Hello out there. I'm a new author who just signed a publishing contract with Austin Macauley publishers. I've decided to document my journey from start to finish and hopefully help out some other authors along the way.
I sent my manuscript out to about a dozen or so publishers and agents and agencies starting a few months ago. I received two offers, one from Olympia Publishers and one from Austin Macauley. Both were from what's know as the hybrid model of publishing. This is where you pay a fee to help supplement the cost of publishing your manuscript.
And the journey of research began. There is lots of controversial information on the net and talking to people that say this form of publishing is "vanity" publishing, and it's just a method to take your money and you will never see any return on your investment.
I joined a writer's group on Facebook and sought opinions from them. Most were negative. In fact I think all were negative. In most, actually probably all cases, none of these people had tried out this hybrid model and been "screwed" by it, they just had negative opinions based upon whatever information is out there.
Although very similar in nature, I liked the contract from AM a little better. So I looked up published authors on their website, and then looked up those authors in FB. I spoke to several of them and heard nothing but positive reviews. They all echoed that AM was great to work with from beginning to end. I did not come across any authors who had made back their investment yet in book sales, but Covid 19 did play a part in some of that.
I've learned that a big part of success falls on the author do also do their own promotion and marketing. I'm good at this and looking forward to it so that encourages me. So, where am I now? I've signed the contract with AM, and am working on filling out some information they sent me on my book. The publishing process is beginning. Time will tell if it works out but I'm confident and hopeful it will. Stay tuned...
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