When novelist Jackie Collins revealed she would self-publish a book for her fans (during a So What Do You Do? interview with Mediabistro), the article generated thousands of responses around the Internet.
Collins herself has written a blog post about the project, reassuring her readers: “I have fantastic relationships with my two publishers, Simon & Schuster UK and St. Martin’s Press US. No juicy story about a tiff or spat between us—we’re good.” At the same time, she offered some advice for aspiring writers:
Publishers are in the publishing business to make money (and that’s a good thing). But remember that their goal is NOT to make your dreams of being an author come true. Their goal is to make money through the careful and thoughtful exploitation of your book. So, you have to fight for what you want. (Even I do.) If you want a full-page ad in People magazine, you have to get it in your contract; otherwise it’s not going to happen, and you’ll hear things like, “it costs too much.”