Worst time to get into the business of publishing books – or best time?
The publishing industry has been marked by mergers and failing publishers for years, decades even, and the repercussions have long since rippled down from the so-called “Big Five” remaining publishing houses to small presses. As Stephen King famously said, it’s as if a big-league baseball player had five teams to try out for instead of six times that many. Writers have fewer publishers to pitch their work to – at least until small and indie presses step up.
It seems counter-intuitive that bookstores are making a “shocking, triumphant comeback” – as Fast Company reported in 2025, noting the number of independent bookstores in the United States had grown by 70 percent since 2020 – yet the number of book publishers has declined. Who is publishing all the books that stores are selling?
Following the closure of the Small Press Distribution company in 2024, things looked grim for most of the 300 indie book distributors it served. By the fall of 2025, manifestations were apparent in the business of publishing crime and mystery books, as demonstrated by the closing of Down and Out Books. Even before that, Polis Books (in March 2024) and UK-based Red Dog Press (in 2023) had announced plans to close, and others seemed on the brink of death with a strong tailwind. Of course, many factors play into the demise of small publishers, from bad sales numbers to bad management to bad faith.
In the midst of all this, Book Riot reported in February that the American Association of Publishers reported that sales of trade paperbacks were down 9 percent in 2025. And as has been widely reported, mass market paperbacks are all but dead with the 2025 decision of ReaderLink to stop distributing the format.
Not to mention the uncertainty inherent in AI-generated books and covers, which we address later in this piece.
For those of us who write, the level of competition for space on publishing schedules for every novel, novella, short story and non-fiction work had already seemed intense: In the wake of the last few years of churn, many writers found themselves without an outlet for their work (although some were able to find a new home in the aftermath).
What happens when the market shrinks? You still publish or perish, even if it’s publishing by your own hand.
My longtime friend Jill Blocker and I earlier this year announced we would publish a slate of books under the name Constellate Publishing as a small press or imprint of Constellate Creatives, the communications company Jill and her twin sister Jade founded. It’s been an interesting experience so far. My second crime novel, “Seven Angels,” comes out June 1 and Jill’s latest literary novel, “Happily After Ever,” follows. The good news is, we have final say on every bit of content, font and cover illustration. The bad news is that nobody will step in and save us if we make a bad decision.
In the spirit of this new (to me) way of getting your work published, I spoke to some writers about what it’s like to find your way through the upside-down world of crime fiction.
Bridging gaps between types of publishing
In 2024, Jill had suggested that we could publish my 1984-set high school crime novel “That October.” I’d helped edit her novel “What Was Beautiful and Good,” about love and freedom and the birth of the Dada art movement in Switzerland at the dawn of World War I. Thanks to Jill’s editing, the cover by my talented artist friend Sara McKinley and printing through the Ingram Spark platform, we published “That October” in June 2025.
What if we did this with our next books, Jill asked? What if we did this with other people’s books, we then wondered? Our editing, development and marketing skills could provide a valuable service to people, and perhaps we could help them navigate self-publishing, or even give them a way to bridge the gaps between traditional publishing, self-publishing and indie publishing.
Jill lives in Switzerland and I live in Tennessee and we see each other only about once a year for some book talks in our home state of Indiana, but we launched into weekly online meetings and near-constant messages, emails and links, keeping each other apprised of developments in the publishing world. One of us would see some startling event, like an indie publisher calling it quits and leaving some authors holding the bag – more on that in a bit – and think, does that make our venture more or less foolhardy?
I found that trying to operate what might someday be an indie publisher was a little like being a new parent: You just hoped you were doing things well enough that your child doesn’t grow up to be a serial killer.
‘Not for the thin-skinned’
For Beau Johnson, a Canadian writer familiar to the crime and mystery world through his tough-minded fiction and no-frills and humorous promotional videos, success took a route familiar to many: Decades of being a reader (the master, Stephen King, was Johnson’s impetus) and several years of short story writing led to the 2015 publication of “A Better Kind of Hate,” a collection of Johnson’s vivid and violent crime stories, published by Double Life Press and, later, Down and Out Books.
