I signed with an agent just before I finished my MFA program. She spent the next couple of years trying to sell my book to publishers, but had no success and no interest in selling the book to a small press. 

Fair enough, because agents only make money if the writer makes money and small presses don’t pay much. She and I parted ways amicably, and I attempted to find a new agent, only to realize that agents are reluctant to take on a project that has already been shopped around unless the project has had a significant revision, which mine hadn’t.

But I believed in my novel, and while I could have put it away while I worked on new projects, I wanted to see it in the world. And so, I started looking at small presses. 

Here’s what I learned about publishing with a small press along the way:

Research small presses the same way you’d research an agent

There are a lot of small presses out there and they won’t all be a good fit for your project. I was drawn to Apprentice House because it’s an entirely student-run press, and I figured that no one cares less about money than students. 

I was feeling a bit jaded by the focus on money my agent had—I wanted to write for the art, not just the money, and so a student-run press was a great fit for me. A student-run press might not be the right fit for you if you want consistency, though, because at Apprentice House, there’s someone new working on your book every semester. I liked having lots of input and ideas and feedback, and the students were as warm and as engaged as I imagined they would be, so, for me, the pre-publication experience was lovely.

Read your contract

I was really happy to have a contract for my book, and I did skim it, but I didn’t spend any time thinking about the implications of what I’d signed until well after my book came out.

Namely, when I started to work on my second book and realized my contract stated that Apprentice House had the right of first refusal for it. Which means they get first dibs, and while I can turn down their offer, I still have to give them a chance. 

This is pretty standard, and I’d pretty much made peace with the fact that AH would look at my novel and they would either:

• Like it and offer the same terms as the first novel, which I was prepared to turn down in the hopes of a more lucrative book deal, or 
• Not like it and then I would cry for a month. 

But then I had lunch with a writer friend who told me she asked to have the right of first refusal taken off her contract (with a different small press). She reasoned that her next project was nothing her current publisher would ever put out, so why waste their time and hers? I was impressed with her forward-thinking and I wish I’d taken the time to think about my own contract a little more.

Have someone else copyedit/proofread your work

Apprentice House, and most small publishers, will not copyedit or proofread for you. And even if you think you have a good handle on grammar, have someone else—preferably more than one person—read your uncorrected proof. 

Trust me, you’ve read your own work too many times to really know what’s on the page. By the time I got my uncorrected proofs, I’d say I’d read my manuscript, whole or in parts, at least fifty times. And yet, I still had a reference to the “Eater” Bunny in there. (Easter was what I was going for)

The good news about a small press is that if you happen to miss typos, the print runs are generally small, and you’ll be able to fix the mistake in the next run. The bad news is that too many typos just make the book seem unprofessional and after all your hard work, you don’t want that.

Develop a marketing plan

Even if your publisher works with you to create a marketing plan (which mine did not), you’ll want to come up with as many ideas as you can. Brainstorm like crazy, but make sure they’re things you’re willing and able to do. 

For me, people-ing is exhausting, and I needed rest days in between events. I know some writers who thrive on talking about their work, and that’s great and amazing. Play to your strengths, especially if you’re thinking about the long game—for me, I knew my current work-in-progress would suffer if I didn’t occasionally hit pause. 

When thinking about events, tap into your resources. My day job is as a library director, so I felt comfortable sending out promotional postcards to every library in my state and neighboring states, and I did not fail to mention that I am a library director. I booked most of my events this way. 

I also contacted people I’d gone to graduate school with and, even though that was a little harder for me, I asked them to do events with me. I don’t like being the center of attention, and so, for me, events with other writers make me much more comfortable (but it’s so hard to risk someone saying “no!”). Events with multiple authors draw a bigger crowd, so it’s a win-win in my eyes.

I also attended book fairs, taught workshops, wrote essays about writing my book, and even got the chance to be interviewed on stage in front of a live 100-person audience as part of a music/performing arts variety show. 

Not all of these things were part of my original marketing plan, but a lot of them came about because I had a marketing plan. The variety show, for example, was the direct result of me contacting a bookseller in a neighboring state. I didn’t hear from her for months and assumed she wasn’t interested in the book event I’d pitched, but then she contacted me and said she thought of me when this event came on her radar, so she suggested me to the variety-show producer.

