Ten ways self-publishing has changed the books world

As the DIY approach gains more and more writers and readers, traditional publishers must reinvent themselves

by Alison Baverstock 

After a boom year in self-publishing the headlines are getting a little predictable. Most feature a doughty author who quickly builds demand for her work and is rewarded with a large contract from the traditional industry. But in our rush to admire, there's a risk we overlook the wider cultural significance of what is going on. As publishers from all over the world prepare for next week's London book fair, here are 10 changes that they ignore at their peril:

1. There is now a wider understanding of what publishing is – and that it is more difficult than it looks. The industry has long suffered the irony that effective publishing is most evident when invisible; it is only when standards are less than felicitous that we realise how well what we read is managed most of the time. Now that school cookbooks, or fundraising brochures for sports teams, can be effectively self-published, people are learning the process and what is involved. In the past, the industry has tended to recruit heavily from those in the know (the offspring of former publishers and authors being particularly well-represented); wider awareness of publishing is now promoting wider diversity.

2. Gone is our confidence that publishers and agents know exactly what everyone wants to (or should) read, and can spot all the material worth our attention. Soft porn and fantasy have emerged as particularly under-represented in the industry's official output.

3. The copy editor, a traditionally marginalized figure, is now in strong demand. If you are well-connected through social media, can isolate what your writing has to offer and get the message noticed by a reading public, you can probably manage the marketing of your work. The one thing it's really hard to do is self-edit. Long ago publishers outsourced copy editing, relying on the freelance labor market – and freelancers are now being actively sought by self-publishing authors too. The price for services for which there is both high demand and scarce supply tends to rise.

4. The re-emergence of the book as precious object. Some publishers are marketing luxury books; limited editions available only from them. Similarly, it's becoming relatively common for people to self-publish their holiday photographs in book form; to produce a unique photograph/memory book for special birthdays or to mark a retirement. If these are being presented to those who are not big readers, or regular frequenters of bookshops, the social significance of self-publishing may be particularly strong.

5. The role of the author is changing. With the fragmentation of the media in recent years, publishers were already relying on authors to help with the marketing – and learning how to do so is empowering. Now, as authors meet their readers at literary festivals, run blogs or tweet, they know their readers well and are no longer solely reliant on their publishers to mediate relationships. Looking ahead, authors who understand how publishing works are likely to be vastly less compliant than their forbears.

6. The role of the agent is also changing. Literary agents used to introduce ingenue authors to those who might invest, and then work with them to build longer-term careers. Now that so many self-publishing authors are finding the market themselves, agents need to find new ways to make their work pay. If agencies are multifaceted (film, television, after-dinner speaking) they may be protected, but smaller agencies will struggle. Selling manuscript development services to those in whom they might not otherwise invest their time is an unsatisfactory way to make a living.

7. New business models and opportunities are springing up, mostly offering "publishing services": advice on how to get published or self-publish; guidance on developing a plot or a whole manuscript; lifestyle support and writing holidays; editorial services and marketing assistance. New writing patterns are developing too: team writing; ghost writing; software to assist the crafting. Publishing is emerging as a process – accessible as a variety of different services to whoever needs them – rather than just being an industry.

8. It's not all about making money. If, as I believe, self-publishing means taking personal responsibility for the management and production of your content, this can be achieved as effectively via a single copy to be kept at home as the sale of thousands online. Self-publishing means recognizing, and preserving, content that has value for someone – but the process does not have to yield an income to be worthwhile.

9. An end to the "vanity publishing" put-down. No longer the last resort of the talentless, these days self-publishing is seen as a homing ground of the instinctively proactive: identify your market; meet their needs; deliver direct. It's also a flexible solution; a process not a single product, for which the rationale can be very varied – from book as business card to ebook novel; from hard copy of a work-in-progress, to a team compilation for a local history group.

