What I HATE About the Traditional Publishing Industry as a Professional Book Editor

Подписаться 46 тыс.

Просмотров 10 тыс.

50% 1

As a professional book editor who previously worked at major US publishing houses, I have a love-hate relationship with the publishing industry. Here are the biggest traditional publishing cons as I see them, as well as general publishing advice for anyone who is working on a book project. Hopefully these publishing tips help you make the decision between traditional publishing vs. self publishing.
BIGGEST TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING CONS:
01:41 It’s old-fashioned
03:25 It’s enigmatic
04:50 It’s becoming monopolized
06:48 It’s sequestered
07:56 It’s tough to break into
------------------------------
DOWNLOAD MY FREE STORY SELF-ASSESSMENT!
www.alyssamatesic.com/#freebi...
SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER FEATURING WRITING/PUBLISHING EXPERTS
www.chapter-break.com/
WORK WITH ME ON YOUR STORY
www.alyssamatesic.com/profess...
------------------------------
GREAT BOOKS ABOUT WRITING/PUBLISHING:
Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer / amzn.to/3VE8dtt
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody / amzn.to/3Vyk2Bn
Before and After the Book Deal by Courtney Maum / amzn.to/3Z4at03
SOME OF MY FAVORITE NOVELS:
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones / amzn.to/3vvWItt
Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips / amzn.to/3CFz4Pt
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid / amzn.to/3CjFFi5
------------------------------
RELATED LINKS:
Traditional Publishing Pros and Cons Explained: • Traditional Publishing...
How to Publish a Book in 2022 | Traditional vs. Self vs. Hybrid Publishing: • How to Publish a Book ...
Self Publishing Pros & Cons: • Self Publishing Pros &...
ABOUT ME:
My name is Alyssa Matesic, and I’m a professional book editor with 7+ years of book publishing and editorial experience. Throughout my career, I’ve held editorial roles across both sides of the publishing industry: Big Five publishing houses and literary agencies. The goal of this channel is to help writers throughout the book writing journey-whether you're working on your manuscript or you're looking for publishing advice.
Feel free to get in touch!
Website: www.alyssamatesic.com
View My Services: www.alyssamatesic.com/profess...
Request a Quote: www.alyssamatesic.com/inquire
Support Me: / alyssamatesic
Email: hello@alyssamatesic.com
------------------------------
MUSIC:
Chilling by HoobeZa • [No Copyright] Chill L...
Charlie Brown by Smith The Mister smiththemister.bandcamp.com
Smith The Mister bit.ly/Smith-The-Mister-YT
------------------------------
Some of the links above are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I may earn a commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.

Хобби

Опубликовано:

25 июл 2024

Ссылка:

Скачать:

Готовим ссылку...

Добавить в:

Мой плейлист

Посмотреть позже

Комментарии : 75

@AlyssaMatesic 3 года назад

If you're currently pursuing traditional publishing or have in the past, let me know what some of your challenges and frustrations have been. This is a safe space!

@borninprovidence2965 3 года назад

I wrote a memoir about getting out of poverty and can’t afford PR. (I find this hilarious.) Agents continue telling me my platform is too small/no one’s heard of me. I work full time but continue to blog, and last year became a national trainer. Doing the leg work. Any tips?

@basedontruestoriesduringat1101 3 года назад

The issue with self-publishing is marketing and distribution

@mileswhite4329 2 года назад

After going through 12 drafts on the computer, I printed the thing out, all 600 pages. I read and marked up the hard copy, and I learned a lot from that. It also felt good working with actual pages, so I think that doing that is a good practice at points in the process.

@rdrydnghdwolfe1396 2 года назад

I write shorter books, fiction for young readers, but reading each chapter aloud can also be a real eye-opener. (Ear-opener?) You will catch some mistakes and misreads that you've previously missed, I promise,

@StevenBenjaminAuthor Год назад

I also like/get the hardcopy style... But maybe we're just 'traditionalists' ...

@y.t1670 3 месяца назад

I only wonder what if something went wrong in the mailing process, like a missing post package 😂 I hope the editor scanned each page before mailing it out

@melvinhathorn4988 Год назад

My pet peeve with traditional publishing is the loss of artistic control. My friend had a book accepted by a publisher called death in the garden. The premise was that the reader wouldn’t know until the end whether the death was caused by natural causes or made. When she got the galleys back from the publisher, they had changed the title to murder in the garden which destroyed the purpose of the story. They had also changed the cover.

