So what's the single most important role of a publisher? Publishing, after all, can be done by anyone these days. In fact, a lot of people are saying that authors don't even need publishers. Authors, they say, should just self-publish. And why not? You get a better deal with royalties that way.
But I don't want to go that route. Because I think the single most important role of a publisher is selling books. If you self-publish, you have to sell your books. I read Amanda Hawking's article about how she was successful with her self-published books. She stressed the fact that she put a major effort into promoting her books. She said it took a lot of her time and a lot of effort. And now? Well, after making a name for herself, she went ahead and signed on with a publisher. She said she wanted more time to write and didn't want to have to go through that promoting effort again.
Joe Konrath is the opposite story. He was already a name through a publisher. But then he chose to go the self-publishing route. Sure it was because his publisher declined to publish his later books, so he did it himself. And he's said that he is very glad he did. But he wouldn't have if he didn't have to. That's the point.
For me, I know I can't sell anything. Well, I sold my books to publishers, if you want to look at it that way, but when it comes to selling stuff in the conventional way, I'm horrible. So that's what my publisher is for. They will take care of marketing, and they have their website, and of course, Amazon is always there. But being published by a publisher instead of being self-published, I think, is going to be an advantage out of the gate. We'll see.
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