Eileen Gittens founded a successful, San Francisco-based on-line company called "Blurb" to help ordinary folks publish books. "Bringing Publishing to the Masses", a motto to chill the blood of any publisher, was her cri de guerre. Among other things, publishers see themselves as keepers of standards and the thought of "bringing publishing to the masses" was just one more arrow, along with ereaders, digital books and bookstore closings, aimed at the heart of traditional publishing.
Truth be told, publishing standards were among the first causalities of the declining economics of book publishing. Lay-offs meant cuts in editorial staff and it has become common to pick up a book at random and find spelling and grammatical errors. Ironically, at the same time, the self-publishers were moving up the learning curve and the bookmaking technology improved. Their books became more professional and more and more companies started up to serve the self-publishing community. Estimates of self-published books (the numbers are imprecise because the definition of "self-publishing" is imprecise), according to industry watchdog RR Bowker, run to the hundreds of thousands of titles per year.
I spoke at a self-publishing conference earlier this year and met many enthusiastic author/marketer/publishers who were producing quality books. Self-publishers see themselves as activists. They support each other. They share information. They feel shunned by the mainline book community, as if they did not't have "real books". They speak with disdain about the prejudices of traditional publishers. Most writers organizations, like Poets and Writers, Inc., do not count self-published books as a qualification for membership.
Self-publishers are a vibrant and creative force in today's publishing landscape. Thomas Nelson, a venerable Southern publishing house, just opened a new division to serve self-publishers, Westbow Press. Self-publishing, like most revolutions, is taking place without much notice, in the corners of the book world.
Comments
Excellent article!
Being a self publisher, I found the article right on target. I had a hard time finding a proofreader, and then when I did hire someone, I still had some mistakes. The book is in print and nothing I can do about it now, but it annoys me greatly.
Check out www.gelgee.cnc.net to see info on the book.
Thanks
Amazing that the traditional publishers are not grabbing a bit of the self-publishing market, as Nelson is doing. Who could do it better, with all the editorial, marketing and distribution already in place? And if you book is published by an imprint (a self-publishing one) of say, HarperCollins, wouldn't that give it more clout? Give the author a percentage of the sales--no up-front advance--and have him/her cover the cost of production, distribution, etc.
Apparently you fired your editor too... "not't" is not a word :)
Good article. Thomas Nelson is on the cutting edge right now.
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