my experience in non-fiction publishing.
Fortunately, I had expectations of rejection, so I was incredibly surprised by Contract #1. The expectation of rejection remained, so Contract #2 (same publisher) was still a pleasant surprise. We’re now on Contract #3. Still feels like I’m pulling one over on them (woohoo for imposter syndrome!). Having little expectation on sales also helped, largely because it meant never seeing publishing (at least with this relatively small press) as becoming my primary income.
It’s just nice to know that my, now late, paternal grandfather (2nd gen immigrant) would be smiling to see the name on book covers.
Really great write up! My daughter (13) writes short stories and I keep on encouraging her to keep it as a hobby. She is really good, but not a finisher. And your descriptions abOve just affirms my believe she is still better of studying hard to become a VET.
Anyways, just had a question that popped in my mind, have you ever thought of doing a collaborative writing with some of our other favourite writers like Grace Draven, Janine Frost or T.A.White? Maybe even Katherine Arden?
Hi Inese, do you mean as an anthology, or writing the same story together? 🙂
I think an anthology would be fantastic. Especially with Grace Draven.
maybe stories from all of them in same universe? Because all great authors have their own style of writing, which will make characters fantastic to read in same universe… but honestly, anything HA publishes is fantastic, weather it’s a collaborative joint writing, different stories in same universe or an anthology in same type of theme.
Your perseverance is jaw dropping. I’ve read some of your advice posts before, but this one was almost scary. There is so much besides writing a book! Thank you for wanting to be an author and sticking with it. The BDH is eternally grateful.
Ugh, so many truth bombs here.
Technically, I guess I’m a mini-hybrid, in that I have some works published with small, traditional publishers–but these publishers are not gateway publishers and don’t have big access to things. (I picked up these projects because they were fun, not because they’d actually… do anything for me.)
I’m mostly self-published, and all this stuff you’ve eloquently written is true. Self-Publishing is worse, in a lot of ways, because you have to deal with everything you have to deal with when traditionally published, plus a plethora of stuff that piles up and up and up.
The competition is awful. But realistically, traditionally published authors are also feeling the competition, too. Yes, some venues traditionally published authors enjoy are still (mostly) untouched by the indie landscape, but when a reader goes shopping on Amazon, the traditionally published books get buried. (And I hate it, because I generally prefer to read traditionally published books for the reasons you have listed above.)
I worry the landscape, with AI on the horizon, is going to severely change.
Word-of-Mouth is going to be king.
And… with the trade administration’s new ruling and regulation changes they’re pushing through, ARCs may become a thing of the past. (Essentially, no reviews may be compensated in any form, and ARCs technically count as the compensation.) If they refine the language, ARCs may stay, but their first draft of the regulation changes could be really bad for authors using ARCs to get their books spread to new audiences.
I… honestly don’t use ARCs, because I’ve found more efficient ways to advertise personally. (That are far less stressful for me.)
Shed the stress, shed the stress… oh, look! I found more stress, I should roll in that for a while, get good and extra covered in stress…
Oh, well.
But… yeah. Writing for a hobby? Looooveeellyyyy~
The instant publication enters the picture… hello, stresses my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again~
Good luck, and yeah… I think I’ll go to a corner and join you in some bitter laughing. It’s been a week.
Glad to see you here. You are on my list to read all new books.
Thanks for persevering, R.J.
I love your books too!
I have a very strict space & cash budget. So I’m a prolific library patron. I have 3 cards from 3 different library systems. One is the Los Angeles County Library which has a huge selection of digital titles. Including yours 🎉 I just tagged OUTFOXED for check out. 👍
Please don’t get discouraged or too cynical. I am retired, on a fixed income…and you are one of the authors I always make sure I have room for in my budget. Your books are on my go-to list when I need a chuckle (Geese of the Apocalypse, ha!).
Lucy and the Quinns are treasures.
+1
RJ, go find many shiny birds and take pictures. Also, gentle Mom-hug from a fan.
My former job(retired) I rose up the ranks until I was a Manager. Now I had my work and my associates below!! How I worked and my associates were in different universes-had to get over myself. Finally, retirement was on the horizon, I gave my Manager a year’s notice. Two month before, she assigned her favorite as my successor. I had created power point & excels programs, and had years of experience. My trainee save my excel in Word. My final staff meeting, my boss opened we have a big, new program coming up and I was in charge. I said I retire in 4 days. She looked at me and say wow, is it that time. Ha-32 yrs! People view you as cogs. They had 5 new people hired in my job in 5 years. Her favorite lasted 9 months. Age has finally showed me no expectations is the only way.
