At this year’s BookExpo it was stated that ‘Self Publishing is a true legitimate power to be reckoned with,’ (Simba information, 2012). But is this true? In 2011, 211,269 authors self published despite the fact that under half the authors in America who followed this route earned over $500. This number is only set to increase (Milliot, 2012).
Self publishing has remained in the background up until now, with the occasional success story making it into the press. However, I believe this could be set to change. There is talk in America of a ‘self publishing’ bestsellers list, and there are already multiple prizes for self published authors to win, The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for example set up in 2008 to name one. This is pushing authors and self publishing itself into the mainstream especially as awards are now gaining a reputation.
It has recently been announced that a self published work has been short listed for the William Hill Sports book of the year. A Shot and a Ghost is the first entirely self published book to have done this. The Booker Prize, amongst others, are firm in their belief that self published books (those where the author is both the publisher and the writer) are not eligible for submission. The author of the Bookseller is calling this move ‘a step change’ for the industry and predicts that many more would be authors will be enticed down the self publishing route since, thanks to the developments mentioned above, it now appears to be losing some of its stigma (Tivnan, 2012).
Other than the lack of awards and general acceptance of self published manuscripts, this stigma is partially to do with the belief that a publisher acts as a ‘Gatekeeper’ only publishing that which it believes is quality writing and rejecting those who do not meet this standard. Anthony Horowitz agrees ‘Publishers do provide a sort of quality control’ (Reeves, 2011).
There is still a belief that books published traditionally have benefited from a critical eye in all aspects and are therefore better than their self published counterparts. However, personally publishers are interested in what will sell and make them money than necessarily what makes an interesting well written book.
Tim Griggs, author of Redemption Blues stated to our publishing class in 2011 that he went down the self publishing route because the publisher he was with did not invest much in marketing and left him to find his own reviewer and run his own social media site; definitely something he expected them to provide (Reeves, 2011). Not surprising when the average budget for marketing is 8% (Reeves, 2011). There was also a catalogue of errors and he had to publish books under several names because the publisher did not think the audience would buy his second book despite the success of the first one. This does not sound promising if traditional publishing houses wish to remain ‘the place’ to have an author publish their work and I would be tempted to do the same thing in his shoes.
Publishing houses are now buying up self publishing companies, Amazon with Createspace, Penguin more recently with Author Solutions, and Harpercollins with Authonomy. It has been suggested that Authonomy is being used to better cut down HarperCollins’ ‘slushpile,’ moving it from their office to the Internet (Strauss, 2008). It lets users rate other’s work and then HarperCollins publish the best rated books themselves. One reviewer suggests in order to be successful on that site, you had to build up a reputation reviewing other’s work in order for them to review your work in return and ‘favouring’ it, defeating the objective of good content being king. This is an attitude I have met whilst writing and editing fanfiction, to get reviews you have to be active within the site. Leaving your content to speak for itself isn’t an option.
In the future self publishing is going to rise. As its reputation betters and the industry continue to recognise its place within it. Publishers should continue to buy up self publishing ventures otherwise I can see them being left behind.
Word Count: 704
Bibliography
Amazon (2012) Createspace: About Us. Available at https://www.createspace.com/ [Accessed 14/11/2012]
Bridle. J, (2012) Why self-publishing is no longer a vanity project. The Observer 26th August [Online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/26/self-publishing-vanity-project-penguin [Accessed 14/11/2012]
Milliot. J, (2012) BEA 2012: Self-Published Titles Topped 211,000 in 2011. Publishing Perspectives, 4th June [Online] Available at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bea/article/52216-bea-2012-self-published-titles-topped-211-000-in-2011.html [Accessed 14/11/2012].
Reeves. L. (2011) Author Talk. Publishing Principles: Author to Reader, Oxford Brookes University. Oxford.
Reeves. L Potter, J (2011) The future of the author in the publishing process: self publishing and the trolls. Week 11, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford.
Simba Information, (2012). Self Publishing everywhere and nowhere at BookExpo. Book Publishing Report 37(6) pp.1-2. Academic Search Complete. Available at Ebscohost.com. [Accessed 14/11/2012].
