Basically, what is happening is “publishers” (really they are publishing services companies) such as Author Solutions are offering traditional publishers a way to profit from the authors they don’t deem worthy of taking a risk on and publishing in the traditional way. Author Solutions is the parent company of self-publishing imprints AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford Publishing and Xlibris. All of these are listed in the “Publishers to Avoid” chapter of Mark Levine’s excellent book, The Fine Print of Self-Publishing: The Contracts & Services of 45 Self-Publishing Companies–Analyzed, Ranked and Exposed.

I’m not necessarily against this new “partnership publishing” model. It’s probably inevitable, because the “old era publishing” model is becoming less and less viable. Retail outlets are closing right and left, publishers’ profit margins are getting thinner and thinner. As Mark Weiss stated,  this new partnership model allows publishers to use this new approach  as a “proving ground” for authors.”They get the opportunity to, in essence, create a farm system. … [Traditional publishers] get the opportunity to watch these writers and see how they do in the marketplace before they give them an advance.”

But, do the authors really benefit? They pay for the privilege of getting published … the media know what’s going on, and very rarely take books by subsidy publishers seriously, no matter what these “publishers” say. Distribution (in retail outlets) and coverage by the media have always been the issues subsidy publishers adroitly avoid addressing.

I thought it puzzling that Weiss said, “Because we do so much volume, costs are much lower than [traditional publishers']. It gives traditional publishing the opportunity to look at a different form of production of the physical book and start to experiment, and see how other people do things and get a much closer look at it. … It gives the publisher the opportunity to get involved in a new form of publishing without building all the infrastructure and expending all the time and energy that it takes to build something new.” Is he saying that traditional publishers don’t know how to edit, promote, and get books into the distribution channels?

Seems to me there IS something traditional publishers don’t know how to do, that many  subsidy publishers are very good at. That is profiting from authors’ work, while giving very little service. Author Solutions published 21,000 books last year. Can any company that services that many authors truly provide service? In the past, “old era” model, the publisher did take a big risk. The publisher only profited when they were right about a book, that it would sell well and make up for the 97% of books that didn’t sell out their advances. Yes, it’s been a risky thing, now more than ever, which is why that model is crumbling.

However, authors must be very wary of the new options being put forth. Always ask, “Who is really profiting here?” Make sure there truly is a win-win opportunity, and it’s fair. It’s fair for an author to pay for publishing services, if they are fairly structured and priced. It’s fair for the publisher to make some profit on their services, but not to mark up, say, the printing so much that the author must price the book higher than the market can bear in order to make a profit.

Author beware! Contact me for a consult before you sign on any dotted line. I have no interest in any company (which is why I refuse to allow ads on this site), and will give you my best, unbiased advice, based on your situation and my “publishing insider” knowledge.