10. Self-publishing brings happiness. Publishers have long assumed that only if nearing professional standards could a self-published product bring any satisfaction. My research has revealed the opposite. It seems self-publishers approach the process confidently, are well-informed, and aware of how much the process will cost and how long it is likely to take. They emerge both keen to do it again and likely to recommend it to others. Finalizing a project you have long planned feels good, and the process builds in the possibility of future discoverability – whether that is in an attic (whenever the family decides they are mature enough to want to know), or by ISBN from within the British Library. Self-publishing as a legacy – should we really be so surprised at its growing popularity?

• A former publisher, Alison Baverstock is Course Leader for the Publishing MA at Kingston University. The Naked Author, her guide to self-publishing, is published by Bloomsbury. The full results of her more recent research will be published in the journal Learned Publishing in July.

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You can find the original article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/apr/08/self-publishing-changed-books-world

 

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The One Question Every New Writer Wants Answered

Theo Pauline Nestor

Host, Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat

On the last day of the quarter, I often ask students in my memoir class to write down on an anonymous slip of paper a question about writing. When I did this recently, I received a number of questions about the legal implications of writing about others, how one finds an agent, how to decide on the structure of a book...all good questions. But then there was one question that stood out from the bunch. On a torn piece of lined notepaper, the writer asked simply, "Am I good?"

I've been asked this question point blank by several students over the years, but the beauty of this ask was this time there was no name and no face attached to the question, underscoring the universality and, in fact, the absurdity of the question. The writer, I believe, understood that I cannot answer that question and yet still needed to ask.

My answer to this question was this: I completely understand the need to ask this question. Why should you throw away hundreds of hours of your life on writing if you are not "any good"? Isn't it fair to ask at the early stage of your development that someone tap you on the shoulder and say, "Hey, this really isn't going to head anywhere"? But while I understand the need to ask this question, I cannot answer it and I don't think any other writer can answer this question for a new writer and here's why:

No matter what I've read of your work so far, I have no idea what you'll do next. Maybe you'll dedicate yourself to reading the best of your genre and take in the critiques of others with an open mind and a determination to make your work better. Maybe you'll stay true to your vision and your desire to write in the face of all the rejection letters that are an inevitable part of a writer's career. Maybe you'll keep writing even after you've written a book that even you don't like that much. I don't know.

The other problem with the poignant and ubiquitous "Am I good?" question is the obvious response, "Good to whom?" When a new comedy is previewed before a focus group, it's predicted that the film will be an epic hit if 30 percent of the focus group thinks it's funny. 30 percent! When I look up on Amazon the customer reviews of books I personally might take a bullet for, I find many one-star reviews and comments like, "This book isn't worth the paper it was printed on."

Yes, I do think there is such a thing as talent. Some people have a natural ability with words and storytelling, but not all those with that talent decide to keep writing. There are also many writers who might have shown little discernible talent in their early years, but for whatever reason, they kept writing, and their skills improved.

But I remember longing for the Am I Good question to be answered, and when it was answered affirmatively, it inspired me enough to write, and it was the act of writing that helped me to improve as a writer. In my college freshman writing course, we were asked to write a self-portrait as our entrance essay to the course. When I received my essay back from the instructor, she'd written something about talent with words at the bottom, praise that inspired me to work very hard in her class. Recently, I found that essay in a box of stored papers.

I started reading the essay greedily, looking for early evidence of talent. But, instead what I read was the most ordinary of college freshman essays. Ordinary to the point of appalling. Where was this "talent" the teacher had seen? I don't know. And yet, it was her praise that had set me to work.
So now my answer to your question is "Yes, you are good." Now get busy.

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This June, Theo Pauline Nestor will be teaching Memoir 101, a teleseminar on memoir writing designed to help new writers to understand how story structure works in the memoir form and to discover their own memoir material. Read more about it and more about writing on her blog Writing Is My Drink.

