From Fiction Notes:
Who’s in control of the publishing process? Once the contract is signed, does the author have any say in what happens to the story? Traditional contracts specify that the publishing company will publish as they see fit. In other words, control is given to the publisher by the contract.
. . . .
One criticism of indie authors is that [they] are control freaks. Indeed, many indies will say that control is one of their main issues in choosing how to publish. And that’s seen in a disparaging light, as if the indie author isn’t a team player. From this perspective, the indie author doesn’t understand of the publishing process. Editors edit, illustrators provide the art, and each does their professional jobs as part of a team. An author’s professional job stops when the text is finished.
Let’s examine this issue of “control” in the publishing process. To do that, I want to look at an interview on Terri Gross’s Fresh Air NPR program with Marielle Heller, director of “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.”
Hard to believe in your point of view?
Talking about directing a film, Gross asks, “Was it ever hard for you to believe in your point of view?”
Heller responds by talking about moving from an actor to a director.
“But as I started directing, it felt incredibly natural to me more because as an actor, I sort of always felt like I was holding my tongue. Like, when you’re an actor, you’re not supposed to get involved in certain things. You’re not supposed to get involved in every discussion, you know? Like, even if I was acting in a play, and it was a new play, and we were discussing how a scene was working or not working, you know, the director and the playwright might be discussing whether a scene’s working or not. But as an actor, you’re not really supposed to get involved in that conversation. You’re sort of there to do your work.
And I was – I spent a lot of years when I was working as an actor doing theater kind of holding my tongue where I wanted to be involved in those bigger creative discussions, but I knew it wasn’t my place. And when I started directing, it was like, oh, great. Now I get to actually be involved in all of the deeper creative discussions and figure these things out and the problem-solving of storytelling.”
Traditional publishing treats authors similar to Heller experience as an actor. She wasn’t supposed to be involved in the larger discussions, just do the acting and keep quiet. Likewise, publishers make storytelling and marketing decisions without the author’s input. The unspoken comment is that the publishers/editors know best. The unspoken attitude is that the author doesn’t have anything useful to add to the bigger conversation.
. . . .
For me, and for many other indie authors, self-publishing is a way to become a director of our own stories, to be involved in the “deeper creative discussion and figure these things out and the problem-solving of storytelling.”
. . . .
As an indie author-publisher, I enjoy the problem-solving involved in turning a story into a picture book. Like Heller directing a film, I enjoy choosing an illustrator and dividing text into page breaks. The Nantucket Sea Monster: A Fake New Story had a great possibility for a dramatic page turn. This is the story of a publicity stunt about a balloon created for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. People on Nantucket Island are looking for the sea monster.
The text says, “They couldn’t believe their eyes.” This is a good place for a dramatic page turn.
. . . .
I asked the illustrator to set up the page turn followed by a wordless page that showed the sea monster’s face up-close. At first, he didn’t understand the reason for the wordless spread. But it’s one of the most effective page turns of the book. The text sets up the sea monster’s face close up, which enthralls the reader. However, it’s so close up that the reader is still slightly overwhelmed and doesn’t understand the bigger picture. Zooming in so close reveals and hides at the same time. The next page-turn finally resolves the issue by explaining the sea monster is a rubber balloon, and showing that from a distance. The sequence makes the story more exciting and keeps the reader’s interest.
Exciting page turns and storytelling pacing are just some of the creative storytelling discussions that now dominate my time. As a traditional author, I was mostly excluded from the decisions, but now, I’m responsible for those very decisions.
Link to the rest at Fiction Notes
For PG, one of the strangest tribal practices of many traditional publishers is to eliminate the author from the types of creative discussions mentioned in the OP. On many more than one occasion, such an exclusion has resulted in a book that included an inappropriate cover or the removal of a character that changed the nature of the book.
When I first started writing, I planned a career as a mystery writer. I knew at least one very successful one, and had read thousands of mysteries.
I finished the first one, started on a second – and kept sending the first one to agents who said nice things in handwritten notes along with ‘send us your next one’ and ‘not right for us.’
Then I had something entirely different dropped into my lap by a fortuitous confluence of several incongruous ideas, but I figured out, as I wrote, that it would be just enough different that my chances of landing a traditional publisher were small.
And by then I was reading TPV, and had figured out that, if I was going to write something different, the last thing I wanted was editorial interference ‘to make it more palatable.’
And thus a control freak was born.
With everything I’ve learned about publishing and contracts and royalties, it’s just as well. And the printed version turned out exactly as I wanted it to look – getting rid of all the publisher choices which have annoyed me over the ages such as tiny print, too much white space, fonts with terrible italics…
I am content.
Now, to work on my marketing; it sucks.
Great response! But keep your chin up on Marketing. Just let your control freak loose on it. 😉
Thanks. Much appreciated encouragement.
I need extremely careful and targeted marketing for mainstream – many readers of traditional contemporary mainstream won’t even consider indies who write it.
If I ever get some extra energy back – that’s my main focus.
I’m still trying to get solidly back to finishing the next book in the trilogy after moving from NJ to CA. Non-trivial.
My brain has considered – and rejected – bunches of uncommon approaches. I’ll find the right way; I just don’t know when. Standard Amazon advertising was a real bust – and you’d think it had deliberately attracted those readers who prefer something else. I need the Hail Mary pass. I will find it.
Hey, I moved in the other direction: from CA to VA!
If you haven’t already, consider Bookbub CPC ads. Once you’ve dialed in the parameters, they can be very powerful. But only if you’re willing to offer a deep deal. But you’ll know the results within hours.
Good luck!
In my own experience, publishers have very little respect for writers. We’re manual laborers (‘Schmucks with typewriters,’ in the memorable phrase of Samuel Goldwyn). We do little but produce the basic material from which they then create published books, rather like the constuction laborers who mix the cement for the real builders. We are insignificant and easily replaceable. They’re the people who really matter.
Easy to fix. If 95% of authors dropped out of the market, the remaining 5% would be highly valued. Authors who really care get a real job.