The Launch of Trifolium Books

This is one of those inevitable things- a decision which just about made itself. The publishing industry seems to be going the way of the music industry, and all our efforts to get Kathleen Herbert's stunning fourth novel published in the traditional way have come to naught. So, inevitably, we have said "A plague on all your publishing houses".... and set up our own.
Some notes on the reasons for this:

Publishers are very reluctant to take on new books for good reasons. Here is how the money paid for a book divides up between the parties:

Publisher’s net profit               5%

Publisher’s overheads             9%

Distribution/marketing    8%

Manufacturing                15%

Author’s share                8%

Retailers’ share              55%

Figures from The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook Guide to Getting Published: The Essential Guide for Authors (Writers & Artists Yearbook Gde) Harry Bingham

• Because there is now so little profit in publishing, publishers and agents are taking very few risks. (Agents make their money by charging authors 15% of their royalties: given that an author makes 80p per nominal £10 book sold, it’s not surprising that agents are even more reluctant than publishers to take on new writers. (And publishers usually only take on authors who have already persuaded an agent to represent them)
• My perception is that there are now many more people writing novels than perhaps 10-15 years ago
• Adult fiction constitutes only 26% of book sales
• Despite what looks like a huge profit margin for retailers, most of that is eaten up by overheads, discounts to overseas buyers, discounts to customers, and the fact that they take up shelf and storage space etc.
• For all the above reasons, books by celebrities and by already well-known authors are snapped up, and quality is hardly considered either by agent or publisher; saleability is what matters (see Kate Mosse, and dare I say it, Dan Brown)

Parallel to the problems with mainscale publishing, there has been a huge growth in self publishing/indie publishing (interestingly reflecting what has been happening in the music industry)

People are still buying huge numbers of books, but I have the impression that they are written by a dwindling number of authors.

I have had both support and interest through various historical blogs, and through researching the books and authors mentioned, I have come to realise that there is a community of independent authors and very small, often specialist publishers- or rather there is a plethora of communities mostly interlinked. 

Trifolium Books will join that community in 2011; please support Kathleen and Trifolium by checking Get it Written for dates and places, tell your friends, and buy a copy of Moon in Leo when it's published.