When Sales Are Down, Do It Yourself

Jon Clinch got the attention of Jeff Kleinman at Folio Literary Management. He landed an agent. He got a publishing contract with Random House.

That's what any author dreams of. It's supposed to mean that you've made it into the ranks of professional author, writing and getting published full time.

Maybe it used to be that way, before the publishing houses were overtaken by bean counters who are currently flooding the market with mommy porn because they ride the trends to make profits.

Mr. Clinch submitted his second manuscript and Random House published that, expecting that his followers would snap up the book. Oprah herself touted the novel, which is publicity gold, but Random House and Oprah weren't operating on the same schedule. By the time the book was laid down, the public had forgotten about it.

As it turned out, sales didn't meet expectations and Random House wasn't interested in Jon Clinch anymore.

So when sales were down and Random House didn't know him, Jon Clinch tried doing it himself.

He went to CreateSpace and put out his third novel, using a pen name just in case his agent managed to convince some other publisher that Mr. Clinch still had some good stories in him.

Using his marketing savvy, he promoted and it sold. Not Random House numbers, but it sold just the same.

Mr. Clinch is set to release a fourth novel, the second one he's done himself.

And he likes the independence. He says he wouldn't go back to a major publisher, even if they offered him a contract.

Is this the future of publishing, or is Mr. Clinch serving a niche audience that the bean counters in the publishing industry don't care about because there's not enough money in it?