Nine reasons working with a small press, like Last Chapter Press, is a smart idea!

Today let’s talk about your publishing options and then the benefits of choosing a small publisher.

Traditional, Hybrid, or Self Publishing what are the differences?

Traditional publishing is where you grant a publisher the right to put your book in front of readers. They are in charge of many of the decisions, like covers, formatting, and launch strategy or positioning. Authors are still expected to be engaged and responsible for a large portion of marketing and promotion on their side. Working together the author can reach more readers, both those of the publishing house and their own. Usually the author pays nothing to publish with a traditional publisher.

There are many levels of traditional publishing. From the giants, like Harper Collins and Penguin Random House, who make billions down to the small publishers who make less than $50 million and then the micro publishers who only publish a few books a year and some self-published authors can qualify for this category, too. There are reasons to work with each level, but there are reasons why working with a small publishing press is to the author’s benefit.

Hybrid publishing is a newer model of publishing. It can also be called partnership publishing or author-assisted publishing. It’s a blend of self-publishing and traditional publishing in that you pay, usually a flat amount, but some companies are ala carte by the service, to have the publishing house help and guide you through the details. Authors are expected to do what the publisher suggests to increase their book’s chances of success. They are hiring for knowledge and often in the hopes of taking that specialty knowledge to publishing future books. It can be a good way to really get “led” through all of the steps. It can also be very expensive to the author.

Self-publishing has been around since about 1979 with the invention of print on demand technology. Seems like that was long ago, right? But it really wasn’t when you consider publishing was started in 1439 by Johannes Gutenberg who started the first printing press. However, the costs were prohibitive for the average person to be the author and the publisher. And many think that’s changed.

However…from experience, launching a book is challenging and there’s a lot of heart and soul that goes into it, including a lot of money. Editing, covers, formatting, creating graphics and so much more goes into publishing. It can be overwhelming. You can outsource many of these tasks to professionals, but you still have to manage those tasks and often the professionals to keep them on task, especially if you have a preorder deadline.

Those are the three main options for publishing. Working with one over the other is a personal preference, but Last Chapter Press understands what makes publishing so stressful and we like to help ameliorate that stress.

So why should you publish with a small publisher when you can do it yourself or pay someone to help you do it? I like where you’re going with that question and here are the Top Nine Reasons to use a small publisher like Last Chapter Press.

1. Last Chapter Press (LCP) doesn’t require an agent. You won’t be giving a portion of money to a person to represent you. If you have an agent, we will talk to them.

2. Our imprints will allow for many sub-genres of romance. Last Chapter Press specializes in romance stories. That’s our jam. Love. And love. And more love.

Soon we will be accepting stories with a paranormal element, LGBTQIA+ stories, cozy mysteries, and young adult stories with roll out of imprints—a fancy way to say a sub-brand under the LCP umbrella. This way you can stretch your wings and know that you have someone on your side. Just remember…love, romance, k.i.s.s.i.n.g…if it doesn’t have it, we’re not the place for it.

3. But, with that said, have a story with a twist—have a cozy mystery with romance and it’s young adult? BRING IT TO US! We want fresh. We want new. We want different. We’re willing to take the risks that the big houses might not want to. They have massive overhead costs—those big buildings in Manhattan (I’m not sure they’re there, but they might be) or all of the assistants and layers of management. We are a three woman show and when we do expand, we’ll be bringing on the best of the best.

4. Love to write, but hate to edit, format, decide on covers, and does doing all that advertising stuff make your head swim? Then a small press might be the place for you. A small press will do most of the work to get your book ready to publish and then we publish it. We—this isn’t every small publisher, but it’s true for LCP—also put an ad spend, mostly Amazon because that’s where the readers are, against all books. We give each book the best chance of being seen by being in Kindle Unlimited. And then after the KDP Select exclusivity expires, we examine all the numbers and decide if the book should go wide to reach readership on places like Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, and more. See the attached checklist for what LCP does for you. We market and support authors and their books in an ongoing format with 3-6-9-12 month marketing plans and then 18 and 24 month plans after that. We know that backlist sells.

5. We give out higher royalties than bigger traditional publishers. It’s true, sometimes at big publishers you earn pennies on a $8.99, $9.99 or even $15.99 eBook. That’s a little crazy right. And not everyone gets an advance, and if you do, you have to earn back that amount in sales before you start earning more. Don’t get us wrong. Big traditional publishing houses can be wonderful. But if you’re looking for more of a paced income and to be part of a close-knit group, small presses can offer that specialized attention you might desire.

6. Want guidance on establishing a platform to get your name out there? We can help with that! We know you want to be successful and we want you to be successful, too. We’ll give you tools and ideas on how to find and reach more readers. Is every small press like this? No, but that’s the good part about selecting a small press. Look for what you want. ASK QUESTIONS! If they don’t want to answer them, move on. We are transparent. It’s one of our founding tenets.

7. You probably will work with the same people. You’ll get to know them. You won’t be a number. You’ll know who is touching your story and you can contact them. This can give an author the trust they need. Small publishers have the dedication you might be looking for.

8. Quicker turnaround. The average production life in a big traditional publisher is 18 months. Our contract says within 12 months, but we strive for 3-6 months. We want you to get started earning money sooner, rather than later. We know time is money! Big publishers have long wait times and often things can fall through the cracks when there are big lags. Do you want to be checking up to make sure they’re getting things done or do you want to know they’re getting done?

9. Career building and new trends! Say you want to dip your toes into a new pen name. Give a small publisher a try and see what traction you get. Or is this your first book and you want to get the ball rolling, and in the future, publish independently when you know more about the book publishing business? Then a small publisher can help you earn while gaining that knowledge. New trends often start with small publishing houses. Keep an eye on what multi-author, anthology, contest, or projects a small press is offering—those may be on the cutting edge of what the tropes and market is wanting. Small publishers can react quicker than large ones, so they can keep up with the trends and yet, they also love the evergreen tropes, too.

There you have it…many great reasons to work with a small publisher.

Last Chapter Press doesn’t like to call ourselves a publishing house—we’re a home.

Come find your writing home today!

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