AN INTERVIEW WITH THE PUBLISHER, KARUNESH AGRAWAL

Cyberwit.net has an «altruistic» philosophy in regards to the promotion of small literature forms. Poetry, essays, short story collections, novellas and novels written by persons that do not yet have international renommé must be a challenging but noble endeavor for a small international publishing company. Many publishing companies post their submission and publication policies and guidelines on their websites, but I think your readers might be interested in hearing in more detail what Cyberwit does in terms of book marketing, and what Cyberwit's policy is about various publication forms and agreements.What considerations do you make in accepting submissions from authors and in recruiting new authors?

Cyberwit has always been interested in doing what it can to promote and preserve the small literature forms, and we have a special interest in modern poetry, short stories and critical essays. We do both actively recruit authors to make submissions to us based on what we have read of their work and have learned of their literary activities, and we also receive submissions by authors that are both known to us from before and previously unknown to us. There is no set formula that dictates which authors are offered publishing agreements as we try to find a balance between our desire to promote both established and less-established authors AND to make enough profit to continuously publish quality books. Since 2008 our submissions acceptance standards have been raised considerably, and this is reflected in the quality of the books now being sold.

Yes, I remember receiving an email from you in 2004, inviting me to make a poetry submission to Taj Mahal Review. The rest is «history». That meant quite a bit to me, as an author; to be actively «recruited» by a publisher. Do most of your book authors get experience and become better known through publication in Taj Mahal Review and your other anthologies BEFORE receiving a book publication agreement? I know that many publishing companies ask unknown, and new book authors to consider e-book publication before an actual print contract – this to assess their marketability as authors and their potential following.

Many of our book authors made their Cyberwit-debut through Taj Mahal Review and other anthologies published by us. However, there are some that have not. Book publication agreements offered by Cyberwit vary according to a number of factors. A royalty publishing agreement is an issue that I am eager to discuss with any author and at any time. In the past I have paid royalties for only a few books and to few authors. These books are selling very well ... all due to good marketing efforts by the author. Practically, I benefit much by the royalty system. I am therefore ready to publish any author -- even without taking payment from him -- provided at least 50 copies are sold.

When I first began book publishing with Cyberwit I noticed some rather negative comments on internet forums about the company being «scam artists» and doing «vanity publishing». I never understood these claims myself, and have always had a good professional relationship with Cyberwit.net. To me it was always reasonable to help offset some of the initial production costs and also to develop my literary skills and renommé through other types of agreements until I thought that I was ready for a royalty contract. And I have never had a «vanity» contract with Cyberwit. «Vanity publishing» suggests that the book does not exist beyond the few copies the author has purchased for his/her own sales and marketing purposes. All of my books have been marketed on Amazon and many other internet sites around the world. Listings on Amazon and other places must represent quite an expense for the publisher.

I have seen those forums. We now choose to just ignore them. They are a hazard of the trade and the internet, albeit annoying. I would, however, like to further address the issue of royalty contracts:

a number of new and unestablished authors that have written a book expect a royalty contract from the very beginning – regardless of sales potential or a realistic perspective on a small publishing company's marketing possibilities. No small publisher can himself/herself alone make an author's books sell well. Books that sell like «hot cakes» are generally written by a brand author, celebrities or by an author who has good networking among his friends, fellow authors and relatives. Good sales are also sometimes due to the contents or subject of the book. Books with original topics/themes may attract market attention more easily for the lesser known author. All of the Cyberwit and Rochak Publishing books that are now selling «very well» have entailed active marketing efforts by their authors.

We pay an annual fee for each Amazon listing and cover shipping costs for sending the book as well. This in spite of the fact that we make almost no profit from the sale of a book on Amazon. They charge 55% commission. For a book priced at $10 (if sold on Amazon), we get only $4.5. And we have to bear $4.5 in shipping costs for sending a book to Amazon. By listing on Amazon our purpose is only to give exposure to the author.

It is surprising that some authors submit their work to literary journals and do not wish to purchase or own a copy of their published work. It is very tough getting published. Furthermore, if a publisher is asking only 15-20 bucks then it is not unreasonable considering the high international shipping and printing costs. Cyberwit ships worldwide for free; and our last December 2009 edition of Taj Mahal Review numbered over 200 pages. That is quite a bit of value for your money.