What happened with Magic Claims and POD?
There were sadly delays from one of the POD providers and it affected a lot of the preorders https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/print-availability-of-magic-claims/
I ended up having to call Amazon to cancel my preorder cause it was the back order and it wouldn’t give a mailing date or let me cancel online. So the person I called manually canceled it and I reordered. I got it in two days, then 8 days later got the Ingram order. Now I have 2.
Really interesting. The cover bit made me laugh. I’ve lost count of the number of books I’ve passed on because of the blonde with the big knockers on the front.
The covers make a huge difference especially with new (to me) authors or new series. With your books I had ready everything but the Kinsmen. I was sucked in immediately with the cover of Fated Blades. There was something about that cover that got my attention. then I had to go back and read the whole series.
This is the reason why Burn for Me sat on my bedside table for 6 months before I could be bothered to read it; I found the covers to be such a turnoff. Glad I realized that it doesn’t matter what the cover looks like, everything HA writes is gold!
+100! I had/have the same reaction to those cheesy Hidden Legacy series covers, despite thoroughly enjoying the Baylor family and all their (mis)adventures. (My adult daughter ditto.) The purple gun anecdote explains so much! That must be so frustrating.
I’m so glad I discovered and became thoroughly addicted to House Andrews novels (KD, Innkeeper, the Edge) before that series came out. I might have missed so much!
I like to think I don’t pay much attention to covers, unless there is a blurb from someone like IA or Patricia Briggs. Magic Bites did sit around for a long time before I read it, and then I was obsessed. Fortunately, 2 or 3 more had been published so I didn’t have to weep and wail.
WhooHoo … way back ‘in who the heck remembers when’ but back, I wanted you, author IA, you to keep writing. to know that you had met and exceeded all the catch traps “publishing” said you needed to meet
This post says, they’re still floating their line but you now get it , see it and except it for what it is … not a reflection of your work worth/ability.
You work hard, you study your craft, you work to work in your industry to realize your goals.
Am I a fan?
YEAH
Am I grateful you write?
YEAH
Do I feel blessed that you found a way to do what you wanted?
YEAH
KEEP ON keeping on, growing learning surviving your industry prospering your writing and dealing with the challenges
Thanks for writing
Thank you so much for this candid analysis! I find it fascinating and horrifying!
I have a friend that I keep in touch with sporadically. She is a born and bred Houstonian.
One year, I ordered her the Hidden Legacy series for her birthday, not knowing her father, a graphics artist, had died recently. She got a much needed laugh when she pulled the Nevada books out and said her dad would have gotten a kick out of them. Much better than all the flowers she had been getting (asthma).
Movies and tv shows do usually make writing seem like the best work from home or anywhere job ever. But hearing from you guys and other authors I follow I know its not true.
I am constantly looking for authors in the Caribbean fantasy genre and if I find one I share even if I didnt enjoy the book. Because I know they dont or wont get much marketing help because is a tiny market.
But I did have a question, did that author ever get a carnation of any color on their book?
My admiration for authors is boundless. Anyone who can extract me from daily life and entertain or educate me, has my total respect.
I love to read, and I read very quickly. Science Fiction/Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller, Historical, and love stories (as long as they are not just an excuse for lots of graphic sex and thin on characters and plot).
What does make me crazy is a poorly edited book. Books that have misspelled words, or homonyms, (think site for sight) or simply the wrong word their/there, your/you’re. I just read a book, good plot, interesting characters, etc., where the main character ate breakfast twice in two pages. I kept waiting for a “second breakfast” reference….
At work I was simply handed anything that went out to customers/internal memos to proof-read after pointing out numerous errors. (You’re All Invited!!)
All this being said, I love it when an author can get a decent proofreader, editor, and actually create! I respect House Andrews for all of this, and actually buy physical books from them.
Wish there was a way for me to read for authors and help with the editing/proofing.
Was the main character in that book a Hobbit? I keep hearing Pippen’s explanation to Aragorn about second breakfasts while they are traveling to Rivendale. 😀
My older brothers were addicted to Charles Bronson movies back in the day, so I watched waaay too many bad action flicks.
