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Writing and Publishing, Part 47:
Becoming your own publisher:
Marketing:
The Publishing Industry journals:
There are three publishing industry journals that I have had some
exposure to. These are, The Publisher's Weekly, Foreword Magazine
and Independent Publisher. There may be others, but I do not know
of any. Of the ones I know about, I have developed a fine degree
of contempt.
Here is one sad point. There are very few magazines which would be so crass as to sell their front cover for advertizing space. However, the publishing magazines do it. So far as I know, they are the only ones who do; front and back, inside and outside. To me, this is just an external indication of the depth of degradation of the publishing industry.
The thing about the advertisements in these journals, whether on the front cover or inside, is the boring sameness to them. It's as though someone created a template long ago and everyone continues to insert their product into that template. No one remembers why. I suppose no one has thought much about it. They just do it, because that's the way it is done. When you look through the magazine thoughtfully, you begin to realize how terribly boring they are. You cannot tell any one ad from any other ad.
Now here is a sad revelation about my foolish credulity. I was subscribed to Publisher's Weekly for three years. It took me that long before I finally realized that I was paying $169.00 per year to read the other publisher's advertising. After that I let my subscription run out. So far as I can tell, that decision has not hurt me. It just saved me some money.
For me, there is no useful information available in Publisher's Weekly which is not available in many other places. To be sure, there is information not available elsewhere, but I don't seem to need it. I believe that is because the magazine has mostly to do with the doings of the big guys.
If you have never seen the magazine, I would suggest that you try to get a newsstand copy to evaluate. Then make your decision to subscribe or not. Don't take my experience as the final word. You may find information of value in it.
I was also subscribed to a magazine called Independent Publisher. That is a magazine which is put out by the Jenkins Group Incorporated. This magazine started out in California under a different name. I think it was called Small Press Magazine but I cannot be sure because I did not keep any copies. Later they moved to Traverse City, Michigan and became Independent Publisher.
Later still they decide to become an internet magazine and dropped the print version altogether. Jenkins, the person, has made much noise about being the ally of small publishers. I have a somewhat different take. I will have something more to say about this when I cover my own efforts with The Gaffer's Shorts.
Foreword magazine was supposed to be a different type of magazine. They sprang up a while ago in Traverse City, Michigan. Hmmmm! Do you wonder where they sprang from? I wonder, but I don't have any information about it. Their claim to fame is that they were going to link the small publishers with the small booksellers. I don't know if they ever achieved that. If they did, I have not seen the effect. I never subscribed to the magazine, but I did request a sample copy. I have been receiving free copies of the magazine ever since. That's over a year.
So far as I can tell Foreword Magazine is not different. They seem to be pretty much a copy of what Independent Publisher was before it went online. The problem with Foreword and with these other magazines is that they adhere to the traditional model of the industry. Thus, they end up being just another look alike publishing industry journal. That's really no help to me.
I cannot in good conscience recommend any of these journals. However, I do suggest that you check them out for content that is relevant to you. They do review books; too few in my opinion. Just the same it's possible that you may submit a book which they will find good enough. If they do, you will get exposure. In this business, you cannot get enough of that.
Next time I will get into a discussion of Agents, publicity
and otherwise.
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