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You can find the original article at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theo-pauline-nestor/the-one-question-every-ne_b_3131456.html?utm_hp_ref=books

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Cold Calls, Publicity, and Uninvolved Authors

by Susan Violante

Over the last few months I've been inundated by authors asking me to review their book or manuscript. I've been also inundated with cold-call press releases - some just announcing the book, some wanting a free review, and others wanting an interview. Many times I just ignore them and other times I send a link to our guidelines. But what I find interesting is the fact that many of these cold calls come through our website's contact form, and although they did visit our website, they totally ignore our submission guidelines. Not only are these people asking me to take the time to read their cold call email and even read their book, they are also asking this for free when they didn't even take the time to read our submission guidelines.

Other authors get creative and keep asking more and more information about our services only to finally thank me for my time, and to tell me that since they have no money to invest on promotion, they sure appreciate my opinion on their manuscript attached. I find that it is amazing the quantity of authors that expect free services from us. I really don't understand this concept because these same authors expect to be paid for their books, and more so, if they are employees or business owners who want to be paid for their time. Yet, it seems that the concept of others wanting to be paid for their work/time is foreign to them.
But, it's not only authors that don't honor a two-way street. I receive numerous press releases from publicists per day asking for reviews and interviews for the authors they represent. They charge authors for their time and efforts, yet these same publicists expect others to offer their services to them for free. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the business and know that book reviews are requested to bloggers and other media representatives, but we are a book review service after all, even though we also offer free reviews. The fact that there are some publicists charging authors thousands of dollars for their time in promoting their books, and then they don't even take the time to read the submission guidelines to ensure the title gets reviewed, is appalling to me.
This is why it’s imperative that the authors keep involved in their book’s promotion, even when hiring a publicist. In the end, the author is the interested party, and thus needs to be outspoken and involved on their title's campaign. Remember, publicity does not guarantee readers will go running to purchase any book. Publicity's goal is exposure, to give the book the best possible chance. Here are some points to consider when deciding how to, and who to hire to promote your book.
1. Before deciding to hire a publicist make sure you have realistic expectations on what the publicist will do for you, and what you are paying for.
2. Take a marketing and publicity workshop. There are plenty affordable workshops offered by writer's associations. Actually, I've attended even free workshops hosted by our writer's League here in Austin! It is imperative that authors have at least the basics down whether they hire someone or they tackle their promotion efforts themselves.
3. Consider hiring a publishing / publicity coach during the writing stages of your book. There are many things that can be put into place to create a platform while writing the book, doing so can give you a better chance for a successful publicity campaign. Or, if the book is already out, a coach can help you improve your platform for better sales.
In the end, if authors are looking to sell their books they need to think of themselves as a CEO and their book as their business, make knowledgeable decisions when campaigning their books, and most importantly expect and prepare to invest money on promoting. Make sure to be proactive and informed on what you are purchasing. It is OK to request free reviews, but be respectful enough to follow guidelines when submitting. Taking the time to read the guidelines will give your book a better chance to get reviewed.
For more information on coaching, email me for a free 15 minutes phone consultation at susan@readerviews.com.

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You can find the original article at: http://www.readerviews.com/Newsletters/2013.04/22.html?inf_contact_key=a1bae569e1fa28c56c8faf19989a2ea1765ceb23533ff30d471862409f4bcfd0

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Self-Publishers: The New Generation of Cool Kids

by Terri Giuliano Long  •  Mar 20, 2013 
http://indiereader.com

For years, self-publishing was widely considered an embarrassing fallback option. Occasionally a John Grisham would emerge, sell 5,000 copies of a compelling novel, land a publishing deal, and ultimately achieve fame and fortune. But those authors were far and away the exception. Few authors willingly followed in their footsteps.

Nowadays, self-publishing is not only respectable: it’s downright hot. Today’s indie phenoms are rocking the industry, their books elbowing their way up the USA Today and NY Times bestseller charts, with stars like Bella Andre and Raine Miller scoring breathtaking seven-figure publishing deals. With their Ragged Dick success stories and can-do attitude, these inspirational indies are rapidly becoming the cool kids.