Of them all, the moment I remember is Bronson’s then-wife Jill Ireland, in some pretty & clueless side-kick role, pleading “but honey, it was just a one-night stand for two nights!” She delivered this without a hint of irony.
Even as a teenager, I wondered what dumb writers came up with that, and why did no one catch it? (Either that or have the director explain how to say it with some humour, at least.)
To this day, I find a wrong there/their jumps out and sometimes can taint an entire reading experience. It’s not about the grammar police, it’s just that it can feel like the work in question wasn’t granted enough respect to be properly edited.
This is exactly what I have noticed. Errors abound in books and newspapers. It’s like nobody knows how or cares to proofread. I am a retired elementary teacher and the mistakes just jump off the page and stab me in the brain. How do they survive the beta readers and the edits? Maybe everyone needs a retired teacher on staff!
It’s not a Beta reader’s role to point out typos 🙂. In fact, they are sometimes almost discouraged from reading the story with that sort or analytical view.
A Beta reader provides emotional reactions, and gives the author first insight into how the manuscript will make the readers feel about the book, what things don’t make sense, which lines or scenes don’t land, sensitivity matters etc.
A developmental editor is also not in the market for sentence level issues, such as syntax and spelling. They work with the authors to address “big picture” elements in the manuscripts, including structure, form, plot, and character.
For more info and examples, you can read these posts 🙂 https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/edits-and-more-edits/ and https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/questions-on-writing-part-1/
I swear, I have run into a fair number of published books which were “edited” primarily by Spellcheck. Or Automistake.
At least it seemed that way. No editing for content was discernable.
The other thing that drives me batsh*t is an author whose writing wobbles between present tense and past tense, with no apparent connection to story or character. One or the other, da!nit.
Thanks for the publishing information. I saw a news clip last night about someone who just published a book and no one came to the book signing in Arlington (Texas). No one even knew the author until someone at the bookstore asked if he could video the conversation the person had with the author and post it to social media. The author said ok. After posting the conversation, the book shot up to number 1 on Amazon’s best seller list. The author was thrilled and shocked by it all.
I would just read a good book rather than writing one. I got burned out writing papers after my doctoral degree. Thank goodness none of that was published. 🙂
Interesting info on the cover art. I think this may have been discussed elsewhere, but the various Kate versions on different covers has intrigued me. Not a big issue as obviously the written word is more important, but the Kate Daniels on the cover of Small Magics (and the banner on the Kate Daniels list of books on the website) is who I’ve always pictured while reading. I just like her look, but I’m sure others have a different version in their mind’s eye.
I don’t have a lasting impression for Curran, though. Don’t know why.
The Kate on the cover of Small Magics is a commissioned illustration by House Andrews from Luisa Preissler, the artist who created several covers for them.
That Kate is the only one who was designed specifically based on the book description and author feedback. The other covers are based on stock images.
Ah, thanks, Mod R. I thought there was some reason but couldn’t remember.
If the Small Magics image is the one specifically designed by book description and author feedback that’s good enough for me! Badass Kate defined.
SoMagic Tides and Magic Claims illustrations of Kate are stock images? She’s the only Kate with a broad nose. The others have an aquiline nose.
Yes, she is 🙂. Ilona created both covers with photo manipulation of different stock elements – here is the detailed process https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/covers-costs-and-artists/
I like all the hardcover Kates, but the cover of Magic Shifts screams Claudia Black to me. She was so badass in Farscape.
Wow. This post encapsulates why I love and cherish House Andrews, not just as my fave authors but because you are just awesome! Insightful, intelligent, honest and funny. Thank you for sharing and I hope it was therapeutic for you to write. Have a great weekend y’all.
I worked for an educational programme (very well-known and well-respected, so my name isn’t going on this) for a long while and had to wear many hats – project management, dev editing, copy editing, proofreading, typesetting and webpage building for a minimum of three (usually at least five) languages, and even though much of that was outsourced, it was exhausting. I definitely didn’t do it for the money (not much) or the respect (HA!) but eventually burned out and moved into an adjacent field.
