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Feature

The Next New Publishing Thing?

A 25-Year Veteran of the Publishing Wars Speaks Out

by Tina B. Tessina, PhD

Publishing and I have both been through a lot of ups and downs since 1978, when I signed my first book contract, and my bones are telling me that, with all the cheap PR available through the Web, the obvious "one size fits all" shallowness of the big chain bookstores, and lots of frustrated authors, we're in the beginning throes of a new publishing revolution -- small presses, special focus online bookstores and new, small special interest bookstores are about to enter a boom phase. I surmise this based on my long publishing history and experience. Only time will tell if I'm right.

There may be some standard process other writers follow to get published, but for me it was accidental. Publishing was a very different business in 1980, when my first book was published. Small publishers thrived, and an unknown had a chance.

Boy, was I unknown: In 1975, divorced, bereft, and despairing, I took the psychotherapy training that became the basis for restructuring my life, and met Riley K. Smith, who became a lifelong friend, colleague and co-author. We both joined in a cooperative living situation with seven others. We wanted consensus, not majority vote, so Riley and I developed a way to solve problems cooperatively and reach consensus. This led to teaching a class at Los Angeles Community College, called “How to be a Couple and Still be Free.” Hundreds of people showed up for those classes. We had to get bigger rooms. We needed a workbook, but every relationship book on the market in 1975 recommended sacrifice (compromise), and not cooperation. So, we cobbled together a primitive, typed manual.

Then Riley ran into Al Saunders, whose bookstore he had frequented. “I own Newcastle publishing company,” said Al. I publish New Age and self-help books.” Riley replied “I’m writing a sort of self-help book,” and our first book was born.

In those pre-computer days, we wrote it on typewriters, and cut and pasted with scissors and tape. It was a mess! The book took five years from beginning to publication in 1980. How to Be a Couple and Still Be Free became Newcastle’s best-selling book.

As to PR, we were complete novices. The week we signed the contracts, Newcastle’s publicist called and said she had a TV program lined up for the publication date, which sent me into a panic attack. I had never known an author, much less been one. I had no idea what lay ahead. But Al introduced me to some of his other writers, and the publicist conducted mock radio and TV interviews, which calmed me down and gave me some confidence. What publisher would be so helpful today? They all want to publish writers who already have a “platform.”

In the era of successful small publishing, networking led to success. After Newcastle published my first two books, I met editor Hank Stine, who introduced me to Jeremy P. Tarcher, who published my next three books. I loved being a Tarcher author, and Jeremy took personal interest in his authors, and sent me on a book tour with each book. His editors were first-rate, and gave me a valuable education. At Tarcher, I finally felt like a pro.

Then came the acquisitions period. In the middle of a twelve city tour to publicize The Real 13th Step, Tarcher was acquired by Putnam, the author/publisher relationship changed drastically. I signed with agent Laurie Harper and The Unofficial Guide to Dating Again was published by Macmillan in 1998 (and immediately sold to IDG) there was no budget at all for PR, but fortunately I had learned a lot by then, and the book was easy to promote. For the next three years, it passed from publisher to publisher, and I now feel lucky that it’s landed at Wiley, where they have just printed a new edition.

In 1999, HCI published The 10 Smartest Decisions a Woman Can Make Before 40. HCI had just become hugely successful as the publisher of the Chicken Soup books, but retained the feel of a small publisher, taking interest in its authors. They invited me to sign at the BookExpo in Los Angeles in May, 1999, which, led to the Spanish edition and exciting tours of Mexico, Columbia and Costa Rica, including the FIL (International Book Fair) in Guadalajara, Mexico. Eventually, due to HCI’s foreign rights expertise, the book was published in 14 languages.

The Spanish version was published by Pearson Internacional, and, to my amazement and amusement, I found that, if I traced the corporate buyouts, almost all my books wound up under the Pearson umbrella. It didn’t matter who I signed with, corporate buyouts determined who would eventually be my publisher.

Today, I am fortunate to have three books with the New Page Books division of Career Press, a small press I can count on to care about my backlist.

After six publishers, some huge ones, I'm relieved to be back with a smaller publisher. I may never hit the NY Times best-seller list, but I get to work with these people who actually care about me and the book __ they want to work with me, they respect my experience, and I respect theirs.

Each time I get a new book published, I am grateful for my mind, my experience and every person who participated to get me to this point. I say a silent prayer of thanks, show my friends and my husband, call my agent and we tell each other how good we are. I'm an author. I wrote a book. I love this stuff.

I've given up on big, mainstream publishers (they all seem to boil down to Pearson, anyway) and have gone back to being published by a smaller press. I'm not going to get much PR help from the big-budget guys, anyway, so I'm not losing anything, and independents like Career Press/New Page Books treat me like a valued person, keep my books on the backlist and do a lovely job on the books themselves.

Over the years, I've learned a lot about publishing, promotion and the publishing industry. As a mid-list author, with a very long-lasting backlist (How to Be a Couple and Still Be Free was just published in a revised third edition in 2002, by New Page) it's more important to me to have a publisher who will support my books for years, than a big publisher who may or may not even notice my books exist.

In my experience, small publishers care about every book they publish, and treat the average author with more respect than larger publishers. Independent houses are also more responsive to market changes. While they have less money to spend, they're often much more flexible and creative.

Publishing history tells me that there is a huge gap in the book market today:

• Authors are unhappy with the shortsightedness of corporate publishers who market books like cans of peas, and who drop books before they've even had a chance to create a market.
• Readers are not able to find the books they want, because the big chains focus only on bestsellers, publishers who can pay for shelf space, and old standbys.
• The World Wide Web makes it affordable for authors to promote their books, and to reach niche markets.
• The failure of e-books to sell in big numbers says that readers still want to turn pages, and browse in bookstores. New, specialty focus independent bookstores are already starting to spring up.
• The advent of print-on-demand (POD) books means that more authors are self-publishing, and that plus the possibility of Web sales mean there is room for new small publishers in the market.

These are exactly the conditions that encourage new enterprise and new publishing startups. The gap between authors and readers will continue to narrow, and getting the right books in front of the readers and buyers that need and want them will become easier and more efficient.

I'm looking forward to it.

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(c) Tina B. Tessina 2003

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Tina B. Tessina, PhD, LMFT is a licensed psychotherapist in S. California, with 25 years experience in counseling individuals and couples and is author of 11 books, including It Ends With You: Grow Up and Out of Dysfunction (New Page, March 2003),How to Be a Couple and Still Be Free (New Page, 2002), The Unofficial Guide to Dating Again (Wylie 2002), and The Real 13th Step: Discovering Self Confidence, Self Reliance and Independence Beyond the Twelve Step Programs (New Page Books, 2001). She has been published in 14 languages. Find out more about her radio show "The Psyche Deli: Delectable Tidbits for the Subconscious," and e-mail newsletter "Happiness Tips From Tina," at www.tinatessina.com.

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