Until recently, this sea change in perception was nearly unthinkable. To wit, many bestselling indie authors were as (pleasantly) astonished as anyone else by their astounding success. After the release of Book 2 in her Blackstone Affair series, Raine Miller was content to stay indie. When her agent presented a seven-figure offer to sell the series to Atria—“well,” says Miller, “you take a deal like that (after you pick yourself up off the floor.)” The mind-blowing success of her Blackstone Affair series took Miller by surprise. “I really don’t know why it took off as it did,” she says.

One big contributor to their rising star power is the fortitude of indie authors. Indies listen to their own voice. Tammara Webber spent a year querying agents before self-publishing her debut novel, Between the Lines. “I had two options,” she says, “abandon the story I’d written, write something else, and try the same route—or self publish.” Between the Lines found a “niche audience,” and went on to become the first in a series of successful Mature YA romance novels. Webber recently signed a two-book deal for her stand-alone novel Easy, her fourth self-published book.

“By self-publishing you beat the odds to get published,” says Steven Axelrod, a prominent literary agent, the first to negotiate a seven-figure deal for an indie author. In Axelrod’s experience, the traditional gatekeepers—agents and editors—frequently miss the mark. “About half the books the gatekeepers think are commercial don’t perform as expected,” he says. If not for self-publishing, Between the Lines and the other books in the series might never have found an audience, Webber says. “I wanted to find a few readers who would like the stories I wanted to tell. Self publishing gave me that option.”

Unlike some traditionally published authors who, grateful to be accepted, may feel internal pressure to accept disappointing offers, confident indies refuse to settle for deals that don’t meet their objectives, choosing instead to forge their own success. Colleen Hoover wrote her debut novel, Slammed, for fun. Self-publishing gave her family and friends a way to download her book conveniently. After three months, sales picked up and within five months Slammed hit the NY Times bestsellers list.

Early on, Hoover turned down a “very decent” offer to publish her novel. Recently she signed on with Simon & Schuster for the print rights only to Hopeless. “I didn’t want to sign away digital rights,” she says; that was one of her reasons for rejecting the earlier offer. With a hit indie series, she was able to command an advance that she was “really happy with.” This one, she says, is the deal she’d been hoping for. “That I came into this industry backward, by self-publishing first, helped me a lot.”

Landing a traditional deal used to be the primary motive for self-publishing. This is no longer the case. Cora Carmack, author of the NY Times and USA Today bestseller Losing It, considers control a major benefit of self-publishing. “You have complete control of the creative process and you can bring books to market at a much quicker rate.” A prolific, hardworking author can feasibly take a book from draft through editing and design to quality publication in three to six months—far faster than the year or more required by traditional publishers. Speed-to-market can have an enormous impact on sales, particularly for books with seasonal or topical appeal.

Self-published authors also control pricing. Miller realized early on that the majority of books breaking into the top 10 on Amazon were self-published, a phenomenon she attributes largely to pricing. Miller published her first two titles, before The Blackstone Affair, with a small press. “The books got decent reviews,” she says, “but they would never chart on lists because they were priced too high.” Self-publishing The Blackstone Affair, Miller feels, was the smartest career move she has ever made.

In this sluggish economy, many readers are reluctant to shell out $10 or more for a book by an unproven author. By the time Tracey Garvis Graves inked her impressive two-book deal with Penguin, she’d sold over 375,000 copies of her debut novel, On the Island. “As a self-published author I was able to offer a lower price point, which made it easer for readers to take a chance on an unknown author,” Garvis Graves says. For hesitant buyers, a price of $2.99 or lower reduces the stakes. When readers discover a book they love, they share it with friends and, increasingly, across their social networks. Early readers connected with On the Island and told others, Garvis Graves says. “Word-of-mouth marketing did wonderful things for On the Island.”

Among the abundant advantages indie authors enjoy, the opportunity, on your own, to find and cultivate an audience may be the biggest. If Hoover had tried to publish Hopeless traditionally, the book would have been rejected, she says. “I wrote about a college-aged character who writes poetry,” neither of which sold well at the time. “I was able to find my own audience through word of mouth and social media,” Hoover points out. “In retrospect I think it was the absolute best choice for my first book.”

