Publishers vs. authors, authors vs. publishers – what gives?

I read this article “Publishers Must Change the Way Authors Get Paid,” on PublishingPerspective.com with great interest. In it, the author argues that traditional publishing houses should pay authors more, since in the current publishing environment authors seem to bear the burden of marketing. Here’s what she says:

Times have changed, and with them, every aspect of the publishing landscape is morphing. And from my vantage point, nowhere is it changing more than in marketing. Authors aren’t waiting and watching to see what publishers aren’t doing for their books — they are jumping in feet first and months ahead of their houses to make sure there’s a serious marketing and publicity effort.

And publishers aren’t gnashing their teeth over the author’s involvement anymore — they are encouraging it…In almost all cases, publishers are making it clear that they expect authors to supplement their marketing/PR effort in various ways and, in some cases, even soliciting the author’s help with both time and yes, money.

As a result, today the author’s marketing/PR effort is often equal to or even greater than what the house is doing.

I have no doubt that this is the case if one is dealing with a large publishing company. I don’t have personal experience with this, but I’ve heard many writers describe magnificent marketing plans and I wonder if they are seeing a true return on their investment (of time or money) since they are making pennies every time a single book sells. Since I am self-published (and only recently have begun to publish others) I make anywhere from $4-10 every time one of my books sell. So even a modest booksigning or storytelling event is worth my while. And any marketing I do always pays off. Of course, I did put up a significant sum to publish my books, and even if I’m making dollars and not pennies for each book sold it takes a while to earn my output back. But if I were only making 35 cents for every book I sold, I’d probably think twice about doing appearances or giving out free bookmarks. Why would I be doing it? For the fame?

I’m not saying traditional publishing isn’t the way to go. Fact is, my books have such a small niche audience that they’d never have seen the light of day in a business where selling 10,000 copies in a year is small potatoes and bookstores are the primary ways of selling books. Even if my books were the best written picture books in the world they would’ve never made the cut. If my books were for a more general audience, however, there’s plenty to be said for the marketing and distribution channels of a large traditional publisher. Plenty. Heck, I’m working on something right now that I’d love to submit to a big house. I’ve certainly submitted my share of ideas and manuscripts to traditional publishers, big and small, in the past and I will continue to do so. But it’s important to enter the situation wisely. Authors get paid for their work.