Tunnel Visions in the Book World

Authors, understand the lanes and your interests for navigating to your advantage

Photo by JavyGo on Unsplash.

Speaking broadly, there are two myopic, naive views that crop up frequently in the book world that can make my head spin.

One

One is the idea that we all have the same interests and that other actors in this space are, may be, or should be looking out for us as authors or that our interests naturally align, overlap. Cause we all love books! Examples:

• It’s my publisher’s job to market my book. I’m the talent. My job is to write the books.
• My publisher’s goals are the same as mine: to sell as many books as possible.
• I can trust my agent to get me the best possible book deal for me and my work.
• I can’t negotiate with or turn down an offer from an indie bookstore. They’re the good guys, they only want what’s best for everyone.

No.

• Your publisher’s job is to stay in business and turn a profit. There are many ways to do this that may or may not rely on your book selling as well as possible. They do not distribute attention and resources equally. More likely is that they will find the easiest way to make their money: Investing more in bestsellers.