“At the end of the day, editors and agents respect an author who has a sizeable and stable market,” Axelrod says. “For the moment, more traditionally published authors meet the criteria—but it’s all changing!” Indeed, much has changed since Garvis Graves self-published On the Island in September of 2011. “I have watched many of my self-publishing peers sign traditional publishing deals,” Garvis Graves says. “I’ve said it before but it bears repeating: there’s never been a better time to be a writer.”

With its newly minted cachet, self-publishing is no longer a last resort. Noting the myriad advantages, encouraged by the success they’ve witnessed, many first-time authors now bypass the querying stage, opting to go straight to self-publishing.

Self-publishing is the chance to make your own future,” says Carmack. The endless possibility inherent in this entrepreneurial enterprise makes self-publishing a robust choice. It is, after all, far more exciting—and impressive—to create your own success than to put your career in the hands of a corporation and hope for the best.

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You can find the original article at: http://indiereader.com/2013/03/self-publishers-the-new-generation-of-cool-kids/

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Publishing Reality: Most NY Times Best Selling Authors Have Day Jobs

By Stephanie Chandler on Feb 01, 2012

I talk to so many aspiring authors and it concerns me that some think that their book will be the key to retirement or a ticket to financial freedom. I hate to deliver bad news, but the fact is that a very small percentage of authors actually make a living from a single book.

Consider the financials involved. If you go with a traditional publisher, you’ll be lucky to earn $1.25 per book sold (yep, really!). If you sell 10,000 books in a year (which is a very high number and not a likely reality for most new authors), you’d earn $12,500. Not bad, but not exactly enough to live on. You also have to deduct any book advance that you received so if the publisher paid you $7,500, your net at the end of the year would be $5,000.

The numbers are better with self-publishing. Let’s say you earn $4 per book sold and sell 10,000 books. You’d earn $40,000, which ain’t bad. Of course you have to deduct your expenses for book production and promotion. Let’s say you spent $10,000, which means your net would be $30,000. Still not enough to retire on.

And I must repeat: the odds of a new author selling 10k copies in a year are pretty darn low. Sadly, the statistics for self-published authors are dim at less than 200 copies sold, total. (It takes a heck of a lot of marketing to sell books.)

The moral of the story: Very few people earn a living from books. Of course there are authors who hit the Big Time: Stephen King, James Patterson, John Grisham, Nora Roberts, Nicholas Sparks. And recently we’ve heard buzz from some self-published authors who have kicked some indie butt: John Locke, Amanda Hocking, and JA Konrath. But there aren’t many success stories like this. Only a lucky few hit the literary lotto.

What does that mean to your publishing future? It shouldn’t change a thing if you’re passionate about what you’re doing.

And there’s another benefit here that many people miss. Your book is a ticket to bigger and better opportunities. It can open doors to help you land speaking engagements. Readers will want to invest in your consulting services or coaching programs. A book can get you media attention, impress prospects, build an audience for your services, and can lead to opportunities you haven’t even imagined for yourself!

Just don’t count on it for your retirement portfolio and instead use it to build your empire. The rewards can still be tremendous.

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You can find the original article at: http://authoritypublishing.com/writing-nonfiction/publishing-reality-most-ny-times-best-selling-authors-have-day-jobs/

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The New Midlist: Self-published E-book Authors Who Earn a Living

Everyone knows the superstars of self-publishing, but many others are earning a living, selling foreign rights, and being courted by traditional publishers.

By Robin Sullivan

June 27, 2011

There have been many articles about self-published superstars like Amanda Hocking, Joe Konrath, and John Locke. While these success stories are noteworthy, we should look at them for what they are — outliers in the self-publishing world just as Stephen King and Stephenie Meyer are outliers in the big-six publishing industry. Most authors can never hope to reach sales in the hundreds of thousands for a single month, but there are more than a few who sell anywhere from 800 to 20,000. While selling books at this level would seem extraordinary by traditional publishing standards, the mere fact that so many self published authors have achieved this goal (with more being added each month), indicates that it is not an unusual occurrence.