I have SO MUCH RESPECT, and also quite a bit of sympathy, for the cogs in the trad publishing wheel. I couldn’t do it again for educators, much less for people whose hopes and dreams depend on getting something done properly and having to make difficult decisions on their behalf. And absolutely not for the politics involved in large organizations/companies that need to make money.
Two stories told before but worth repeating.
1. CJ Cherryh once sent a book for edit with multiple alien races, distinguished by different dialects and speech patterns: the editor ran it through MS business grammar checker and removed all that.
2. I remember many years ago the UK covers for Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover series: the novel: socially very conservative spellcasters in kilts and plaids with a prohibition on distance weapons; the covers: supermodels in lycra with Ziggy Stardust makeup and a laser pistol.
OMG, those are classic! Having read and adored both authors, I can only imagine how awful that was for them. It’s funny, but in the early(ish) years of sci/fan publishing, late 1960s-1970s, the covers were all pretty awful. We just ignored the covers. Now, we expect better, so the cover art misfires are more distracting. (Up to a point: the generic “kickass” girl model with something vaguely fantastic in the background covers are similarly ignorable).
For classic covers of that sort, you still can’t beat the early 1970s Ballantine LOTR paperback covers. Just saying.
This was very interesting and informative. The explanation of copy editing cleared up some questions I always had regarding certain books. About which I would ask, “Didn’t anyone edit & proofread this book?” Ah, now I get it.
I continue to be filled with admiration for the authors who stick with writing, etc. despite the obstacles.
Thank you!!
Wow! Fascinating and rather horrifying!
I’m glad we’re back to the idea of a name for our wonderful quill pen gentleman, and I have a suggestion. The mascot for Washburn University in Topeka Kansas is a very dapper old fashioned gentleman lawyer and his name is Ichabod. How about that?
I was just thinking if Ichabod Crane and EA Poe had a baby – this guy would be the result!
With maybe a side of Frasier Crane.
Oooh, great news, heading over to her blog!
Tour posts showing how books actually end up in my greedy little hands are always so interesting, both fascinating and horrifying…they give me a whole new respect for authors and underpaid workers at publishing houses, that’s for sure.
P.S. I would totally buy a Kate Daniels coloring book. Just saying… 😉
OMG! The sunblock vampires would be so much fun to colour in 😂.
Skittles Nosferatus, taste the undead rainbow!
Best comment so far!
Thanks Mod R: I’m going to think of this comment every time I eat Skittles from now on!
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
Skittles Nosferatus for the win!
I’m surprised that saying isn’t part of the merch store. 😊🤣🤣🤣🤪
It will be! “Skittles Nosferatus, taste the undead rainbow!” tee shirts are only a matter of time. 🤣🙄🤣🤣🥴
😸…..coloring books…..😺
An average of $58K? In NYC? That’s teaching level underpayment.Good grief.
Of all the bullpucky in this post, that’s the one that stood out to me the most. $58K might sound respectable in most places, but when I had to live on that salary in Silicon Valley in the 90’s, I was sharing housing with multiple strangers. In my 30’s. In today’s housing market?In one of the most expensive housing markets in the country? Oy.
Right?!? What kind of housing will that get them, a broom closet?
Thank you for this. I’m sending it to a family member currently in college who hopes to someday be a published author.
This is super informative! I can see how it might discourage some people but I feel it’s important to know what you are potentially in for. I’m an audiologist and I wish that my grad program had been more transparent when it came to the business side and the earning potential in our field
My daughter is in cosmetology and this is thankfully one of the first things they touched on: low pay and how many health problems you can expect from standing on your feet all day!
This was extremely educational and illuminating, even for someone who has no interest in publishing! Thank you for your candor. And thank you for taking the time to share the honest truth!
+100
It’s a very tough industry, self-published or not. Actually, I think it’s more difficult to be a trad published author because we self-published authors don’t have high expectations. Sure, we all dream big, trad or self-published, but the crash down to reality is a shorter fall for self-published authors. And so long as we can afford it (or choose to afford it) we have a say in the cover and the audio and, well, everything. That doesn’t make it easy. I’m just glad you care about your stories, the people you work with, including the artists and editors and your agent(s). You care about your readers too. It shows in everything you do.
Thank you for the long and educational post! I am curious about the author photo you had taken so long back. When I google you, some older photos of the two of you come under Google images. Is it one of those?
