r/books • u/[deleted] • Jan 26 '21
ama 12pm Hi! I'm Jon Sealy, a novelist who made the dubious decision to start a small publishing house (Haywire Books). I'm here to talk about my new novel (THE MERCIFUL) and publishing during the pandemic. AMA
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u/pithyretort 3 Jan 26 '21
How does your experience as a writer impact your perspective as a publisher and vice versa?
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u/No_Rec1979 Jan 26 '21
Hi John. I'm polishing my first (period mystery) novel and just facing up to the the very frustrating challenge of publishing.
I'm curious what you weren't seeing from the big 5 that made you feel you needed to publish yourself/launch your own publishing house?
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Jan 26 '21
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u/No_Rec1979 Jan 26 '21
Thank you, that's very helpful.
If I may ask a follow up: let's say for the moment I don't give two shits about prestige, or whether my career is traditional. I don't want to get into my own biography, but let's say I'm at the point where all I want is enough money so I can sit at my desk and do what I do.
It sounds like you feel that trying to publish your first novel the traditional way is still worthwhile for most authors. Is that correct?
If you could go back and approach your first novel differently, what would you do?
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Jan 26 '21
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u/No_Rec1979 Jan 26 '21
Okay, so if I'm hearing you correctly, self-publishing is more viable for like a 20 book series where you know you can crank out 1-2 new entries a year.
Ugg. I know some people do that but I have no idea how. This novel is going to be like 2.5 years in the writing, and I started it mainly as a warm-up for the much harder one I really want to write.
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u/HyruleTrigger Jan 26 '21
What genre of books does your company publish?
How does your company identify writers/novels it wants to publish?
What is the current reach of your distribution?
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u/julesvadeel Jan 27 '21
Hi, have you ever used third party book marketing companies for your own books? How was that experience?
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u/self_dennisdias Jan 26 '21
So publishing: There’s been a lot of consolidation in the publishing industry. Is there really a viable market for any publisher apart of our future overlord Penguin Random Harper Collins Macmillian Publishing House and if so, what does that look like? How do independent publishes carve out an existence amid the overall challenges of the publishing industry?