A new endeavour deserves a little background, right? Here goes…
In 2018, after a dozen years working in journalism, I decided to produce my first book. It essentially combined all my interests: football, travel, unusual and interesting political situations, and being something a little bit leftfield that a lot of people probably haven’t heard of (you can check it out here, if you’re curious – the banner photo for this website is taken from the book). Writing the book was both a labour of love and a real pleasure, fulfilling something of a lifetime ambition. But it’s niche – knowingly so – and being a debut, exposed to a different, small-scale side of the publishing business. I got a deal to publish it, and then, a few months later, around when it was originally due to be published, that deal was withdrawn.
In short, the publisher’s London office had agreed it was a great idea, and then their American one, the head office, had blocked the whole thing. I felt the timeline for publishing the book was already stretched, so I ended up doing it all myself, instead, getting the finished book edited, covers designed, a PR campaign together and sorting ISBNs, printing and making the book available in digital form all in the space of about a month. Connections to shops and other interested parties followed. It was tough, but ultimately I learnt that I didn’t really need the publisher in the first place. The book has gone on to sell close to a thousand copies, with each one earning me around three times the profit it would have if the publisher had been involved.
Another thing I learnt, quickly, is that disillusionment with publishers is extremely widespread. There’s a lot of behind the scenes help in niche communities like obscure football publishing, and people tend to track each other down. Within a few months, I found myself hearing from a writer who had traveled all over the world to write his book and secured a small advance, only to find the publisher wasn’t able to get it into many bookshops, and as he no longer owned the work, it was harder for him to do so, too. I heard from others about books that were considered ‘too niche’ for mainstream publishing, but went on to sell comfortably in the four figures for their writers, making them a decent income.
Naturally, I compared the market to my more common writing market: music and entertainment journalism, where I could pull in a freelance wage each month without much of the stress involved in writing a book and dealing with publishers. Before long, I started to ask myself: in the case of a non-mainstream book, what is the point of a publisher?
This is where The Stand Publishing comes in. Because there are disadvantages to not having a publisher, but they’re all sumountable. Self-published books are not as respected in publishing circles, as there isn’t the inherent quality control required in getting a publisher on board (though, I should note, having read some of the texts provided to one of the key niche publishers in the sporting world, I’m not convinced publishers actually are offering that quality control!). But we’ve worked out a way around that.
The ideas behind The Stand is, essentially, a cooperative. It was pulled together with the help of a number of high-profile sports writers with similar frustrating experiences who will operate behind the scenes to start out with, largely because they are, for the time being, tied to publishers. The thinking is that if we can collectively work as a kind of quality control, edit each other’s work, and use our shared knowledge to access the market, we can create a brand to function under that doesn’t siphon off the majority of our profits.
The down side, of course, is the writers will also be taking on the costs (we will shortly post on how it will work in practical terms), and where necessary we hope to mitigate that to some degree. But the bottom line is, experienced writers, with a bit of support, should be able to back and profit from their own work in a way that goes chiefly into their own pockets, and removes what has become a very, very costly middle man.
After a bit of discusion, we decided to take it one step further than simply providing an affordable alternative: The Stand will be a ‘look through’. That means, by being part of it, you get access to the branding and the expertise – subject to satisfying us on the quality of your text – at no cost. We will provide access to our routes to market, to designers, editors, and so on, as needed. The Stand Publishing itself will take nothing. And because all our books will be available on the platform, sharing space and benefiting from cross-sales, we are fellow writers will ultimately benefit vs self publishing, or inhibiting publishing deals. In time, we hope to grow big enough to be a brand recognised for quality and for having a particular value. Perhaps, even, for taking it to the industry. For the time being, we’ll settle for getting a few good, but niche, books to market as we get established, and setting up the connections we need.
The background, essentially, is we want to be treated fairly. And many of us are not sure we have been up until now. Between us, we feel we have an answer ready to go. Pitch us the right idea, and we’d love to have you along for the ride.
In fact, our very first book is just around the corner.
In solidarity,