A new era for authors, Self-publishing.
Self-publishing is changing the publishing world. According to the Guardian self publishing is increasing in popularity with a sector growth of 287% in the last year and more than 200,000 titles self-publishes in the last year in the US. (1) These figures are proving that writers are jumping straight into self-publishing rather than going to a publishing house.
‘This is no longer just vanity press at work – self-publishing is out of the dark corners and making its way into the mainstream’ said Bowker’s Beat Barblan. (1)
Writers can go online and upload their novels and publish and create a book. This is changing the publishing industry as author no longer need a publisher and a publishing deal. Just by typing in self-publishing into Google I found so many articles that help explain the process of self-publishing like ‘6 Ways To Publishing Your Own Book’ (2) and found many self-publishing websites. According to a report from Bowker, the 3 largest self-publishing sites are Author Solutions (47,094 titles published), Smashwords (40,068) and Lulu (38,005). (3)
You can not only make a physical book online but you can also create an e-book version of your book. This means that self-publishers can keep up to date with the digital world and reach consumers in different ways. An example of this is Kindle Direct which lets you upload you publication in an e-book format, then you also receive royalties for each book that is sold. (4)
John Locke took advantage of Kindle Direct. He has been selling e-books for 99 cents and has managed to sell more than a million electronic copies in 5 months without a publishing deal, this makes him the 8th person in history to of done this. He used Kindle Direct Publishing and in the last year has had four of his books in the top 10 Amazon books at the same time. Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content has said ‘We’re very happy to see that Kindle Direct Publishing is succeeding for both authors and customers.’ (5)
This service is excellent for author’s however not so excellent for publishers. At Digital Book World 2012 self-publishing has estimated to of taken $100million away from publishers in 2011. (3) As you can imagine publishing houses must be scared at this result and be worries what’s going to happen next.
A disadvantage to self-publishing is that you as an author don’t have the resources needed to market your book; you only have social media and word of mouth to rely on, where as if you belong to a publishing house they will make sure that the book reaches its intended market and audience. Another problem is that with self-publishing authors most likely won’t be critical of their own work meaning the quality of work could be low, with a publishing house the editor will work with the author to improve the quality and make sure that the publication meets the publishing house standards. (6)
I feel that self-publishing is a good idea for unknown authors who have a book they want to publishes as it won’t cost them much and they will be able to make some money from it. However I feel that large publications and well known authors should stick to a publishing house and publishing deal as I feel they will get more out of the house by the simple knowledge that publishing houses have and the resources.
1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/oct/25/self-publishing-publishing?newsfeed=true (Accessed on 12/11/2012)
2. http://mashable.com/2009/03/01/publish-book/ (Accessed on 12/11/2012)
3. http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/self-publishing-boom/ (Accessed on 12/11/2012)
4. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/oct/27/self-publishing-novel-online?INTCMP=SRCH (Accessed on 12/11/2012)
5. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/8589963/Self-publishing-writer-becomes-million-seller.html# (Accessed on 12/11/2012)
6. http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/design/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-self-publishing/ (Accessed on 12/11/2012)
Top leading Self-publishing websites:
http://www.lulu.com/gb
http://www.authorsolutions.com/
http://www.smashwords.com/
‘This is no longer just vanity press at work – self-publishing is out of the dark corners and making its way into the mainstream’ said Bowker’s Beat Barblan. (1)
Writers can go online and upload their novels and publish and create a book. This is changing the publishing industry as author no longer need a publisher and a publishing deal. Just by typing in self-publishing into Google I found so many articles that help explain the process of self-publishing like ‘6 Ways To Publishing Your Own Book’ (2) and found many self-publishing websites. According to a report from Bowker, the 3 largest self-publishing sites are Author Solutions (47,094 titles published), Smashwords (40,068) and Lulu (38,005). (3)
You can not only make a physical book online but you can also create an e-book version of your book. This means that self-publishers can keep up to date with the digital world and reach consumers in different ways. An example of this is Kindle Direct which lets you upload you publication in an e-book format, then you also receive royalties for each book that is sold. (4)
John Locke took advantage of Kindle Direct. He has been selling e-books for 99 cents and has managed to sell more than a million electronic copies in 5 months without a publishing deal, this makes him the 8th person in history to of done this. He used Kindle Direct Publishing and in the last year has had four of his books in the top 10 Amazon books at the same time. Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content has said ‘We’re very happy to see that Kindle Direct Publishing is succeeding for both authors and customers.’ (5)
This service is excellent for author’s however not so excellent for publishers. At Digital Book World 2012 self-publishing has estimated to of taken $100million away from publishers in 2011. (3) As you can imagine publishing houses must be scared at this result and be worries what’s going to happen next.
A disadvantage to self-publishing is that you as an author don’t have the resources needed to market your book; you only have social media and word of mouth to rely on, where as if you belong to a publishing house they will make sure that the book reaches its intended market and audience. Another problem is that with self-publishing authors most likely won’t be critical of their own work meaning the quality of work could be low, with a publishing house the editor will work with the author to improve the quality and make sure that the publication meets the publishing house standards. (6)
I feel that self-publishing is a good idea for unknown authors who have a book they want to publishes as it won’t cost them much and they will be able to make some money from it. However I feel that large publications and well known authors should stick to a publishing house and publishing deal as I feel they will get more out of the house by the simple knowledge that publishing houses have and the resources.
1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/oct/25/self-publishing-publishing?newsfeed=true (Accessed on 12/11/2012)
2. http://mashable.com/2009/03/01/publish-book/ (Accessed on 12/11/2012)
3. http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/self-publishing-boom/ (Accessed on 12/11/2012)
4. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/oct/27/self-publishing-novel-online?INTCMP=SRCH (Accessed on 12/11/2012)
5. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/8589963/Self-publishing-writer-becomes-million-seller.html# (Accessed on 12/11/2012)
6. http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/design/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-self-publishing/ (Accessed on 12/11/2012)
Top leading Self-publishing websites:
http://www.lulu.com/gb
http://www.authorsolutions.com/
http://www.smashwords.com/