Cyberwit states firmly that they publish literature in English, and yet I and a few others have promoted bilingual and plurilingual literature in our books. With a small staff it must be impossible for you to control editing and proofreading in a multitude of languages. Even in regards to English I would suppose that authors need to deliver proof-ready manuscripts to you. The old-time large publishing companies in America and Europe had large staffs of editors and proofreaders that basically re-wrote or demanded constant author revisions to books. This is not the case with Cyberwit. That «freedom of expression» for the author carries with it much responsibility. Do you find that most new authors understand the extent of their own responsibility in this regard?

Editing and proofreading in English is no problem for us, but for manuscripts in several languages (for example, some of your own immortal and wonderful books, and those of several other bilingual authors published by us) we need bilingual editors and proofreaders. To find them might be a bit cumbersome. The best solution would be that a bilingual author passionately checks and rechecks the manuscript. In that way, approaching perfection in publishing would be easier.

That being said, all authors should submit accurate copy to their publishers and take active responsibility in ensuring that what they have written and submitted is what they mean shall be printed. We rarely «second guess» authors at Cyberwit. If we accept your manuscript, then that is largely what will be printed. As far as printing errors are concerned, in the printing and publishing field, it is almost impossible to have 100% accuracy. We have to cope with some errors. However, we do our best to work with the author on quality control.

Cyberwit has been publishing many of my essays on criticism, writing and publishing with small publishing companies. Dr. Santosh Kumar and several other literary critics have written both individual essays of literary criticism and published books containing literary criticism. One of the books that is currently selling «very well» is Cyberwit's collection of critical essays on the literary works of Ban'ya Natsuishi. Is a revival and renaissance of literary criticism an area that Cyberwit now wishes to take a leading role in? Literary criticism is – as both an art form, and a form of marketing – invaluable to authors and small and new literary genres.

Karunesh Agrawal:

We have so far published «The Poetic Achievement of Ban'ya Natsuishi». Other forthcoming publications are «Adam Donaldson Powell: The making of a poet» by Santosh Kumar, and «The Haiku of Sayumi Kamakura: A Critical Study» including about 17 critical essays by international poets and critics with Japanese translation.. It has been well said that the main business of the poets is to judge other poets. It appears that books of criticism may now become one of our more frequent ventures.

Adam Donaldson Powell:

Thank you Karunesh! Being a literary book reviewer and a Cyberwit author myself, I personally believe that authors should actively be using their websites, blogs, twitter, facebook, friends contact lists, newspapers, local tv and radio etc. to make their books known. They should work to get copies into libraries, and to encourage their local book stores to list the books on their internet order lists (if not on bookstore shelves). They should work with the publisher to get good and relevant book reviews and make a strategy/plan for how these will be used and to whom they will be sent, keeping the publisher informed so that he/she can answer direct inquiries that may come to him/her and so that he/she does not do «doubled-up» work to the same newspapers, magazines, literary reviews etc. Authors should consider investing in book competitions such as National Indie and others. Authors should remember that a part of selling books is selling themselves as authors, and that poet readings, literary presentations of excerpts of their novels, writing essays and discussions about writing styles and about themes covered in their book are also good ways of getting the public interested in their book(s). Authors should understand that "new" books are only considered new the first year after release of the book. After that they are "old news" for most newspapers and literary journals. Therefore the first six months are somewhat crucial for making as much hype and attention as possible around your book. Even after that, the author should continue to send out press releases in different languages and to different countries (as appropriate). In other words, writing the book and getting it printed is "the easy part".

Getting people to buy it is the real challenge for author, publisher, distributor, reviewer etc. However, one «hit» of a book could potentially also help to sell several previous books by the same author or other books offered by your publisher.

Do you have good marketing suggestions that you would like to share with other authors/writers? Send them in to Karunesh Agrawal at Cyberwit.net.

- Adam Donaldson Powell, 2010

Please write us your comments about the books. We are eager to help our readers or visitors in all the way we can. Email us at info@cyberwit.net

Cyberwit is for poets who want to publish their poetry. Our published Anthologies and Journal Taj Mahal Review have poems that are sensuous, picturesque and impassioned. The poems reveal a fine combination of human elements of romance and the mystic & everyday realities. Cyberwit has published a myriad of new poets, and an increasingly large number of collections of verse. The significance of Poetry has not declined, and the 21st century seems to be the Golden Era of English Poetry. The name of Cyberwit is known to readers in several countries.