Kay Mellor once said of Fat Friends that she loved writing, but when she got the chance to act in it she realised how much fun everyone else was having with her work. That's how I feel about book covers, marketing and even visiting the printers and trying to squeeze them for more discount. If you've spent 5 years on a project, isn't the publishing process your reward?
I realise publishers are the experts at packaging a book to its best commercial end and are also responsible for distribution, but as Ian Phillips points out in his blog, distribution is a largely automated system these days, so only the Rowlings and Kings and Grishams of this world get around it prior to the success of their new publication. It's an uphill struggle for a new author and most of the time the success they achieve is down to how much they put in at the beginning and a large dolop of luck, so why wouldn't you take on the exciting parts of the process as well? I do feel as if publishers have offloaded rights onto agents and the possible failure of a project onto authors or just bad luck, just to be left with success, all the fun graphic decisions and event organising for themselves.
If you need assistance with turning your MS into a marketable product, there are PR agencies who have diversified to assist authors with a strategy. Publishers aren't the last word in professional help for an author and, of course, copy-editing, typesetting and the like can call be found in other places.
Can anybody justify the position of the modern publisher? I'm not stuck in this view and would like to change it, but for now I don't see a reason to.
No one? And there was me trying to spark a debate!
The answer is, of course, that you need a project manager who knows the process. Just think of Grand Designs and how Kevin McCloud always goes on about a project manager saving you time and money.There is a short window to publicise and someone has to keep the momentum going during that time. If you're tired or recieve a knock back, you won't always think to do that. My only query is, if you employ a project manager to do anything else in life, you retain almost complete control, or at least have the option to. I'm not sure why author control is so diluted.
But sometimes, Kevin concedes that a particular dreamer has stuck to his guns, built his own house in his own way and that it has produced something beautiful. The housebuilder in question often has a mad glint in his eye and is developing a tick from three years of nervous tension, but he also glows with pride that he suceeded. How many does Kevin see fail to catch these few successes? Who knows. If you quantify the sucess rate in self-publishing against that of traditional publishing, I suspect there is no comparison. If there is any chance my MS could be accepted by and agent and publisher, self-publishing is probably a stupid thing to do, but every now and then I look in the mirror and catch a mad glint in my eye!
As I say, I'm not averse to a traditional publisher and do consider it the more sensible course of action. It just doesn't promise as much fun and fulfilment as doing it the hard way.