Strauss. V, (2008) Authonomy: Slushkiller or new slush? Writer Beware Blogs 5th September [Online] Available at: http://accrispin.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/victoria-strauss-authonomy-slushkiller.html [Accessed 14/11/2012]
Tivnan. T (2012) Self Publishing: The step change. The Bookseller, 12th November [Online] Available at: http://www.thebookseller.com/feature/self-publishing-step-change.html [Accessed 14/11/2012]
Self publishing has remained in the background up until now, with the occasional success story making it into the press. However, I believe this could be set to change. There is talk in America of a ‘self publishing’ bestsellers list, and there are already multiple prizes for self published authors to win, The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for example set up in 2008 to name one. This is pushing authors and self publishing itself into the mainstream especially as awards are now gaining a reputation.
It has recently been announced that a self published work has been short listed for the William Hill Sports book of the year. A Shot and a Ghost is the first entirely self published book to have done this. The Booker Prize, amongst others, are firm in their belief that self published books (those where the author is both the publisher and the writer) are not eligible for submission. The author of the Bookseller is calling this move ‘a step change’ for the industry and predicts that many more would be authors will be enticed down the self publishing route since, thanks to the developments mentioned above, it now appears to be losing some of its stigma (Tivnan, 2012).
Other than the lack of awards and general acceptance of self published manuscripts, this stigma is partially to do with the belief that a publisher acts as a ‘Gatekeeper’ only publishing that which it believes is quality writing and rejecting those who do not meet this standard. Anthony Horowitz agrees ‘Publishers do provide a sort of quality control’ (Reeves, 2011).
There is still a belief that books published traditionally have benefited from a critical eye in all aspects and are therefore better than their self published counterparts. However, personally publishers are interested in what will sell and make them money than necessarily what makes an interesting well written book.
Tim Griggs, author of Redemption Blues stated to our publishing class in 2011 that he went down the self publishing route because the publisher he was with did not invest much in marketing and left him to find his own reviewer and run his own social media site; definitely something he expected them to provide (Reeves, 2011). Not surprising when the average budget for marketing is 8% (Reeves, 2011). There was also a catalogue of errors and he had to publish books under several names because the publisher did not think the audience would buy his second book despite the success of the first one. This does not sound promising if traditional publishing houses wish to remain ‘the place’ to have an author publish their work and I would be tempted to do the same thing in his shoes.
Publishing houses are now buying up self publishing companies, Amazon with Createspace, Penguin more recently with Author Solutions, and Harpercollins with Authonomy. It has been suggested that Authonomy is being used to better cut down HarperCollins’ ‘slushpile,’ moving it from their office to the Internet (Strauss, 2008). It lets users rate other’s work and then HarperCollins publish the best rated books themselves. One reviewer suggests in order to be successful on that site, you had to build up a reputation reviewing other’s work in order for them to review your work in return and ‘favouring’ it, defeating the objective of good content being king. This is an attitude I have met whilst writing and editing fanfiction, to get reviews you have to be active within the site. Leaving your content to speak for itself isn’t an option.
In the future self publishing is going to rise. As its reputation betters and the industry continue to recognise its place within it. Publishers should continue to buy up self publishing ventures otherwise I can see them being left behind.
Word Count: 704
Bibliography
Amazon (2012) Createspace: About Us. Available at https://www.createspace.com/ [Accessed 14/11/2012]
Bridle. J, (2012) Why self-publishing is no longer a vanity project. The Observer 26th August [Online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/26/self-publishing-vanity-project-penguin [Accessed 14/11/2012]
Milliot. J, (2012) BEA 2012: Self-Published Titles Topped 211,000 in 2011. Publishing Perspectives, 4th June [Online] Available at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bea/article/52216-bea-2012-self-published-titles-topped-211-000-in-2011.html [Accessed 14/11/2012].
Reeves. L. (2011) Author Talk. Publishing Principles: Author to Reader, Oxford Brookes University. Oxford.
Reeves. L Potter, J (2011) The future of the author in the publishing process: self publishing and the trolls. Week 11, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford.
Simba Information, (2012). Self Publishing everywhere and nowhere at BookExpo. Book Publishing Report 37(6) pp.1-2. Academic Search Complete. Available at Ebscohost.com. [Accessed 14/11/2012].
Strauss. V, (2008) Authonomy: Slushkiller or new slush? Writer Beware Blogs 5th September [Online] Available at: http://accrispin.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/victoria-strauss-authonomy-slushkiller.html [Accessed 14/11/2012]
Tivnan. T (2012) Self Publishing: The step change. The Bookseller, 12th November [Online] Available at: http://www.thebookseller.com/feature/self-publishing-step-change.html [Accessed 14/11/2012]