E. DON HARPE, formerly of Nashville, now of Florida, is a songwriter, poet, and novelist. He has had a varied career, and his occupations include having been an engineer for a major appliance firm, a songwriter who has seen many of his songs recorded, and who for years ran his own music publishing company. Now retired, E. Don Harpe devotes his time to writing fiction

The sad fact, my friends, is that the vast majority of new and aspiring writers will not see their work published by a large, major company. There is simply too much competition, too many established authors whose books are going to be there ahead of ours, and too many celebrities who will get their ghost written book published because they have a built in sales factor. For those who want to go the traditional route, that is to write, submit, try to find an agent, and then brag about all of your rejections, I say go for it. There's nothing wrong with giving it your best shot, even though the odds are stacked heavily against you. For the others, there are a few choices, a few options, that you can look into. One is to self publish, paying the way at each step of the process, and hoping to attract the attention of someone who will step in and help you secure a bit time contract. Another is to seek out a small press, and hope they will accept your work and get it out before the public so that everyone will know just what the major publishers missed out on. Another is to go with a company like Lulu or Createspace, which are basic POD companies, and do all of the work yourself. Then buy your own ISBN, and do whatever you can to make yourself known. Then there are companies like PublishAmerica, who will publish your book, give it a legitimate ISBN number, and make it available at most all on line book stores. And it won't cost you anything to get it done that way. You will have to sign a 7 year contract, you may not be happy with the price of your book, and you'll have to do most or all of your own promotion. Your book won't be in bookstores everywhere, but then again, neither will it be if you self pub, or go with Lulu or Createspace. In fact, many of the very legitimate small presses won't get your book in every bookstore in the country either. As an "aspiring" writer, you are going to have to do a lot of your own promotion, regardless of which route you chose, unless you're one of the very small percentage who managage to secure a major publishing contract. Some of the smaller presses will give you a small advance, and the larger the company, usually the more the advance, but don't be fooled by those who swear you won't have to pay it back. True, if your book doesn't sell, you will not have to pay the advance back out of your pocket, but if it does sell, you won't get any royalties until the publisher recovers all of the costs they have spent on your book. You can call it whatever you want to, but the truth is the truth, no matter what name you use or how much you want it to be some other way. Look around, make the best choice you can while holding to your own guidelines. Most of the anti PA trash out there is by ex PA authors who thought they had written the next best seller, and then learned that they reason no one else had accepted it was because it wasn't all that good to start with. They can't blame themselves, so they blame PA. The contract with any publisher is only going to be as good as you make it. With all of them you will have to do a certain amount or promoting, it's just that the smaller the press, the more you will have to do. Personally, I have accepted the fact that most "aspiring" authors will never be published by a major company, and will never secure the services of a great agent, and I see absolutely no use in garnering enough rejection letters to paper my wall with. I see that more as a badge of wasted time than I do as something to be aspired to. If you have the next 10 or 20 or 30 years to invest in accruing rejection slips, then maybe this is the route for you. I chose not to do so, I went with PA for my first two books, and I have not been disappointed. I wish they sold for less money, I wish PA did more promotion, and I wish they were in bookstores, but at least I don't have a notebook filled with rejection slips. At my age, I simply don't have time to get turned down for the next few years. Good luck, and believe me when I say that any contract, whether with PA or someone else, will reward you almost exactly as much as the amount of work you put into it. If you're looking for a publisher to do everything for you, maybe you should write a book about pipe dreams.

The sad fact, my friends, is that the vast majority of new and aspiring writers will not see their work published by a large, major company. There is simply too much competition, too many established authors whose books are going to be there ahead of ours, and too many celebrities who will get their ghost written book published because they have a built in sales factor.

For those who want to go the traditional route, that is to write, submit, try to find an agent, and then brag about all of your rejections, I say go for it. There's nothing wrong with giving it your best shot, even though the odds are stacked heavily against you.

For the others, there are a few choices, a few options, that you can look into. One is to self publish, paying the way at each step of the process, and hoping to attract the attention of someone who will step in and help you secure a bit time contract. Another is to seek out a small press, and hope they will accept your work and get it out before the public so that everyone will know just what the major publishers missed out on. Another is to go with a company like Lulu or Createspace, which are basic POD companies, and do all of the work yourself. Then buy your own ISBN, and do whatever you can to make yourself known. Then there are companies like PublishAmerica, who will publish your book, give it a legitimate ISBN number, and make it available at most all on line book stores. And it won't cost you anything to get it done that way. You will have to sign a 7 year contract, you may not be happy with the price of your book, and you'll have to do most or all of your own promotion. Your book won't be in bookstores everywhere, but then again, neither will it be if you self pub, or go with Lulu or Createspace. In fact, many of the very legitimate small presses won't get your book in every bookstore in the country either.

As an "aspiring" writer, you are going to have to do a lot of your own promotion, regardless of which route you chose, unless you're one of the very small percentage who managage to secure a major publishing contract.

Some of the smaller presses will give you a small advance, and the larger the company, usually the more the advance, but don't be fooled by those who swear you won't have to pay it back. True, if your book doesn't sell, you will not have to pay the advance back out of your pocket, but if it does sell, you won't get any royalties until the publisher recovers all of the costs they have spent on your book. You can call it whatever you want to, but the truth is the truth, no matter what name you use or how much you want it to be some other way.

Look around, make the best choice you can while holding to your own guidelines. Most of the anti PA trash out there is by ex PA authors who thought they had written the next best seller, and then learned that they reason no one else had accepted it was because it wasn't all that good to start with. They can't blame themselves, so they blame PA.

The contract with any publisher is only going to be as good as you make it. With all of them you will have to do a certain amount or promoting, it's just that the smaller the press, the more you will have to do.

Personally, I have accepted the fact that most "aspiring" authors will never be published by a major company, and will never secure the services of a great agent, and I see absolutely no use in garnering enough rejection letters to paper my wall with. I see that more as a badge of wasted time than I do as something to be aspired to. If you have the next 10 or 20 or 30 years to invest in accruing rejection slips, then maybe this is the route for you. I chose not to do so, I went with PA for my first two books, and I have not been disappointed. I wish they sold for less money, I wish PA did more promotion, and I wish they were in bookstores, but at least I don't have a notebook filled with rejection slips. At my age, I simply don't have time to get turned down for the next few years.

Good luck, and believe me when I say that any contract, whether with PA or someone else, will reward you almost exactly as much as the amount of work you put into it. If you're looking for a publisher to do everything for you, maybe you should write a book about pipe dreams.