© Jude Chapman
Global changes
Globalisation over the past thirty years has changed the publishing world immeasurably. In English-speaking countries, publishing is now dominated by the ‘big 5’ – Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Macmillan, Simon and Schuster, and Hachette – entities that have grown out of the consolidation of hundreds of small and medium-sized companies that used to be independently owned. Not surprisingly, the business model has changed. Before the consolidations, we saw a wider variety of authors and titles because publishers took more risks with unknown and debut authors. They could make a reasonable profit selling fewer copies and, presumably, many were in the business for the love of books and writing.
The position has now flipped. The ‘big 5’ are looking for sure bets, well-known and established authors who can write bestsellers. Theirs is a low risk strategy of selling at high volume with small profit margins on each item. As a result, many good manuscripts whose authors are little known are overlooked and mid-list authors are being squeezed out.
The other change of note is the arrival of Amazon and a plethora of print on demand services. On the positive side, these provide an easily accessible sales platform for independent authors. As well as print, we now have ebooks and audiobooks. On the down side, these platforms are populated with millions of low quality books and AI generated book series, making it hard for buyers to sort through the dross and choose our carefully curated books.
The Australian publishing ecosystem
Of course the ‘big 5’ are well established here and recently acquired Affirm and Text. Australia still has two good-sized independent publishing companies, Allen and Unwin and Hardie Grant, who appear to be taking steps to build strength and guard their independence. Hardie Grant has acquired Pantera Press and is broadening the range of books it publishes. Importantly, both Allen and Unwin and Hardie Grant use book distribution channels that are not owned by their ‘big 5’ competitors. This provides protection for their business by robbing the ‘big 5’ of commercially valuable information about authors, book movements and sales volumes.
Other recognised players in the Australian ecosystem include Ventura, Black Inc. Books, Scribe, Transit Lounge and the university presses. The smallest companies generally publish within a niche, for example, Spineless Wonders for short fiction and Magabala Books for indigenous writing. It’s not clear how many small presses are operating in Australia. Anecdotally, numbers are on the rise. This makes sense given the demand from authors locked out of traditional publishing opportunities.
A key benefit of a publishing contract, if we can get one, is access to distribution networks that supply bookshops and libraries. Each of the ‘big 5’ has its own book distribution system, huge warehouses that handle ordering, stock movements and invoicing. They also partner with independent Australian publishers who are too small to have their own distribution arm. This gets their publications onto the lists used by bookshops and libraries and there may be some sales team support. On the down side, the ‘big 5’ obtain access to the business workings of a large chunk of the Australian publishing industry, which they might or might not use to their advantage. The association is not always obvious. For example, some Australian publishers use New South Books which is owned by Hachette. The bottom line is this – these distributors do not stock books from self-published authors or small presses that are new or not well-established. There is one exception – members of the Australian Society of Authors can partner with John Reed Books. However, some independent authors may find their terms restrictive.
Independent writers in Australia
What is left for independent writers who want to see their books in print? The truth is that independent authors rarely sell as many books as those who have a publishing contract. We simply don’t have the access or reach. It’s hard, but not impossible to get into bookshops and libraries, obtain a book review or appear at book festivals or author talks.
However, we can optimise what is available and stay alert for emerging opportunities at each of the three stages in the publishing process:
1. taking the book from completed manuscript to publishable form;
2. making the book available on sales and distribution platforms; and
3. marketing or drawing potential readers/buyers to the book.
Let’s start with getting the book into publishable form. It may seem daunting to find a professional copy editor, get the layout right, design a cover and convert the file so it is ready to print or upload to Amazon or other platforms. There are numerous people out there offering to do the job for us. Some are genuine but ripoffs abound. We can do it ourselves and it costs less this way. Just understand that the job can be broken down into clear steps that are sequential. We are traversing a series of small hills, not climbing a mountain.
Independent authors have access to certain distribution platforms that make the book discoverable. Buy an ISBN and use the National Library pre-publication service, submit the book when it is published and list it with the lending rights agency and the copyright scheme. These services are easy to use. Two platforms to list with are Ingram and Draft2Digital, vehicles for getting an ebook onto library lending lists as well as into bookstores worldwide. Send targeted libraries a well-crafted information sheet or make a personal approach. Some independent authors have done well setting up their own sales websites.
For many of us, marketing is the hardest part. Be as visible as possible, hand out bookmarks, buy a QR code to direct people to sales platforms, or wear a badge that says ‘buy my book’ (yep, someone did that with success). Know the target market and pitch to that. Independent authors are ignored by most reviewers but Good Reading Magazine is an exception – they review for free. Most of all, share what has worked with others.