@ghmonroe9872 2 года назад

I was interested in being traditionally published, but what you said at the 7:33 mark about a limited number of perspectives became quickly apparent to me. I noticed that all of the agents I was submitting to had one of two different types of backgrounds. I felt this created a very narrow type of novel that they were looking for, and mine was not that type. My route now is through self-publishing.

@AlyssaMatesic 2 года назад

I'm glad that you were open to self-publishing! It's definitely a viable publishing path these days; I wish you the best of luck with your projects!

@isbcrv 2 года назад

Thanks! I started querying my first novel last year and got lots of full requests, then paused querying to do another round of revisions. In that time I’ve also started drafting my 2nd novel which is flowing! I know I’m gonna make it.

@AlyssaMatesic 2 года назад

Wonderful! I wish you a smooth publishing journey!

@victorbryan5482 2 года назад

any updates?

@AdrianJamesEllis 2 года назад

It’s a very strange world. I was recently rejected by a literary agent who said my writing, world-building and originality were amazing, but he wasn’t happy with footnotes and a first-person narrative. After ghosting and boilerplate rejections, it was actually a big step forward, but it shows how good your work has to be just for the agent to ask for your full manuscript!

@AlyssaMatesic 2 года назад

It sounds like your novel has a lot going for it! It could be that this agent's personal taste doesn't go for footnotes, so hopefully you'll positively hear back from others soon!

@AdrianJamesEllis 2 года назад

@@AlyssaMatesic Thank you! Your response touches on an interesting question: how many agents do I contact at any one time? How long do I wait for one agent to sign me up before moving on to the next? Apologies if these questions are answered in another of your videos! 🙂

@AlyssaMatesic 2 года назад

@@AdrianJamesEllis I actually have a video coming up talking about this! For now I'll say it's great to send out queries in batches (around 8-12 agents at a time), and waiting for about a month to two months for responses before sending out new queries.

@AdrianJamesEllis 2 года назад

@@AlyssaMatesic Thank you again for that very helpful response. I guess I'm still very English old-school. I only send out one every two weeks!

@Noonxy20k Год назад

What a garbage reason for a rejection though. This tells me that agents want something that 100% fits their comfort zone or they won’t take you on which is a fundamentally broken way of acquiring a new writer.

@marcleviton5401 2 года назад

Thank you for your efforts in educating us with you knowledge and insights. I personally am gaining a wonderful understanding of the invisible and daunting publishing industry.

@learningwithlulu 2 года назад

As a former English Language Arts teacher, I am in AWE at the editor that would print every manuscript and edit with a red pen. MY HEAVENS. That is so laborious. I'm uncomfortably laughing. THOUGH I WILL SAY as an avid student and aspiring author, I would love to get something so tangible and digestible back. Working through my manuscript page by page would be much preferred over endless scrolling, I think.

@AlyssaMatesic 2 года назад

Haha yes, it's definitely laborious! But I do agree that the visual satisfaction (or possibly dread!) of seeing a page with direct messages on it must be satisfying.... Thanks for the comment!

@learningwithlulu 2 года назад

@@AlyssaMatesic Of course. Thank you for sharing such thorough and helpful content!

@MrDanroche 3 года назад

Yep! I’m out to get traditionally published. Have a debut novel coming out this year and I’m not impressed with my experience at an indie press. So I’m currently working on my tenth novel in hopes of finally getting a literary agent

@totadol Год назад

Love the new setting, background and music, looks more professional now

@TheEccentricRaven 5 месяцев назад

I appreciate your honesty and insight. Your videos have helped me to be more prepared to pursue publishing.

@JayceWasHereMC 3 года назад

This is a very well put together video. I thought about publishing my novel traditionally, but I ended up deciding to just self-publishing it and hiring an editor to help out. I feel like that's a much better way to go about it for someone like me with the stories I have :)

@AlyssaMatesic 3 года назад

Thank you, I'm so glad you liked it! Publishing is definitely a personal decision that depends on so many factors. I'm glad to hear you found the right path for your project!

@JayceWasHereMC 3 года назад

@@AlyssaMatesic no problem! Glad to see your channel is growing :) I've shared your videos with a few writing friends! They find it helpful :)

@andreasanchez3557 2 года назад

@@JayceWasHereMC which is cheaper ?

