0TSP: Episode Two
Choosing a Publisher
This should be a very simple blog post but I wanted to talk through my thought process on this so that you can use that information when you’re publishing your own book. You might have way different concerns.
so if you want the TL;DR - go with the highest review publisher on google that’s in your price range
and if you are like me and have generally always been a bit more hesitant about these kind of choices, here is how I made them:
I’ve already delayed this project for so long that I’ve had time to come up with the many, many reasons why I shouldn’t get it published or that it isn’t some imaginary “right time”, not my best work etc. I know that in the act of getting it published, I’m going to face a bunch of challenges, in this case that would be trying to decide the perfect: price, location, past work, current work, name, reputation, reviews of the publisher I choose.
With lots of hemming and hawing. Questioning, debating with others. All in the sake of perfection. The perfect resting place for my book.
I’m not perfect and this book isn’t perfect. And that’s fine! I’m trying to turn away from the all-or-nothing approach to life that was taught to me. And I’m allowing that, and not the fact that I’m not ready or the book isn’t good enough, to propel me forward.
So, for example, I knew only a few things that mattered to me in choosing a publisher:
I wanted to support someone local because that’s a value I admire
I didn’t want to do a ton of research that would slow down my momentum
At this point, it was still information-gathering about prices in general, so this choice didn’t feel like mega high-stakes, I could just use this as a stepping stone
So I went to google, I typed in “book publisher columbus ohio” and went with the one with the highest reviews. In this case, it was Gatekeeper Press with a pretty cool 114 (one-hundred-and-fourteen!) 5-star reviews.
The grant I was applying for was going to be for a max of $1700. So, why not, the one with the best reviews is a good one to base the price on. I go to the their website to get an idea of pricing and even though they had it pretty well listed out, I still signed up for their FREE 15 minute Consultation. (This is wild to me as I lowkey hate talking on the phone with anyone less than family and best buds, so I must have been in a real buzz about making some progress, yeehaw.)
And happen it did - I chatted with Rob, CEO and all-round nice chap, and let him know the situation about the grant and where I was at in the process myself, and he offered a whopper of a deal because of that work I’d already done was going to save time and effort on their end (more on that another time, i guess? blogging, we out here)
Then a month or so later, I got the grant. Another really big yeehaw.
There was just one last thing that was bugging me. It felt really silly and I wasn’t sure if it was important but it also was kinda bothering me and making me consider a different printer altogether (i.e. potential signs of self-sabotage ahoy) and it was this: the name of the press. Gatekeeper.
I have feelings™ about the idiom and connotations it brings about people trying to stop people from enjoying things. Not the vibe I’m going for with my poetry or how I feel about poetry - quite the opposite actually. And it’s dumb because 1. it doesn’t really matter and 2. maybe I was jumping to ye olde conclusions real quick like. So I said, fuck it, we’ve made it this far, may as well keep pushing into our vulnerability and ask him why it’s called that. Worst case scenario, he doesn’t want to work with me and I find someone new anyway.
But! All the worry not needed, it usually isn’t. Rob responded quickly and comprehensively when I asked, and was glad to be able to share the philosophy;
The idea behind the name Gatekeeper Press is that we are opening the gates to the publishing world. To level the playing field for authors by offering the same or better quality and service as any major publishing house. No longer are there gatekeepers in the publishing industry that decide who gets published and who does not. Our tagline is Where Authors are Family because we go to the mat for our authors to ensure every single one of them is happy.
And I can stand beside that. Let’s fucking go.
So then it was a choice between the Premium package and the Standard package - a choice that could cost me a whole $800 of my own money. Again, I could easily have stopped here, paralysed. But we’ve already pushed through a bunch of boundaries, why not keep it up a wee bit longer…
I checked in with Matt to see 1. whether this is something we could weather financially and 2. if the package seemed worth it. And we could and it did. So yes, let’s fuckking go. I paid the invoice, money spent, process started, no stopping now.
If it seems like I’m moving through this process at the speed of light - it actually happened over the course of a month or so. This has overall been a slow-ish process which I like. This is my baby and she’ll be born when she’s ready.
Decision made, I then took a breath and slowed back down to pace again. More hurdles ahead but our legs are getting stronger.