I just had my first ‘Traditionally published’ book come out at the end of last year. However I’ve got a LOT of ‘Self published’ (Indy) books out there and have been quite successful as an Indy author.
The differences between the two ‘processes’ were a bit unexpected at times and I realized that there were several things that surprised me greatly. Not because I don’t have a great editor or a great publisher for the book, I do. No, it was because the business model of Tradpub is a very different beast than the Indy business model.
I will, however, continue to write books for my Traditional Publisher as long as she continues to buy them, because I grew up reading books from that Publisher, and for me, doing business with them makes me happy.
I will also continue to self publish, because the money is just too good to stop and I really love writing.
As for all of the ‘expectations’ some folks have? Yeah, I had to laugh at that! It took many years of work to get to where I am today. I’ve sold a lot of books (a -lot- of books) and been very successful. But that took a LOT of hard work and a LOT of hours. There wasn’t any help and there wasn’t any hand holding and there were a lot of obstacles along the way.
The biggest surprise? The one they don’t tell you about? Lawyers. I have more than a few of them now. When I took on a certain famous serial abuser of copyrights in an effort to stop them from abusing our rights? I really discovered the dark side of the business. That was a very expensive victory and again, something that I was totally unprepared for.
People have this bizarre idea what writing for a living is easy. The truth is, unfortunately, much different.
I work in publishing, and so much of what Ilona wrote resonated. I am overworked and underpaid for sure, but since I work for an independent small non-profit press, I don’t have to deal with the corporate culture or the cost of living of NYC. Since we’re so small, I don’t think we’re quite as delusional about the state of publishing. It’s rough out there. Ilona, I appreciate you pointing out the challenges of both authors and editors in the corporate black hole of publishing. Best of luck if you go the traditional route again! I think your books are awesome, and PRH (or others) would be lucky to have you again.
Love the crazy pics!
And all the publishing is in New York? Rather than being rude I’ll just say what do you expect? Oh well. Soooo glad you persevered and got your books published. I really enjoy them!
I’m so glad that I’m not an author. (At the age of 79 I just make snappy replies on Facebook and end each with LOL.) Meanwhile I just enjoy the offerings of my favorite authors and hope I live long enough for my favorite series to be completed. Just wanted you to know I really, really appreciate all the work and aggravation that you and your writing partner go through to make my days enjoyable.
I am not certain if this is the series you had in mind, but there is a Chinese slice-of-life drama called “Moonlight” (2021) that revolves around publishing world, especially around relationship between writers and editors, with some attention to cover designers as well. It stars Esther Yu (from “Love Between Fairy and Devil”) and Ryan Ding (from “The Romance of Tiger and Rose”) and it’s actually pretty good watch once you get into it <3.
Thank you for this post, it is very insightful!
All publishing companies also call self-publishing “Vanity Publishing” in the corporate offices.
This pissed me off more than anything else I have ever heard about publishers when I found out.
I often dislike the covers of US published books. The the covers on the UK published books is better, but I liked the covers of the German translation best.
Could you show us the covers of the foreign books 📚.
How many of your books did Anne Sowards edit? Five? more? When an author thanks her in the front of the book, I look forward to reading it. I wish more authors would thank their editor by name.
House Andrews always credit their editors, if you check the Acknowledgements portion of their books ☺️.
Anne Sowards edited all of the Kate Daniels series AND the Edge series 🙂.
She is the original editor who “discovered” House Andrews, so she gets huge credit for their author existence 🙂 (especially from the BDH! Yay Anne!)
Who was the editor for the hidden legacy series? Not Anne S.? Thank you!
No, Hidden Legacy was published by Avon HarperCollins, the editor was Erika Tsang 🙂
Thank you (on a Saturday!). ET did a great job, too!
Unestablished authors in an established publisher may not know their editor’s name! I am an editor who often contracts with the publisher, not the author. My contact with the author in those cases varies between a warm introduction and manuscript hand-off and just a text dump. Even in the first case, the author may not have the opportunity to add to the acknowledgements, because the production process is a combination of lion-taming and sausage-grinding, so your production coordinator may not have the spare attention to add two proper nouns.
Learned to read at six years old (first grade in the early ’60’s) and never looked back. But writing? Yikes! Several friends in high school and college were good writers, and I admired their talents. Always a struggle for me. (Part of why I didn’t want to go to grad school….the other part too long for here. Oy!!)
