Quality Queries and Small Press Praises: Saturday Links

For those writers hoping to travel the traditional publishing route, there's a step in between writing a novel and finding an agent that's a bit of a doozy. That step is called writing a query letter. Earlier this week Sam Thomas, whose book The Midwife's Tale is slated to be released in January of next year, shared his query letter over at A Bloody Good Read along with some paragraph-by-paragraph instructions on how to write a bloody good letter of your own.

What I’ve got below is an annotated and slightly edited version of my own cover letter. I’ll mention at the outset that as letters go, it was pretty effective: I received manuscript requests from over half the agents I queried. (I would venture to say that my letter is better than my novel. Ah, well.)....(read more) 

* * *

As you probably know, I went the Indie route with my first book I Serve, and after learning the ropes of book production and marketing, my husband and I decided to start our own publishing company. Jessica Knauss had a guest post this week about the "Pros and Cons of Small Presses." I thought that her post was very valuable for new authors trying to decide whether to sign on with a small press. Many of her Pros were right on the money:

• Welcoming. Debut authors tend to get an unbiased reception. 

• Quick. A small staff can mean less bureaucracy and an easier decision process.... 

• Collaborative. It is likely that you, as the author, will have some say in the design of your book and its cover and possibly even release dates. 

• Creative. Small presses interested in their authors’ welfare and their own future will work with you to implement effective, low-cost marketing solutions and make the most of whatever resources are available.... (read more)

Her Cons were also insightful--no advances, a smaller level of distribution--but I was happy to see that one of them most emphatically does not apply at our company. Just because we're a small press does not mean that we offer authors a lower royalty than a big publisher would. At Madison Street Publishing our philosophy is author-centric, and we're committed to giving the lion's share of the profits to the one who actually created the book.