AS SHE neared her seventy-fifth year, Linda Moore figured she had little time to waste in launching her literary career. She had put herself through the query process with literary agents once before with an earlier, as-yet-unpublished novel, and when she heard a prominent agent say that during the pandemic agents were taking as long as six months to respond to an initial query, she decided to bypass traditional publishing altogether for her next book, Attribution.
So she paid to have Attribution published with She Writes Press, a hybrid publisher that specializes in fiction and memoir by female authors. By ponying up the $7,500 fee, Moore not only shortened the time between query and publication, but also gained a measure of control over the design and marketing of her book that she would be unlikely to receive with a traditional press.
Moore says has been taken up by more than fifty book clubs and has sold more than eight thousand copies since it came out in October 2022—a strong sales record for a debut novel from a nontraditional press. This has enabled Moore to earn back her initial publishing fee and printing costs, though she admits she has a way to go before she can recoup
