By Brenna Lyons (Guest Blogger)
I teach a class on this subject. You’d think I would know the perils involved intimately. From contract concerns to time demands to publisher expectations and even author promotion, the prolific author writing for multiple publishers has to be mindful of the pitfalls and perils that (usually) balance the pros of having multiple publishers.
On a normal day, balancing my seven publishers isn’t difficult, but I got the smack upside the head reminder of how difficult it can be and how easily the best laid plans can go awry this week.
The last few months have been very busy for me. In addition to being the administrator of Silver Publishing, I still have to keep my writing up, though it’s not always easy to do. It was harder than most months recently, because I had three releases scheduled (between two publishing houses) in a single month, seven in less than six months, between three publishing houses and a self-published title. I’ve done three in a single day before, so that didn’t scare me. I just work my butt off for a while, and it all comes together.
That’s a usual day or month. This month was not so...usual.
Peril #1 - One of the releases was pushed back, because the files weren’t in place. It happens, especially with as many files as the publishers handle in a week or month. The EIC was fabulous about it and set it up two weeks later, which brought me to three releases in three weeks.
Peril #2 - My own brain dead moment. In finalizing the cover for a new release, the cover artist asked me to double check my title. Thank goodness, because it was wrong, and I didn’t see it. Grin... More than 85 releases in, the characters, series, and individual plotlines are still crisp and clear, but the titles are starting to blur in my mind. In this particular case, the title should have been “Choosing a Mate,” but I have two other titles in the same series of “Claimed: König Mate” and “Claiming a Lady.” So, I had typed “Claiming a Mate” on half the paperwork and “Choosing a Mate” on the other half. When shown the cover that said “Claiming a Mate,” my mind insisted that was fine and moved on. Until she asked, it didn’t click to me that it wasn’t.
Okay...this one isn’t a multiple publisher one. It’s really a prolific author one. Or maybe not. If I hadn’t been so busy, would I have made that error? I can’t say for certain.
Peril #3 - Missing an important email message. Since I get several thousand email messages in a day, it does sometimes happen. I admit it. In this case, the message was intended to let me know that the release date on a book moved forward, because of a shift in the schedule. Had I known it, I would have been promoting that book along with the other three. Yep, it moved that book into the same three week period as the other three books, a day after one of the other releases, bringing the grand total up to four releases in three weeks.
So, even if you have taken my class on the Pros and Cons of Working with Multiple Publishers...or have taught it, remember that there are an endless supply of things that can go wrong in the mix.
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"Though it went against his base nature, Davon - son of Ares, Horseman of War, and holder of the red sword -- had to make peace. What an odd turn his life had taken."
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