Publishing companies have been struggling in recent years, as many were caught unprepared for the shift in the publishing universe brought on by both by Amazon’s online distribution and by electronic publishing and e-readers. At Vivid Thoughts Press, we embrace the changes that have upended the publishing world. Most importantly, we are advocates of authors, and we believe that, in the main, authors were rarely compensated fairly by traditional publishing companies, and have more exciting opportunities in the rapidly evolving present.
What are the functions of a publishing company? First, it is a gatekeeper: it chooses the material it wishes to publish. It then provides services to help create and finalize the book projects it selects: editing, copy-editing, graphic design, copyright and occasionally other legal services. It then prints and distributes its books through its distribution channels: traditionally, these were primarily bookstores; now, it is primarily Amazon and e-books that matter. Finally, it is supposed to help market the books it publishes. This is where traditionally-published authors perennially complain about being let down.
For these services, the standard royalty structure has the publishing company taking about ninety percent of revenues, leaving the author with about ten percent. That’s right: the person who created the content gets only pennies on the dollar, while the company that prints and distributes the books takes the lion’s share. Both of those services—printing and distributing to bookstores—have been rendered less viable and valuable services by the onset of print-on-demand technology and online and e-book distribution. Essentially, writers who now forego 90% of the value of their labor to traditional publishing companies are paying an exorbitant price for services of dubious and declining value.
At Vivid Thoughts Press, we provide all the services that traditional publishing houses provide to select and help create books. And we believe we can provide more help in marketing books, especially in terms of web marketing, than traditional publishers generally offer. Among other marketing services, we will provide for all authors a website devoted to their work. We fall short in comparison to traditional publishers only in the one area that is increasingly meaningless: distribution to bookstores. But we offer authors a fair deal for our services: a fifty/fifty split on all revenues. And we pay authors monthly, not twice a year.
What kind of material are we looking for? Both fiction and non-fiction. Anything that is well-written and compelling and fresh. We will have a particular niche in health-oriented books, where we are proud of our bias towards a whole-foods, plant-based diet. Do not submit to us if you have written a “health” book advocating eating animal products, or a how-to book on succeeding in the slaughterhouse business.
The best way to judge our taste is to read the first book we are publishing: Off the Reservation, a charming and original comic political novel by Glen Merzer with a vegan twist (including 20 vegan recipes). Learn more about Glen Merzer and Off the Reservation at the novel’s website.
We prefer to work through agents, but we will take submissions directly from authors. If you are an author without representation, you will need to sign our submission release form, and then please submit only either a) a book proposal; or, b) if the work is already completed, the first chapter or the first ten pages.
If you have any questions, please contact us.