“For 10 years and eight books I was with Down and Out Books,” Johson said. “I will forever be indebted to Eric Campbell for taking a chance on me. Their marketing game, however, was forever wanting and frustrating in degrees I’m pretty sure I’ve blocked out.”
Johnson said he can’t block out how Down and Out handled its closure in late 2025. The company didn’t pay its writers for their books it had sold. “I’d say live and learn, but no, it was beyond unprofessional and just straight up shitty human behavior.
“The publishing process is not for the thin-skinned,” Johnson said. “Rejection being what you must wrap your head around first. Not all stories are for everyone. Not all stories fit what people are looking for. You will fail more than you succeed. Most people will never know how much. They don’t care about this part either, nor should they. They are paying to be entertained.”
‘I am my audience …’
Emily J. Edwards’ three “Girl Friday” mystery novels, starting with “Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man” in 2023, paint a vivid portrait of 1950s New York City in the adventures of Valentine, who starts as “girl Friday” to a private detective but quickly proves to be a smart and resourceful investigator. Edwards has since been working on a new novel featuring a modern-day woman who moves through Hollywood and the entertainment industry, where she finds clients to champion in an industry town that’s as duplicitous and dangerous as any.
“The good part about being a cis female writer is that by and large, fiction readers are women,” Edwards said. “Mystery is the second most popular genre, after romance. I am my audience and my audience is me. There are frustrating aspects– women my age are expected to be mothers and to write narratives relying heavily on mothering allegory, which I can’t participate in directly; also, it’s a bit of a struggle to take women out of the ‘burbs but again, since I don’t write about mothers, that seems to be less of an issue – but when it comes to traditionally publishing books, I don’t see many major hurdles.
“Short fiction, at least in the noir space where I like to play, seems to have a great overlap with rural focused ‘grit lit,’ which leans very masculine and anti-urban. Grit Lit and noir are very different genres of literature, and I would like to see some separation. But as I’ve only dabbled in short fiction recently, there is a likelihood that I am not seeing the full scope of the publishing opportunities when it comes to short fiction.”
‘Stuffing cash into holes’
For Joseph Nelson, whose Point of Impact Publishing offers a slate of tough and gritty crime novels, the love of a particular genre prompted his writing and publishing journey: Nelson’s books – those he writes and those he publishes – are inspired by fondly-remembered 1970s-era men’s adventure novels released in series like The Executioner and The Destroyer.
“I decided to see if I could write and consistently finish multiple titles in a series and originally shopped ‘Frenzi.’ our flagship title, around to a couple of the mid-sized indie publishers,” Nelson said. “I had one take interest, but the contract they offered was frightening in how much control they exerted for very little gain. Essentially, I would lose most I.P. rights, have no easy recourse to leave them, have to accept a small royalty offer and zero dollars upfront in advance. Plus, commit to providing them three to four books a year. I passed and decided to try my hand at publishing through print-on-demand services and eBook distribution.” Nelson knew what he was shooting for: action-thrillers with a 50,000-word cap.
“In February of 2022, I decided to take the plunge. I’d written a backlog of several books and had a cover designer I could pay alongside a copy editor. I am closest to a small press by definition, but I’m really just an LLC with myself as the sole employee. Basically, self-published using print on demand in place of wider distribution. I have a group of regular contributors (copy editor, cover designer) that I pay as for-hire work as I don’t generate enough revenue to make this work as a full business entity.
“Most other authors I know of are either self-published entirely or shopping to other indie publishers. And I’ve avoided the full-on indie pub scene because most of them (the publishers) end up on a naughty list. I’ve published one other author, Regan MacArthur (as Clint Reno), and paid him an advance post-contract signing because I fully believe in paying creators, but I’ve avoided stretching myself too thin since the money side is more me stuffing cash into holes. I’ve one other author in the near future to sign, but I’ve stuck hard to my niche, and most other people who’ve pitched me aren’t on the same wavelength. It’s unique to try and straddle the line between micro press and full-on indie publisher.”