@JayceWasHereMC 2 года назад

@@andreasanchez3557 self publishing is much cheaper.

@andreasanchez3557 2 года назад

@@JayceWasHereMC thanks 😊

@writersenses1675 3 года назад

Excellent, thanks for sharing.

@danielmartin8913 3 года назад

#4 for sure! I've been cutting my teeth for about 16 years of serious writing and am at the "personalized rejection letters" stage of querying. Thanks for the time stamps on this one! DRM

@AlyssaMatesic 3 года назад

Personalized rejections are great - it means you're piquing the agents' interest enough for them to seriously consider it, and you can use that feedback to refine your query and/or manuscript. Keep going!

@rowan7929 3 года назад

Very good video. I'm not giving up on becoming a traditional author. Regardless the cons, it still sounds better than being an indie.

@AlyssaMatesic 3 года назад

Thanks so much! I encourage you to keep going if this is your dream!

@rowan7929 3 года назад

@@AlyssaMatesic Generally doing things your self and paying so much on editing, is just not worth the hassle. Also, I keep on thinking how much I hate my retail job and are more willing to be traditionally published.

@hardnewstakenharder 2 года назад

Best of luck. Never give up, but don't make it your identity. I'm going on submission today and frankly, I'm glad I have other things going on in my life that are meaningful.

@rowan7929 2 года назад

@@hardnewstakenharder Thanks. It's not that I ignore everything around me. I'm just tired having so much money invested in self-publishing with hardly any results.

@homelessjesse9453 2 года назад

@@rowan7929 I think it depends. If you're 30 or below with a sizeable platform, it's probably worth it to self-publish. But I wouldn't recommend it if you have like 10 followers and someone who's older.

@gamewriteeye769 2 года назад

Bless the algorithms for answering the question I asked for you! Your channel is a huge help in navigating the publishing industry. One of my biggest concerns at the moment is if traditional publishing allows for partial publishing especially if I know it's going to be a longer manuscript and I definitely don't want it to go a different route. Would you recommend sending it to literary agents in parts or finishing the manuscript entirely before sending it?

@TheNalimo Год назад

Great video! Do you have any videos discussing whether you'd be able to self-publish first and then if your book sells well can go traditional afterwards?

@tomgrant3893 Год назад

I've been told by three hybrid's that I have a top book, but per your advise, I'm cautiously optimistic that my new situation should work out. Really like your videos, they help me understand the business and the kind of problems I may see occur and how to better handle them.

@AlyssaMatesic Год назад

Congrats on hearing back from some publishers--but I'm also glad you're approaching them cautiously. I hope they work out!

@hbsupreme1499 Год назад

Smae here but I leaned that you shouldn't pay money up front unless ur self publishing

@tomgrant3893 Год назад

@@hbsupreme1499 And I see too many conflicting opinions about who to trust and who to ignore, their too quick to blame you while not willing to acknowledge their own mistakes in working with you.

@gary8628 2 года назад

It’s the same problem here in the UK. The industry is a London bubble.

@gary8628 2 года назад

However, it’s easier to meet an agent in London, simply because the UK is so much smaller than the US.

@nkstainedwretch 2 года назад

I enjoyed that a great deal. I am a traditionally published author at a small publishing house. Dr. Mary Hill-Wagner, author of "Girlz 'N the Hood: A Memoir of Mama in South Central Los Angeles" Are there any resources for traditionally published authors who are with small houses? Everything seems to be either for the Big 5 (nee 4) or self published authors.

@brendanmcnally9145 2 года назад

I think you're performing a wonderful service, Alyssa. I had my 'Big Five" experience in 2007-8. I did get a six-fig advance, but everything thing else about it was a balls-up disaster. I'm currently up for more abuse, have a new agent, but he only does Non-fiction. I'm wondering if you could do a piece on getting a new life for your novel after a bungled publication.. Cheers.

@AlyssaMatesic 2 года назад

I'm glad you got yourself a new agent! I will definitely add that to my list. Thanks for commenting!

@inuzuki8605 2 года назад

Hey! I have been binging your videos and you have really helped my writing process. I have in the process of cutting my darlings and polishing my manuscript (currently 110k words) after a few rounds of rejections. My story is a fantasy centered around nearly 14 year old twin boys (maturity in their world), but the subject matter is appending war. The supporting characters are 12-16 year olds and adult characters. The story is not overly graphic but the problems are serious, like the later books in the Harry Potter series. What age should I pitch this to? I've heard MG all the way to Adult Fantasy. The audience will ultimately determine my target word count.

