My latest manuscript of New and Selected Spiritual Poems/Aphorisms — tentatively titled: The Way We Pray, Now — has passed the first editorial round by an intriguing academic publishing house.
Yet, in the 8 books I’ve published so far with independent presses, I’ve never received a proposal like this:
“ [X] Press is not a commercial publishing house, there’s no royalty connected to the publication of poetry, translations, and art books, or books whose content has already been circulated in other places.
We have a few authors who appeal to the larger public, and receive a symbolic sum, but that’s because the sales of their books carry the production and annual global distribution costs of the other books that don’t have high traffic.
If you’re ok with no royalties, I’ll begin to draft a contract... If the second report is also positive, then I’ll move immediately into production, as you can’t be too early about it these days when everything is delayed.”
I’ve read a collection of aphorisms published by this press in the past, so I know that they are legit, and do not expect to make a killing from sales, but “NO ROYALTIES”!
I like the work this publisher does & recognize this is a difficult book to publish... So, dunno...
When I was just starting off, as a young writer, I once accepted such an offer to publish a slim volume of poems.
But, now, at nearly 50 years old? I dunno...
Wow, thank you, friends, for your concern and candid feedback.
True, I still scrape by as a writer (one does not do this kind of thing ‘for the money’).
I realize times are hard for everyone & this is a difficult manuscript to place — material dealing with mysticism & some of it previously published.
But, I feel at this stage of my career, I can at least expect royalties, however small...
So, I wrote back with some questions and gotten these answered from prospective publishers:
“Yahia,
Sadly, no royalties means no royalties, that is, no advance and no percentage from sales. What you get is 10 complimentary copies from the publisher, and author discount for short runs on orders of bulks of 20 books.
Let me explain:
In my 13 years of independent publishing, I’ve never had a poetry book sell enough copies per year to actually cover the labor of putting it out there (book design & layout) and the cost connected with annual fees for Ingram global distribution. In fact, to keep the book in print, I must rely on the memoirs, textbooks, and divination books that, for instance I publish and sell. These types of books cover for the others.
So that’s the state of affairs. Secretly, I always wish that a poet breaks through and enjoys the status of bestselling author, but I’ve never had that luck so far. Even so, I insist on taking poetry projects because I’m a poetry person myself, but a poetry book costs the house more than it brings in - so we’re always in detriment here, alas - hence the decision on the part of our team to not offer any kind of royalties for such books.
We hope that the poetry book can help the author score somewhere else, a writer-in-residence position, or speaking commitments. So if there’s an incentive to publish with us, then it’s to be found on the cultural capital scale, not the monetary.
If this means that you prefer to take your work elsewhere, then by all means. No hard feelings. Let me know and I stop the renewing process. I apologise for not speaking about this first.”
I’m not comfortable using the publisher’s name, but can say that they began as a collaboration between the universities of Roskilde and Aalborg in Denmark, Oulu in Finland, and Gainesville, Georgia, USA.
I will say that I’m wary of self-publishing & stigma associated with it (some bookstores will not carry such books, aka vanity projects).
My hope, earlier, for this book was a spiritual publisher, like White Cloud — but they’re in a transitional phase.
The other thing is, I’ve paid upfront with other publishers a modest amount to typeset a boom & gotten modest royalties 5-10% from same publishers.
This is why I was considering this offer...
Shop around, dear authors, and consider your options. Don’t sell yourself short!
