1. The publishing panel was a cautionary tale. Three publishers said agented vs. unagented manuscripts didn’t matter, though they were not universally believed.
2. They said they expect all submissions to be simultaneous submissions. (Duh! Let’s move on from that!)
3. Re: Electronic rights? They want them. (Rare moment of candor.)
4. Caution to authors: Don’t give it all up so easily. If they’re going to retain electronic rights, they better have a plan how they are going to use them.
5. Whether you have an agent going into the deal or not, get an agent. They will earn their commission and get you a better deal. Standard contracts and retail is for suckers, baby!
6. Emerging publishing models diminish traditional publishers. If you’re doing everything else (publicity, platform, marketing, hiring an editor etc.,…) all the publishers have left is old credibility and a distribution network.
7. Traditional publishers will be dragged kicking and screaming into new delivery models, but they will be dragged. Resistance is futile.
8. The power differential among author, agent and editor is a changing dynamic, no matter how much some may pretend such is not the case.
9. Author Patrick Taylor: (Some) small Canadian book publishers are not concerned about selling books. They make their profit from arts council grants and sales are secondary. (Talk about blunt! Hurrah for Patrick Taylor! You’ll never hear that again!)
10. Sell a lot of self-published books? If you’re a regional author, Ms. Major Publisher will expect you’ve saturated the market. Sell a few hundred in a week and they might want to pick up that profitable book (or your next.)
11. My question: if your self-published book is doing that well, what do you need a traditional publisher for?
Filed under: publishing, Rant, conference, e-publishing, publishing, self-publishing
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