Cutting through the clutter
That line straddling is an experience that Jill and I are discovering with Constellate Publishing. In addition to publishing our own books, we’re actively seeking other authors to publish, in any number of genres, not just crime. We’ve found a few, with hopefully more to come.
Crime fiction is the genre I’m most comfortable in. “Seven Angels,” which we’re publishing June 1, was the first fully formed novel I wrote, not counting a few less developed and polished takes more than 20 years ago.
While “That October” was so satisfying since it was my most recent novel and I could listen to early-80’s music for a year while I wrote it, I looked forward to one day sharing “Seven Angels.” I’d written it in 2019, just after taking a buyout from the newspaper business and while finishing up the third (of four) true crime books I’d co-authored with Douglas Walker, a longtime newspaper co-worker. “The Westside Park Murders” came out from History Press during the pandemic but found its readership.
“Seven Angels” won the 2021 Hugh Holton award for Best Unpublished Novel from Mystery Writers of America-Midwest but didn’t have an entry into the world of books until Jill and I decided to publish it this year.
Self-publishing still has something of a stigma in the industry, although not among readers. “That October” found its readers and I expect much the same of “Seven Angels,” with its story of a young coroner assembling a team of (mostly) other women to take on small-town pill pushers, white supremacists and a Russian human trafficker in pursuit of a girl from Ukraine. For the cover, I was inspired by the 1990s-era covers of Robert B. Parker books and suggested something with simple elements – a badge, a lipstick and a bullet – and Jill brought it to life.
We’re using in-person talks and signings, press releases, podcasts and social media to cut through the clutter and create awareness for Constellate Publishing’s titles.
How do writers who aren’t at the level of success of the aforementioned Stephen King catch readers’ attention?
“Production values,” Nelson said. “Our books look good. They have consistent branding with series logos and styles that are uniform across each of our series while also being eye-catching.
“And sincerity. I’ve tried, very hard, to be as honest a showman and salesman as possible. I never want any reader to feel conned by one of our books and I want the authors and readers I interact with on social media and via email and in person to understand that I am a reader and a writer and a person like they are. I don’t think of people as tools or stepping stones toward anything greater. This is the only positive way to build a community, I think.”
Johnson said necessity prompted him to create tongue-in-cheek marketing videos that mirror his violent Bishop Rider stories. “Because Down and Out Books has always been lacking in the promo department, I had to get creative. It was a happy accident, but an accident all the same. I started promoting authors I liked and during this process realized I could pivot to my own books as well. My books videos eventually followed, same as my moustache wearing alter-ego. I feel I’m fortunate for stumbling upon this as well, as yes, I have sold more books because of this type of promotion. Would I like to have more of my books out there? Of course. Who wouldn’t? I mean, there’s only one reason we want to be published, right?”
For Edwards, “Prior to the ‘Girl Friday’ series, I hadn’t given much thought to the mechanisms of publicity and marketing of traditionally published books. I had somewhat naively thought that was something that the publishers just handled, and it would be dictated to me how I should participate and when. I am grateful that my publisher’s marketing arm did so much heavy lifting– you don’t get a review in the New York Times just willy-nilly– but I am now keenly aware of how much I did not do to help my own series. I had no idea how awards nominations worked, I was clueless to the benefit of large conferences and in-person networking. In hindsight, I wish I had spent more of my advance on publicity and learned more about booking myself on podcasts and sharing social media exposure with other writers.
“I had thought having my own podcast– which, at the time, frequently broke the Apple Top 100 books podcasts– would be enough. The secret is: there is never enough book marketing. That’s mostly what I’ve learned in the three years since my debut: you have to set off your own fireworks, and they have to be loud.”
“I am always aware that marketing is the burden that comes with the gift of publishing,” Edwards added. “But first I have to do the work of making the product.”
