Happy Monday!

No, I didn’t post last week. Insanity, thy visit in my life was not wholly unexpected but you stayed far longer than I’d anticipated! LOL. Life outside of writing has calmed down again, though, so I’m back at it. I *may* even get forward momentum in a wip this week! LOL

This week, I want to talk about trust. Do you trust your publisher? Do you think they are going to do what is best for your book? Are you willing to let go that clenched fist you have around your m/s and let someone else play with your child? Because, if you’re not, then you either signed with the wrong publisher or should self publish.

You’re going to encounter all sorts of people who claim to ‘know’ things…people who don’t work in the industry. They may be well meaning, or they could be envious that you did what they couldn’t and seek to undermine your accomplishment. But do they really know why a decision was made by your house? Can they honestly say they know better than the person you’ve entrusted your story to?

There should always be author input along the way. Editing is a very involved process, and the author should get some say on the cover art. But leave things like distribution channels and the like up to your publisher. They want the same thing you do – a successful book. They aren’t going to limit where they make it available to, and sometimes they’ll have to make decisions based on information you don’t have (and have no reason to know). 

In short, it comes down to trust vs. being a control freak. Are you willing to trust your publisher to do what is right for your book? Or do you want to question every single decision, have final say in each and every bit of minutiae that’s involved in putting a book out in the world? If it’s the latter, seriously consider self-publishing. Because a traditional publisher is not going to win your trust, and the partnership will be a miserable one.

BB