Love the writer guy – perhaps Albert, Edgar, or something Dickensian?
At one point in my late teens/early 20’s, I would have loved to be the blonde in leather with a gun on a purple book cover….kinda like the Andrea book cover!!
“Dickens” would be a good name!
Back when I used to trawl the specialist bookshops (UK was shockingly bad at SF&F imprints) for new reads I used to quite like the familiarity of the SF&F publishers’ cover styles, even if the cover itself wasn’t all that.
I could often recognise an Ace or a Baen just from the ‘look’, and the same with Daw and Tor.
These days of reading mostly ebooks I pay zero attention to covers, and the good old internet makes it so easy to check if a book is likely to be enjoyable or not before you buy – heck even before it’s been released – that I mainly use bookshops for non-fiction or collectibles.
And if it hadn’t been for the Ace styling on Magic Bites I might never have lifted it up back then!
This is such a fascinating read. Thank you for sharing a wealth of info here.
Re: ” … books sometimes go to print with a minimal edit. I personally know three people who had that happen. Literally, the editor looked at the manuscript and said, “Good enough,” and sent it to copyedit.”
Yes, this has happened to me. It was a ‘professional technical reference’ non-fiction book and the final product was pretty much word-for-word what was in the submitted manuscript. At the time, I didn’t know whether to be disappointed or gratified that I didn’t have to do another pass through it.
I don’t know why, but Fallopian seems like a great name for the writer guy =)
I could have sworn I posted yesterday but I dont see it.
Do you ever appear at science fiction conventions? Where would I find your tour schedule?
Hi Liz,
The authors are not doing in-person appearances at the moment, but they do virtual events with other authors and Q&A sessions for the readers quite often.
Those are always advertised on the blog 🙂
Two more thoughts, inspired by the colouring book comment:
1) DIY book covers. Every school year began with bringing in brown paper bags to cover all our text books, to save them to be passed down next year. Our biggest ice cream chain store used to hand out free book covers with their ice cream flavor illustrations on them. They used to be sold in drug stores – maybe an idea for a BDH DIY contest (I am smiling right now at that one) or a HA store suggestion (printouts for cutting and folding at home) – there’s a great YT for what I’m talking about called “Make Pretty Paperback Book Covers – DIY Home – Guidecentral”
2) An Etsy store could potentially find a niche for this (if they have not already) for disgruntled book owners in general.
Ah, books, paper, and pretty things – so shiny!
My mum and I watch a lot of interior design shows and my bug bear is when the designers either turn all the owners books spine inwards or cover them with plain wrappers. Or my other favourite, saying let’s add some bookshelves and then putting everything except books on them!
You have the best real-life publishing information! I now have immense respect for any author who continues to “roll the boulder uphill” to get their works published. I am a big fan of continuity in book covers for a series, it makes them easier to spot.
They describe what I, as a reader, have noted over and over again for years and also write in reviews. Especially when translating books, the series are often simply stamped out. Dealing with the authors is just as bad and reprehensible! The readers would be there, but the books are no longer translated or are not published at all. The prices of the books are rising. Although I suspect that the author gets relatively little of it and if you look at the advertising, it doesn’t all add up. Thank you for your frank words!
Thank you for the explanation. Now I am understanding much better why some authors that I have enjoyed, then poof they disappear. I heave then been left wondering if they died or just have massive Writers block. Your blog is a great example for other authors. Thank you
Quillon Curmudgeon
😂😂
I am a speed reader and love reading fantasy and science fiction, your books lift my sprits when I am down and forget work. Needless to say I have some 20,000, books, half as ebooks and have just finished shelving the physical books on my purpose built book cases.
I am a mining engineer and in one year early in my career I worked in four sections of the mine and in each I brought the production up to target. I was expecting to get a at least a thank you but the mine manager said that on average over the year I did not achieve the target so no bonus.
My last full time job was to be responsable for the final production and to close the mine to the highest standards. We made more profit on the final production than in the other 20 years. The mine site was cleaned to agricultural standards and the tailings dam is now a nature reserve giving me great satisfaction.
If House of Andrews ever decide to do a Kickstarter for deluxe editions of all Kate Daniels books, I would jump in head first and I am sure most of the horde would too.
