Getting My First Book Published

A lot of writers ask me how I got my book published, so here's the story. 

I signed a Book Trade Agreement with a traditional publisher in February of 2002 (who I will not name because that would be unprofessional). I figured they were okay because they publish three BDSM authors, not the most famous ones, but writers who I had heard of. I signed the Book Trade Agreement even though I had reservations because I pretty much had to sign all my rights away forever. But since I was a first time author, I didn't feel that I had many options. BIG mistake!

Over the first year I realized that this publisher was totally irresponsible. They refused to give me their phone number, which turned out to be unlisted. It wasn't even printed on their stationary, and the address turned out to be a MailBoxes Etc. box. While they were responsive before I signed the contract, afterward they stopped responding to phone calls, e-mails, or even certified letters! While I did not expect the most brilliant design work on the planet, I did expect something at least as good as I could do myself. The galleys they sent me were the most unprofessional piece of graphic design I've seen in some time, and in fact when I received them I had not yet ever spoken to them even once by phone. 

A year after we started this process the publisher finally called me for the first time, and offered nothing but excuses for their behavior such as the fact that their "phone answering machine was broken" and that "they often deleted incoming e-mail." I realized that this was bad business practice as well as a company that I simply did not want to work with the rest of my publishing life. In total disgust I got a lawyer and rescinded the book trade agreement.

In the meantime I was looking at other traditional BDSM publishers as well as self publishing. A few years ago I had designed a book cover for a friend's book which she published through Trafford - an on-demand publishing service.  She totally loved them and told me throughout this whole ordeal to go with Trafford instead. 

Trafford is what's called an "Author's Cooperative."  People often think that this is like vanity publishing but in fact it's quite different. Vanity publishing is when you have a book that you want to publish 100 copies of to share with your friends. With the old vanity publishers your book ended up looking pretty darn odd - you could tell it wasn't printed professionally. 

What Trafford does is provide publishing and legal services, as well as hooking you up with companies like www.amazon.com so that your book will actually sell on a retail level. The books look great and completely professional. You do have to do the marketing yourself, and you have the option to do the graphic design and layout yourself or pay someone to do it. I personally consider that a big advantage because I like to control the process, something which a traditional publisher does not allow you to do. Also, you make far more royalties per book because there's no middleperson (ie a traditional publisher). Not to mention that you don't sign away your rights until the next millennium. There is a one time setup fee which I considered very reasonable considering everything. 

Trafford has been totally wonderful in every way so far. They respond to all my e-mails within a few hours, and I've spoken to them multiple times on the phone. They've been fast, competent and totally pleasant to work with. The proofs look fabulous and the turnaround is great - about three months. I would recommend them in a New York minute! Check them out at the link here:

http://www.trafford.com/

If you have other questions about this process, please feel free to write me. My home page also includes many links to writer's resources, so please check them out.

~ Sadie