Publish

The third part of our three-fold philosophy at Trenwick House Publishing. This is by the far the hardest part of what we do. We don’t always get to publish those we assist, even though we’d like to.

The further we move ahead, the better the opportunities for people to publish on their own. Yet it is still not easy. Personally, as a rule, I firmly believe that to publish with a publishing house adds strength to the title. People do have good success self-publishing, but there is a lot of works out there that put self-publishing to shame.

When I posted about Developing a piece, I mentioned about editing and making sure that the piece is as perfect as it could be. Along with that is a sense of professionalism. Yes, I am implying that a badly edited manuscript shows a distinct lack of professionalism. There are so many more words I can add, but I won’t here.

Publishing is not easy. It’s hard, at times. Staying small has helped me, but I know I need to venture into new fields in order to increase the profile of the authors I represent and the publishing house itself.

Unfortunately staying small also has its drawbacks. The concept of spending money to make money is a never-ending round-a-bout. The little that gets made is poured immediately back into the next project, once royalties have been covered. Although I do have a separate system for receiving and paying royalties, so that’s not usually too bad.

Admittedly, when the company was established it was to purely self-publish my books. Then as my writing circle grew, I started to publish for friends so that they could get off the ground. It’s a long road and 2019 will bring changes. As to what they’ll be is unknown, but there will be change. There has to be change.

As a publisher, I’d love to publish books for people, however, at the end of the day, I want to make sure that the author I’m speaking with gets the best deal and makes the best decision for themselves. I may be a stepping stone for them to bet a contract with someone much bigger. It might be a catalyst for them to go on their own, after I produce their first run.

I want to see an author get their work out there to the best that it can be.