Leave or Stay with Shoddy Publisher?

[Benjamin Sobieck]

It's no secret that the small press I'm signed with is having problems. Despite rearranging its entire production schedule (and pushing my crime novel back seven months), it continues to miss publication dates.

Books are still being published, but not when they are supposed to and not with distribution in place. I don't mean "I can't find my book at Barnes & Noble." I mean "The book isn't listed on Ingrams like it's supposed to be, so physical and online retailers can't fulfill orders for the book."

I keep telling myself that by the time the press gets to my book (I'm last on the list to be published), things will work out. But the more I learn about the distribution problems, the more nervous I become.
Do I really want to wait until July 2011 for something that might not happen?

My options are:

1) Keep with the publisher and hope things work out by mid-2011.
2) Jump ship and shop for a different publisher.
3) Self-publish the damn the thing and get it over with now. It's not like I'm going to miss out on marketing from the publisher.

None of these options sound particularly appealing to me. So I ask you, denizens of CrimeSpace. What should I do?

[Stacy]

Pepper and I are on the same page, LOL!

[Camille LaGuire]

I went for self-publishing... but it IS a lot of work and it takes a certain personality type. I really enjoy the publishing process, and I know a lot about format preparation and graphic design, and I can even knock out a decent cover myself.

For those who don't have that expertise and don't enjoy it, then you will have to pay people to do some of it for you, and that could run you some money.

My advice is, before you try self-publishing something that might be commercially viable, look in your trunk and see if you have a novella or a batch of short stories (maybe something that's about 15-25k total words) and create a 99 cent special. It probably won't sell well, but you can see if you like the process.

(Oh, and there are a lot of people making good money who are not Joe Konrath - many completely unknown before they started. The key is, money in the hand is more valuable than maybes.)

[Frank Gates]

Jump. I waited 4 years for a book to get published and the publisher decided to be a writer. I ended up self publishing it and it is doing very well. If the book had come out in 2002 or 3 the timing would have been perfect but the book missed it's chance because I wanted to hang tough and wait it out. I had no idea online gaming was going to take off like it did.

 

Go with your gut.

if you are having doubts analyze the issues without bringing in your emotions.