Be flexible with your expectations

Not everything is going to go according to plan, but in the end, small presses are doing a lot of good work for not a lot of money. It’s important to ask for what you need, whether it’s clarification, or a report on sales, or support with an event, but it’s also important to remember to stay polite, professional, and as accommodating as you can be. It’s a team effort, after all. 

Jennifer Dupree is an assistant editor for The Masters Review, a librarian, and a former bookstore owner. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from USM’s Stonecoast program. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in December, Solstice, The Masters Review, On the Rusk and other notable places. She is the winner of the Writer’s Digest Fiction Contest for 2017, and a two-time winner of a Maine Literary Award (2022, 2006). Her novel, “The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach” was published in April of 2022.
You can learn more about Jen on her website or catch her on facebook.

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Voice is a story element that no one can quite put their finger on. Readers either connect with our voice or they don’t. There isn’t much in between. While at SCBWI LA summer conference in 2014, I listened to a panel of reputable, high-powered agents discuss what they liked and disliked about manuscript submissions. When the moderator asked them about voice, their clear-cut advice suddenly became vague. They all agreed voice isn’t something they can teach. Voice is there or it isn’t. So how do you go about finding your voice?

Practice at writing.

You don’t have to write every day, but you should set goals and meet them. Whether they be daily, weekly, or monthly, write when you can and meet your self-imposed deadlines. The more you write, the more experience you have honing your voice. You don’t have to always finish what you start. Not every story will sing to you. Try to finish drafting the ones that do resonate. Practice every stage of your process, including revisions and line edits. Finding your voice will happen as you become more in tune with your methods for storytelling.

Read many genres.

Finding your voice can come from researching books that do voice well. Usually these books connect with a wide audience or serve their niche in the market. The main character doesn’t necessarily need to be a mouthy teenager or have a Scottish accent or drawl. Their voices should feel relatable, accessible, and build the narrative. If you write chapter books, your voice will be different than if you write YA contemporary. Compare and contrast. Get a feel for where you think your own voice fits in the market. Be mindful that voice is also about sentence and paragraph structure, word choice, point of view, similes, purple prose, etc. What do you do well? What could you improve?

Try different genres.

Before I found my sweet spot in fantasy, I wrote a YA paranormal, a YA contemporary, a YA thriller, and a MG fantasy. My middle-grade received a lot of attention from agents, but every one of them said my voice was “off.” I had the genre right but not the readership category. Not to say I won’t switch genres in the future, but it’s usually best to settle upon one until you’re established in the marketplace and build readership.

Get feedback from critique partners, betas, and agents.

Listen to your early readers. If they aren’t connecting with your main character, you might have an issue with voice. Perhaps you character should be younger or older, or your storytelling is better suited for sci-fi than fantasy. Whatever feedback you get, listen before you discard it. Thoughtful, constructive critiques can steer us toward honing our voice.

Find your theme.

We all have causes that are close to our heart. These beliefs and unique viewpoints sneak into our writing. We aren’t out to teach or preach. Our upbringing and how we view the world naturally leaks into our stories. These themes connect us with readers who share similar ideals. Your theme may be general, such as death in the Harry Potter series, or more plot-focused, such as gender equality in The Handmaid’s Tale. Always be thinking of ways to insert your authentic self into your story. Whatever is near and dear to your heart is worth exploring. You don’t have to be a bad guy to write one, but some piece of you is that villain. Do you know what piece it is? That’s part of voice.

Find your passion.

Do you like to create complex magic systems? Cozy mysteries? Fast-paced thrillers? Slow-burn romances? Write what makes you happy and what draws you back to your keyboard time and time again. Writing isn’t easy. It’s even harder when you’re ambivalent about what you’re creating.

As you can see, voice belongs to the individual. Honing it takes a combination of practice, reading, open-mindedness, and understanding why you write in the first place. We all have something to share. Don’t write for the market or to please your critique partners. Be authentic. Your voice will emerge, and readers will connect with your work.

Emily R. King is the author of the Hundredth Queen series, as well as Before the Broken Star, Into the Hourglass, and Everafter Song in the Evermore Chronicles. Her latest novel, WINGS OF FURY, will be released March 1, 2021, the first in the Wings of Fury duology. The second book, Crown of Cinders, will be released October 5, 2021.

Born in Canada and raised in the United States, she is a shark advocate, a consumer of gummy bears, and an islander at heart, but her greatest interests are her children and three cantankerous cats.

For more information, visit her at www.emilyrking.com.

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