What’s it like running a small publishing company?
- Melissa Carrigee
- Mar 17, 2023
- 2 min read
It’s like nailing Jell-O to the wall. Giving advice to a teenager. There are no hard, fast rules, because the business is changing daily. In the beginning of my publishing career, I wanted to print everything I could. I helped struggling writers get their words on the page, holding their hands as they navigated the publishing business. After a few years of hard lessons learned, I started practicing what I preached to those authors in three simple words.
It's a business.
I stopped listening to my heart and started listening to my head. I had to listen to the voice of reason which clearly said, “I know this is a sweet book and it made you smile, but nobody else will identify with it.” I had to stop taking on those writers who wrote well but had NO idea how to market. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “it’s not my job to market, it’s yours.” Well, if a big publisher picks up your novel that might be somewhat the case (and even with bigger publishers it is now more up to the author to do marketing). But I digress, I’ll have to continue this for another post.
Neither small publisher nor writer will ever be able to hire a chauffeur with the money we make off books. There is a small profit left after printing costs and many hands in that pot. As a publisher, I must decide if a book has the possibility of breaking even and making a little money, so we can continue the business. I need to make hard decisions and sometimes that means not taking a book that I really love or one written by an author I really like. Sometimes it means I have to go with publishing trends.
It also means I am constantly learning and listening. The business is always changing, and we must change along with it.
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Running a small publishing company sounds like a real balancing act! I admire the honesty in your journey, especially how tough it is to choose what to publish. I’d love to know your thoughts on niche markets like Childerns Books, since they’re always evolving.
Thank you for sharing the real details of running a small publisher. It's helpful to see what goes on behind the scenes. I have a research paper I'm really proud of and want to share it properly. I should look for journal publication experts in Dubai to help me get it into a good journal.