Some Thought on Small Presses

I just happen to have two books being released within eight days. Didn’t plan it…just happened.  Both George Washington, Surveyor, Soldier, Leader and Troubled Times are being published by a small press. And that’s where the similarity ends.

I’ve worked with White Bird Press a number of times in the past. They are doing a re-release of Troubled Times, a historical novel set in Civil War times that first saw print in 2005. It’s been out of print for a number of years and such a good story, I felt it needed to be re-introduced to the reading public. So, with three new chapters and a smashing new cover, Troubled Times is available today, June 17^th, through Amazon, Kindle, and Nook.

Part of my promotion program is to present it in serial form on Venture Galleries.com, a site where I’ve been a weekly blogger for some time. So far, I’ve gotten some great response and even garnered a super review. (http://venturegalleries.com/author/gayingram/)

The George Washington book is a fictionalized biography about our first president. I went with a different small press after hearing a presentation by one of its acquiring editors. Through no fault of the publisher, my book’s release took a lot longer than I anticipated. Without naming names, I will say through the whole process I felt quite discouraged by the lack of response to my inquiries. The communication was dismal. 

Even though its release date was June 11^th, I had to go looking for it on Amazon and a week later, it is still not available in e-book format.

So what’s my point? Just this…don’t be so eager to get your work into publication that you don’t take the time to do your homework beforehand. If you’re considering a certain publishing house, go to their website, read what others who have published through them have to say about their experience.