The state of publishing now
“Listen: as important as it is to write, as important as it is to publish, as important as it is to read widely and voraciously, and as important as it is to have all of our society represented in literature, we are not in laboratories devising mRNA vaccines to save people from a pandemic,” Edwards said. “We are not against the limits of known science: we are not figuring out how to get human beings to survive a trip in a space capsule around the moon, we’re not trying to figure out how to grow crops in a world ravaged by climate change. Publishing is an industry of people, making choices. I think a lot of choices that people have made in the past have been dumb as hell. I don’t know why it became a choice of the majority of American adults to never read a book. I don’t know why every major newspaper or media outlet in America has made the choice to destroy cultural criticism. I do know that they can make the choice to reverse those decisions. They should.”
“Right now, the publishing industry is in as big a mess as the film industry, with a lot of fish swimming in the pond, but no increase in food distribution,” Nelson said. “Unless you get lucky and strike it big with something that connects with the public consciousness, it’s hard to eke out a living as an indie or self-published author. The market is flooded with books churned out of an A.I. slop machine and it has become harder and harder to reach the readers who have more and more options than ever before in what to read.
“I’d really like to see a better marketplace for self-published authors and small publishers,” Nelson added. “Right now, every market out there is coded to present the ‘Top 100’ this or focus in with an algorithm that just suggests books that have meta tags like the one you just finished. There is no marketplace out there that functions like an actual bookstore for indie or self-published authors. Just books you can browse without worrying about them being sorted in a popularity contest. It’d also be nice if there was an easier means to sequester the AI-produced drivel to one side, as the humans keep getting lost in the shuffle.
“There are also a lot of people getting into the publishing realm with big dreams and big goals, and I’ve found the money side to be a house of cards balancing in a windstorm. My expectations were set very low after my first year and I see more and more indie publishers try to go big, sign a bunch of authors, hope one will be the breakout they need, and then implode before that ever happens. Understanding the cost, both in dollars and cents, and in human emotion and toil, is vital. Writing even a short novel is work that takes many hours of creative input and for the smallest reward.”
Even after the work of writing is done, the work continues, Johnson said. “My impression of the publishing industry right now is the same as when I first began: an uphill battle I will continue to negotiate until I remove myself from the game for good. One large addition I take issue with is AI and how it has entered the fray so every cheat and thief can claim a title they so desperately crave. If you write, you’re a writer. If you use AI to write, you are a poser and nothing more.
“I’d like to see the obliteration of AI from the industry,” Johnson added. “With regard to the creative aspect of things, I mean. I’d also like to see the embrace of the episodic novel, which in this day and age of the reduced attention span, seems like a no brainer. What the hell do I know, though? I only write about chopping up rapists, pedophiles and the Epstein class.”
Edwards is cautiously optimistic. “I think literary culture is on the upswing. I really do. I think it’s once again fashionable to be literate, considered something that well-intentioned people just do, like giving to charity, going to protests, and getting their teeth cleaned. I do think that because access to books is wildly political at this time, more and more people are considering how they have shrugged off their social duty to read books. And I do think it is anti-social to not read. I think this is a time that book media should be hiring more literary critics, not firing the ones they have.
“I think the industry as it stands is grappling with a delay between what people want (more books, more literature, more forward-thinking and critical deep dives) and what the prevailing society is willing to give them,” she added. “If publishers can get the rest of cultural media on board– not just newspapers, but embrace podcasting, webshows, even gossip websites– with the idea that books are not for outsiders but for everyone, the way reality TV has been made nearly essential to audiences since the advent of The Real World on MTV 35 years ago, society will see it as a net positive. I think the industry is in a good place to make this happen. Everyday normal people are mad when you tell them that your books were stolen to train AI. The understand the concept of theft, of intellectual property, of censorship. That kind of outrage can be capitalized on.”
For the work we’re doing at Constellate Publishing, we’re trying to not only get our personal books in front of readers but introduce readers to other authors. Some days it seems like a challenge, especially given how the economy, the publishing industry and ostensibly avoidable threats like AI are treating the industry.
How are we doing? How are any of us doing? The companies that make up publishing giant HarperCollins date back to 1817 and 1819, respectively.
So check back with me in a couple of centuries.
