Do You Want a Publishing Deal?

Today, I saw a writer post a question about whether or not they should try to get an agent and then a deal with a traditional publishing house.  These questions are not uncommon and there is a lot of conventional wisdom doled out when someone asks a question like that.  I will answer the question, but only with what I have EXPERIENCED personally after getting that coveted deal.  

1. I didn't like the cover they chose.  This accusation is practically criminal because the publishing company I worked with allowed me to go through a stock site and choose the central image myself.  I did not regret the image I chose, but the graphic design work that went into creating the cover was... wonky.  This actually happens a lot when I go through bookstores.  Books have covers that are so awful, they're unforgivable as far as I'm concerned.  A cover should make you want the book so bad your brain stalls.  It should be a symphony of light and shadow, color and texture.  Holding it in your hands should make you feel like a better person just because you're reading it.  Now, I am not an artist, but I am a reasonably talented graphic designer and when I saw the mockup for my cover, I wanted to write my publishing company to complain.  Couldn't I do the graphic design work at least?  No.  That's not what the contract says.  The contract says what you see is what you get.  After all, you chose it.  Actually, I don't blame them for that policy.  You can't run a business trying to flatter a person who has no roof on their ego.

2. I found their editing process jarring.  My book was a noir-styled vampire detective novel called The Blood that Flows and I deliberately left out a scene of extreme violence and merely referred to it in various places throughout the book.  When I was writing the book the first time, that felt like the right decision.  There isn't gory violence in the foreground of traditional noir.  However, the publishing company requested that I write the scene out in detail.  The contract I signed stated that I had to comply, so I did.  Now the book has a scene where our girl is straddling a vampire while she stabs him in the chest repeatedly and because she's holding him down with her weight, her pants and panties are soaked in his blood.  I hope they're happy.  

3. That's the whole book.  In case you haven't noticed, point 1. talks about how I was unsatisfied with the outside of the book, and point 2. talks about how I was unhappy with the inside of the book.  That's all the parts of a book: the outside and the inside.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I wasn't overly ticked off at my publisher.  They wrote a fair contract (as far as these things go) and I was given the opportunity I wanted.  But I wanted more.  I wanted to make my own covers and make my own editorial decisions.  I have professional training to do both those things though before I worked with them, it had not entered into my head that I was capable of producing a more polished product than a publishing company.

Last Christmas, I was at a fair with my stacks of independently published books (I'm also pretty good at putting up a temporary little book store that only sells my work).  The place was packed and I was signing and selling, but I noticed a little lady in my peripheral reading the backs of my books one after another.  She didn't buy any, but I didn't really expect her to since she was about fifty years older than most of my readers.  But before she left, she stopped me and said, "I'm an editor.  I've worked in selling books all my life and you have done very well."

Returning to the first question, should that newish writer try to get an agent and a deal with a publishing company?  I think they should.  You don't know how the shoe fits until you try it on.