Publishing Vs. Publishing

When I was in college, I got an internship at a small publishing company called Acropolis Books.  It was in Washington D.C., and I loved every minute. Eventually they invited me to work for them full time.  There, I learned from industry veterans -- I learned how to edit, to write a press release, how books are chosen to be published, how to go through a slush pile, how to write an ad, how to edit a book, how to choose a cover....it was very hands on.  I had always loved books and here was a place that I could talk about them and help bring them from an idea or a proposal or a rough draft to a bound book that would go into book stores. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

That internship cemented my feelings that I wanted to work in publishing. When I graduated from college, the Marketing Director of that company called around and helped me get my first job in New York. In Big Time Publishing.

Just a few months into Big Time Publishing, I saw something completely different. I saw a lot of people trying to claw their way to the top, doing anything that had to in order to get there. I saw a lot of underpaid people working their tails off to make it to the next level.  I saw a lot of exhausted people bowing out of Big Time Publishing altogether. It was the early nineties.

For the next eight years, I tried variations on Big Time Publishing.  I worked in nonfiction. I worked in Test Prep Books. I worked in library resource publishing. I climbed my way from Editorial Assistant to Managing Editor. I loved certain aspects of the business.

I dropped out when I became pregnant with my second child.  I knew I wouldn't be able to manage a career and my two kids, living in New Jersey and going into New York every day.  I didn't look back.

Then I decided to write my own novels.  And suddenly I was pressed back into Big Time Publishing. Only now it's so much more complicated than it was before. There's self publishing, only we call it Indie. And there's hybrid -- (which is what I've done) -- a cross between Traditional and Indie and there's Traditional, which some still see as the holy grail, where the big time publisher says THIS IS IT and you GET TO BE IT. (If only briefly)

Lately, I've been noticing a whole lot of versus in publishing. Indie Vs. Traditional. Agented Vs NonAgented. Ebook Vs. Paper. Brick and Mortar Vs. Amazon.  There seems to be a lot of bitterness, a lot of anger, a lot of dissension. It bothers me.  As authors, we are a unique community. There are many of us, for sure, but it is hard to write a book, hard for it to stand out, hard to get going in this world.  The last thing we need to be doing, as authors, is insisting my way is best, or my way is the only way, or your way is wrong.  We need to support each other.  How can we best do that?

Promote each other. Cheer each other on. Read each others' books. If someone asks for help, give it.  If someone doesn't ask for help, but you have help to give, offer it. But most of all, keep an open mind.  Can I help you? Let me know.