Not only are these new mid-listers selling a lot of books, but they are also receiving significantly more money from each sale (the industry standard is a 25% royalty of net sales for e-books under contract by a big-six publisher). If a self-published author sells their book for $2.99 – $9.99, then Amazon will pay 70% ($2.09 – $6.99). Compare this to the $1.22 per book income (which needs to be shared with an agent) for a $6.99 e-book sold through a publisher. High volume combined with good revenue is providing self-published e-book authors five and six figure yearly incomes allowing them to quit their “day jobs” and make a living by doing what they love most–writing.

The Tipping Point 

I regularly give lectures on the different options for publishing and up until recently my main point about self-publishing was the unprecedented control it provided. Recently I’ve had to change my presentations to also acknowledge that if you wish to maximize income then self-publishing, if done well, could provide the best revenue potential. A year ago I was definitely not making that statement — but a watershed moment occurred in October/November 2010. It was at this time that sales of e-books from previously unknown authors skyrocketed.

To illustrate the dramatic rise in sales for these e-book mid-listers, let’s look at some real data that I’m intimately familiar with: Michael J. Sullivan. He is my husband and has five of six books of the Riyria Revelations published through my small press, Ridan Publishing. The release dates of them were: The Crown Conspiracy (Oct 2008), Avempartha (April 2009), Nyphron Rising (October 2009), The Emerald Storm (April 2010), and Wintertide (October 2010). In nine months, from January to September 2010, his income averaged just over $1,500 a month or around $10,700 in total (Amazon US Kindle sales only). Certainly not a wage we could live off of. After the tipping point occurred he earned more than $102,000 in just five months. For details on his monthly income see the following chart:


If it hadn’t had been for Writer’s Café (a section of the Kindle Boards forums), I would have thought Michael’s sales increase had been just an isolated occurrence. But from postings there I found many authors who were experience the same rise. The following chart and graph shows the number of authors who sold books in various quantities (Data provided on Kindle Board):



Because authors on Kindle Boards were sharing sales figures and book prices, I was able to calculate March income for the following:

• Michael J. Sullivan — $16,648
• Ellen Fisher — $3,915
• Siebel Hodge — $15,425
• N. Gemini Sasson – $4,222
• David McAfee — $6,085
• David Dalglish — $12,132
• Victorine Lieskie — $7,281
• M. H. Sergent — $4,211
• Nathan Lowell — $9,296

Of these authors, only Victorine Lieskie ever had a book that made the Amazon Top 100 Bestseller List. Most of the authors selling at a rate of 800+ books a month tend to have rankings from 300-6,000. (A ranking of 1001 indicates that 1,000 kindle books are selling better than yours).

You Can Sell Foreign Rights 

Many detractors of self-publishing point out that by doing so you close the door to foreign sales and any chance of ever seeing your books on a bookstore shelf. Again, this was true in the past, but times have changed and now being successfully self-published actually opens the door to foreign sales and provides a better chance of being signed by a major publisher since you already have an established audience which is so important in publishing today.

Let’s return to Michael as he is an example that I have real data for. The Riyria Revelations produced $154,000 in foreign translation rights sales in just the last six months. Deals are already finalized for: The Czech Republic, Russia, Germany, France, Poland, and Spain. Active negotiations are ongoing for Holland and Italy. Once more, the Writer’s Café forum demonstrates that this has not been occurring just for Michael. The following are authors who have announced either signing a foreign deal, or being approached by an agent or publisher for foreign rights translations: David Dalglish, Shelley Stout, M.G. Scarsbrook, Tina Folsom, Melanie Nilles, Dawn McCullough White, Victorine Lieskie, Imogen Rose, Lucy Kevin, Margaret Lake, Terri Reid, and Beth Orsoff.