@BulgarianOrphanHelp 3 года назад

Traditional publishing is the way I will try to take as soon as I am done drafting my novel.

@johnnytownsend4204 2 года назад

Do you have a video about the length of time it takes once a publisher shows interest in a book? When I had a story accepted by a major literary journal, two years passed between acceptance and publication, and that didn't even involve any edits, just backlog.

@armegadahn5572 Год назад

When looking for literary agent they try push to self publishing agency. I have put in words that what I'm looking for in query. Then also told them not looking vanity publisher, said they weren't but they were.

@Straightsax 2 года назад

Thanks for your informative videos.Any advice for trying to get published as a person of color? There seem to be even few imprints POCs. Love to hear your thoughts.

@LBAutry 2 года назад

It has been over 10 years since I've been in the query trenches. I'm trying to get myself up-to-date on how much the industry has changed during that time. Are there any resources you can provide as to getting started again seeking traditional publishing? Perhaps, where to find and research agents?

@AlyssaMatesic 2 года назад

Welcome back to the publishing scene! I have a video where I go over five ways to find literary agents, here!: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kP-zWzugpUE.html Best of luck!

@williamchristison5180 2 года назад

So who does 'get their foot in the door' ?

@andreasanchez3557 2 года назад

Should I send my manuscript once finished to an editor before the agent ? How do I tell agents editors and publishers that the book I’m writing has a co writer ( my boyfriend) ?

@AlyssaMatesic 2 года назад

I would recommend editing your manuscript in any way, including sending it to a book editor if it suits your project and budget. There's no issue with saying your manuscript has a co-writer, just mentioning them in your introductory letter should be enough!

@andreasanchez3557 2 года назад

@@AlyssaMatesic thanks 😊

@dchap3871 3 года назад

Do you ever think of becoming a literary agent given your history with traditional publishing and experience navigating the industry?

@AlyssaMatesic 3 года назад

I definitely considered going down the agenting path in the past, but have found the flexibility of freelancing suits me for now!

@gavinrose1058 Год назад

Sure I want to be published by a traditional publisher. But being broke is an enormous handicap - so much so that publishing seems like a middle class pursuit.

@emmanuelakeyo3856 3 года назад

do you think i can get an agent while leaving in Africa

@joshuaolsen6509 2 года назад

Absolutely. There's nowhere in the world from which you can't get representation. While a lot of literary agencies are based in New York, USA, they represent clients from all over the world.

@pillsber Год назад

If no one wants to read your story, there's no difference whatsoever between self published and traditional. If a self published book gets traction, believe me, you'll have traditional houses coming to you. My suggestion is keep writing. Content is king. Not the cover, not the title, but content. Of course, a good title is helpful. And by the way, it'll be an ever bigger blow to your self esteem when your traditional published book bombs in the real market. Last, there's only one brick and mortar bookstore left anyway right? Are you betting the farm on Barnes & Noble? Traditional sounds good in theory but for me it's too much trouble and I don't have it in me to kiss a lot of asses to get traditionally published.

@shaccooper 3 года назад

I saw a video earlier ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rYqZjCsAJeg.html Much of what she was says, I’ve heard it before many times, particularly about most writers first book being “garbage”. However, her tone is so assumptive and discouraging that I think it results in terribly discouraging advice. As someone who thinks positive, I think that maybe she believes because her, and most authors she knows, first attempts were horrible that now she feels the needs preach a gospel that all new authors must experience the same failure. By her “harsh advice,” many will be defeated before they even try. Since everyone says the first is usually not as good as s/he thinks, it’s better to give “harsh” advice on the importance of not rushing the process, not put it out and to continue to revamp it until it’s up to par by the standard of real professions. Her approach was simply that you are guaranteed to waste 1-3 attempts. Anyways, I said all that to say this, I can tell that you have seen some bitter sides of the business, but you give off the energy as if to say, “despite it all, I still strongly believe it can be done.” Lastly, I don’t care how many have failed in their first attempt, and just like them all, I do believe that “my novel is different.” Lol. But, unlike those before me, I don’t think that I’ll be the next JK Rowling, because novel is much better than hers and it will sell more copies. What she wrote was made up. What’s in my novel, “you can’t make this up.” I like your videos. I may seek your help once I feel my novel is ready for a closer eye.