[WBW]

Thanks a lot to both of you! That's great advice!

As a new writer I'd think you would have little chance of negotiating a larger advance

I was not even thinking of getting ANY advance :-) Royalties already would be a great satisfaction.

They won't go on talk shows

I don't think I'll ever get invited to one... But I see what you mean, advertising is not just a nice cover and a nicely placed shelf.

You may be able to keep your digital rights (ebooks) and publish first through a traditional publisher.

This is very interesting. An option would be to start as an ebook and, if it attracts attention, sell printing rights to a publisher.

I mean no one wants to get sued. That said as I understand it the minute you write a book it is copyrighted to you.

I believe it is that way in most countries. The point is, how do you actually prove you wrote it at exactly that point in time? Is a MS Word file enough evidence? Anyway, I have so much work to do before I worry about that that it is not an urgent problem.

Ask yourself why you want a publisher, and what you expect to get in return for their 80% share of your income.

My idea was simply to sell more, because of their distribution network...

even if book shops still exist by the time it comes out you won't be getting into any of those.

...but for small press outfits, I guess the benefit is much more limited, as you highlighted.

Some want a manuscript through an agent and some accept unagented ones.

Maybe with an agent I could reach larger companies and get the book into the shops? But then again, do I want to? It would be a niche sector and I'm not sure getting it into the shops would be worth adding one more money-hungry ring to the chain...

Depending on what you write, some small press publishers are quite well respected by readers so there would be a certain prestige value in giving away one of your stories in order to drive sales to your creator-owned work.

I have to research on that, I'm not sure whether that is the case in my sector, but it's a brilliant suggestion.

having it sat in the middle of a massive pile of mauscripts on someone's desk until they get around to reading the first paragraph and binning it.

Some accept submissions that you are also sending to other publishers and some don't.

Looks like a real nightmare, which would take months or years... :-(

Thanks a lot for your really wise advice. Both of you have greatly contributed to getting me going the right direction. And now, time to stop dreaming and get back to the keyboard :-)

Thanks and Happy holidays!