Commanding Larger Advances

As for seeing your books in the bookstores…it is true that most brick and mortar stores will not carry self-published printed books, however, major publishers are very interested in authors with an existing fan base. What’s more, they have to offer larger advances than those paid to debut authors in order to woo them. A self-published author already has a pretty good idea what they could make from the works if they continue to stay independent. For a debut fantasy author, several surveys indicate an advance of $5,000 – $10,000 is standard. So a three-book deal would warrant $15,000 – $30,000 advances. In comparison, Michael was offered a six-figure contract from Orbit (the fantasy imprint of Hachette Book Group). Other self-published authors who have recently been signed include: H.P. Mallory (six-figure advance from Random House), D.B. Henson (who was approached by agent Noah Lukeman -– that’s right she did not query him…he queried her) whose Deed to Death sold at auction, Stephanie McAfee’s Diary of a Mad Fat Girl, Jerry McGill’s Dear Marcus, R.J. Jagger, and a book by Quentin Schultze & Bethany Kim.

The publishing industry is certainly changing at the speed of light. There used to be only one choice if you wanted to make any decent money writing novels: spend months (or years) querying for an agent, waiting months (or years) while that agent shopped the project around, and then if accepted, waiting up to two years for the book to actually hit the store shelves. If your book wound up on the midlist (which by definition most did) then low volume and a small cut of the books total sales price made it financially impossible for authors to write full time as their sole source of income.
There was a time when self-publishing produced little to no revenue, and doing so was often the last resort for a project that had been rejected by everyone it had been put in front of. Now, in the post digital revolution, the model has been turned upside down. Authors are going to e-books first based on earning potential and a quick time to market. If they do well, then they leverage their sales for larger advances and favorable contract terms. Of course self publishing is not for everyone, but at least for those that decide to go this route, they won’t have to be that one in a million outlier—if they can achieve the e-book midlist status, they stand a good chance of telling their boss, “I quit, I’m going to stay home and write for a living.”

The author's husband, Michael J. Sullivan, self-published on Amazon and went on to sign a six-figure contract with Hachette.

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You can find the original article at: http://publishingperspectives.com/2011/06/self-published-ebook-authors-earn-living/

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Self-publishing: a revolution for writers, not readers

Anna Baddeley 
The Observer, Saturday 23 February 2013

Apple's iBookstore is the latest to promote self-published authors. But how will this benefit readers?

When people talk about self-publishing, it's common to hear words such as "revolution" and "democratising". Normally, I'd be wary about throwing around such momentous terms, but here I think they're almost warranted. Book industry insiders forget that publishing can seem like a closed shop to those without connections or confidence. Now, a Welsh schoolgirl can sign up to Wattpad and suddenly have millions of fans around the world, closely followed by a three-book deal with Random House.

But as any self-published author will tell you, usually at great length, success stories, like Beth Reekles's The Kissing Booth, are rare. To get noticed, you either need to be very lucky or spend every waking hour manically self‑promoting.

Apple's iBookstore has come to the aid of aspiring writers with a new section, Breakout Books, devoted to self-published titles. Barnes & Noble and Kobo have similar categories; Amazon does not.

"Discover emerging authors at great prices" promises an email from the iBookstore. "Browse some of our favourite titles from rising stars in this hand-picked collection of independently published books." Except "hand-picked" turns out to mean books with high customer ratings and high sales. The usual selection of soft porn and mediocre crime.

I find it very unlikely that someone looking for their next read would think: I want something by a self-published author. It would be like logging on to iTunes to buy some music and selecting, instead of rock/pop, a category called "songs recorded in people's bedrooms".

So who benefits from promotions like this? Apple, of course: the books are temptingly priced. Self-published writers (well, the ones who have already built up a following). Publishers, I suppose, could use it to sign up tried-and-tested authors. But let's stop pretending that the self-publishing revolution has the reader's best interests at heart.

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You can find the original article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/24/self-publishing-apple-ibookstore

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