Check out how Michael J Sullivan runs his Kickstarters. It is a great model that works great for authors that have an established fan base.
I usually buy through Amazon. Usually a good price ( I don’t care what HA charges…I buy whatever the price and glad of it ) and free shipping. They use to be fast but have slowed down. I would have been upset at the resent shipping delay in getting my Magic Claims but I went to Hoopla and read there. Win for me and hopefully another win for HA as the library or Hoopla had to buy a copy too. Thanks HA. Really enjoy your imaginative work.
I’ll always remember chatting with Elizabeth Moon at a convention and her mentioning just how much she really hated the cover of one of the books that I had brought. That and the other book I had that was misprinted with the wrong author on the title page.
Props for all the amazing work you do and continuing to push through the sloggy parts!
Interesting as always. Makes me glad I’m not an author to be honest. Re the print editions. Is it possible to find a small printer? Would your agency then take on the work of setting up the retailers? Or even smaller publishers? Zero idea what’s possible or even useful, just my curious it’s getting the better of me. Being tied to a major publisher surely sounds atrocious. I do wonder how they stay in business given the apparent lack of interest at the top echelons.
Had to love the comment about self publishing being over, yeah, right. They wish. But it’s equally true that much of the self published stuff is quite poor or at least so very poorly proofread that you dnf that book.
I can *kinda* understand the coloring book swag.
They’d just told those authors something extremely stress-inducing.
Total bullsh*t, but at the moment it was a real Chicken Little situation. So coloring books (hopefully with a pack of coloring pencils) would’ve helped them calm down after they ran back to their room, drained the mini-bar in the tiny college dorm fridge, and had a nervous breakdown.
I might be giving the event coordinators too much benefit of the doubt, though.
Thank you for writing Magic Tides and Magic Claims. I hadn’t realized they were out and just read them back to back.
Sublime!
Looking forward to moar moar stories in the Curranverse.
Loved the post too – learning about the inner workings of publishing is always fascinating.
Great piece! Very informative, thanks.
Moira J. Moore is a victim of the cover art problem. The covers of her Resenting the Hero series are AWFUL. They in no way depict the actual novel and make them look like they are a comedic fantasy when they aren’t. Google them, I promise you won’t be disappointed in their horribleness. I honestly think the publisher’s cover tanked sales and they ended up dropping her. She had to self publish the last in the series and I am not sure if she continued to write. The story, world building, were great. the characters well written. They did not deserve the dirty the publisher gave them.
The life lesson: we need to be our own best advocate. Always. In all things. Book publishing, or when it comes to our health, which is where I have learned this lesson.
I appreciate the insight into all of the hard work and dedication you and your husband continue to put forth to bring us such joy and entertainment. Thank you!
Thanks for this. It would be great to see your books back in my local B&N. I’ve been actively searching for new authors recently, which has meant several B&N trips and several random books bought on spec and/or bookseller recommendations. I don’t think I saw *any* IA books in sci fi/fantasy, and I was looking.
As a book editor, I would have to say this is 100% accurate—but could you cut about 200 words. 🤣
Seriously, though, it’s a struggle for all of us because writing fiction especially is a creative act, but publishing has to be a business in order to keep doing it. All the house editors I know have to do the actual editing nights and weekends, which is why I stay freelance. If we valued imaginative entertainment the way we do sports, just imagine how authors and editors could live! 🤓
As a baby in the publishing field, this was so helpful. I worked at an academic press during my undergrad as a nontraditional student and I’m moving on to another press this fall in grad school. I’ve honestly been a part of BDH longer than I’ve wanted to work in publishing—much longer 🤦🏿♀️—and it can be hard to find points of view that are this comprehensive and informative. In my experience at a university press, we worked so hard to please the authors but boy, we were all students so it became borderline exploitative and we spent all our time trying to have a level of skill that we just didn’t have. It’s easy to wish for a hands off job where the author matters little and you can just make deadlines and survive to see another work week. I found myself envying publishers of commercial titles, and then as a writer cringing at myself.
I think that is really indicative of how predatory and exploitative publishing can be. A room full of book lovers disregarding authors? That doesn’t happen naturally. That is an overworked and underpaid labor force losing its ability to be passionate. It’s sad stuff but boy, I love working with books. I hope to continue. Hey, maybe I’ll be able to work with my favorite authors like you guys one day.