Worse than Vampires vs Werewolves

While sitting in on a recent editorial meeting between Steve and a few authors, I learned the answer to a question I hadn't even thought of to ask. Luckily, the authors asked it for me.

Why is it that so many authors dislike their publishers?

I had no idea that authors disliked their publishers. Call me naive, conceited, or delusional, but I always just figured that authors held their publishers in a state of reverence. I mean, without a publisher, where would you be? Self-published with an Amazon ranking in the six digits, right? Right??

Not necessarily. However, this doesn't dissuade authors from attempting to get published anyway (close to 80 rejections so far this summer). The problem usually occurs sometime after the contract has been signed, often after the manuscript has been turned in, and before the book hits the shelves.

Often authors feel ignored and discarded after they've turned in the final manuscript. They've relinquished their rights and powers to this formidable publishing company and now feel like they've pulled the short straw in this bargain. In retaliation, authors contact the publishing company--anyone who will tell them what's going on really--which causes the publishers to regard the authors as pains in our bottom-line bottoms and thus exacerbate the cycle.

This is when authors start looking to Berrett-Koehler for their next book. I've talked to a number of authors who have published books with large, corporate publishing firms. In many cases these same companies have agreed to publish future books, but the authors were so dissatisfied with the treatment they received that they choose to work with Berrett-Koehler instead. Steve explained why.

In the course of the meeting, Steve invited the authors to contact anyone from Berrett-Koehler at any time, including himself. He gave them some guidance as to who they should contact for what kinds of questions, but reiterated that the most important part of sustaining a working partnership is frequent communication. "If a month goes by without you hearing from us or us hearing from you, that's a problem."

No other publishing company does this. They view authors as nuisances; we view them as partners. This concept of author-publisher partnership is the key to the successful relationships that BK enjoys with its many authors.