View From the Publishing Trenches

Every self-published author and small/micro press dreams of scoring the big touchdown — making a national bestseller list. Maybe the New York Times or Publishers Weekly list.

However, the odds are generally against us. Not that it can’t be done, but it happens very rarely. And I’m not sure that’s a bad thing.

Consider that most books from the Big Seven publishing houses that sprint to the top of the bestseller lists tend to stay there for a few weeks and then slip into bestseller obscurity. The big presses don’t really care because their in-house bean counters want results for each book this quarter, not next quarter or next year. When their books slink off the bestseller radars, they usually land somewhere in the publisher’s backlist catalog.

But we self-publishers and small/micro presses thrive on long-term, steady sales — virtually our entire catalog is backlist. I prefer that our books do not make a big flash in the pan and then fade away. I want them to build sales steadily and consistently, for the long haul.

Our catalog currently lists seven titles (one is in both paperback and hardcover), and we plan to publish two or three new titles each year. Thus far, no one title has logged major sales but all are selling consistently and, collectively, they return a nice profit each year.

Yes, you can push a single book hard and urge it onto one or more bestseller lists…but can you keep it there on the modest resources available to most self-publishers and small/micro presses?

I suggest you find a niche for each of your books, keep it alive in front of that audience, and keep publishing more books for that niche. I truly believe that those of us on the small end of the publishing stick own the niches.

So, decide for yourself — invest in a gamble for national bestsellerdom or concentrate on building momentum steadily over time. Flash in the pan…or endurance? The choice—and gamble—is yours.