2/2 #smallpresspublishing Given that, you have x number of contracted years to find an audience for an author’s book. Sometimes, that author feels that things aren’t moving fast enough and gets pissy about it. Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how hard you try, you just can’t sell that book. Sometimes, you have to throw in the towel for other reasons. But when things are chugging along and each year gets a bit better, no review or reward or recognition for that book is too “late.” Just saying.

1/2 Gonna climb up on my soapbox for a minute or two here about #smallpresspublishing. This is a long game, which is not the same as saying that you or I will win at it, but realistically, it’s a ton of energy and planning and money and work that often doesn’t pay off quickly (or sometimes, at all). It’s precarious and hard and easy to get derailed. Finding a book’s “people” can take years. Or it may never happen. It is not a game for the impatient, in short.

#Smallpresspublishing #Bookstores #Bookstodon So it’s a crappy system, one where all of us, including the authors who often really want to be on the shelves, get squeezed. But leading with “How fast can we get rid of this product that represents an immense amount of your time, money and energy and which in another industry we’d be expected to actually work on…selling?” Not great. And not every bookstore owner or manager is like this, but it’s not exactly rare, either. 🤷🏻‍♀️

#Smallpresspublishing #bookstores #Bookstodon A bookseller friend recently asked me why so many small presses were going direct to consumers via web stores and book tables and the answer is that if we don’t, print sales are either negligible or a complete loss. Most of us do better on ebook sales than we do on print by a wide margin.

If you liked our panel on #smallpresspublishing at #WisCon last night or wished you could have been there, I’m teaching a more detailed online workshop on what goes behind the scenes at small presses at the #RamboAcademy next Sunday 6/4! http://www.aqueductpress.com/authors/SusandiRende.php

#smallpresspublishing So this week:
Monday - Queen of Swords Press was profiled in Publishers Weekly, along with other cool queer specfic presses
Tuesday - I was a guest on Write On! Radio on KFAI talking about our books.
Saturday - I’ll be teaching about book promotion and how to do it on a budget at the Rambo Academy.
Sunday - I’ll be a guest on the So I’m Writing a Novel Podcast
4 appearances, audiences in the thousands. Books sold so far in May: 15. Like our books? Tell someone! ❤️‍🩹

#smallpresspublishing 3/? any actual queer content. Yes, I think the writing is very pretty too, but… And I saw it on at least 3 lists. As with diversifying your reading so you’re not always reading books by straight white dudes, including small press and indie authors takes some effort. But if we’re only visible to you when we close up shop, that’s lost work, lost voices and missed opportunities and overall, does the field no favors.

#smallpresspublishing This isn’t just about my own small queer press - it’s about the “Lesbian Visibility Week” (as a recent example) that are full of straight authors and big presses and Tor’s greatly beloved “blink and you’ll miss the queer reference/oops, they’re dead now” titles. I love me some Tor books, but I could talk about sfnal books with actual lesbian characters for a solid week and never get to “This is How We Win the Time War,” whose queerness hinges more on marketing than…

#smallpresspublishing 2/? It is not about the quality of the books as much as it is about the buzz. Buzz comes from readers and reviewers talking about our books as much as it comes from authors doing the same. The vast majority of bloggers and reviewers whose feeds I see talk about the same publishers, the same books and the same authors. Every year, virtually identical year’s best lists. I cherish the exceptions because they’re putting the effort to find us and presses like us.

#smallpresspublishing 1/? Gonna be an ass for a minute here: I see another small press is closing (this happens constantly, sadly enough) and there is much mourning…except if I’ve never seen any reviews of any of their books and no one is talking about those books, that is an automatic death knell unless there’s a whole lot of money behind it. Which is seldom the case. It takes an incredible amount of hustle to keep a small press afloat, let alone growing.

An object lesson on why one asks one’s visually-inclined authors to describe their characters for cover artists.
Me: There are 2 characters…one is taller than the other and maybe blonde?
Author: Solid couple of paragraphs of highly detailed description.
Me: Right. I knew that.
#SmallPressPublishing, the Adventure

With thanks to Juniper Poetry and Best Canadian Poetry #poems #smallpresspublishing