The saying goes ‘everyone has a book in them', and these days it really is possible to get published as there are multiple routes to seeing your book in the shops. Read more
The history of self-publishing, like that of publishing itself, is a history of access. Who has the opportunity, skills, and resources to write, design, lay out, print, and distribute a book? And who has the means to alert an audience that a book exists, or the business savvy to make it profitable? Read more
Anyone who attended the virtual event in June, when BookBrunch and Publishers WeeklyInternational news website of book publishing and bookselling including business news, reviews, bestseller lists, commentaries http://www.publishersweekly.com/ announced the winners of this year's US Selfies Book Awards, can testify to the fact that I was completely blindsided when my debut novel L'Origine appeared on the screen as adult fiction winner. I remember being totally speechless (I'm pretty sure I was gaping like a fish). Then came the tears. Read more
During my career in publishing, several factors have led to self-publishing becoming a viable and profitable path for authors. These include: Read more
Twelve years ago, on the eve of the modern-day indie author revolution, few writers aspired to self-publish. Self-publishing was seen as a fool's errand. At the time, many writers embraced the false narrative that only publishers and literary agents possessed the divine wisdom to decide which writers are worthy of publication. Read more
The number of books self-published in the U.S. saw more rapid growth in 2018, jumping 40% over 2017, according to Bowker's annual survey of the self-publishing market. In its report, "Self-Publishing in the United States, 2013-2018: Print and E-books," the total number of print and e-books that were self-published in 2018 was 1.68 million, up from 1.19 million in 2017.
The booming growth of self-publishing has been great news for authors as well as providers of all variety of self-publishing services, including editing, designing, and consulting. But as services have proliferated, promising all variety of benefits and recipes for boosting sales, it's more important than ever for indie authors to have a discerning eye when seeking out assistance. Read more
It's a courageous thing, indeed, to complete a manuscript and make the decision to publish it independently.
Finishing a book is a monumental accomplishment, and for some authors, deciding to self-publish is not simple. But before an author submits files to her chosen publishing platform, she should first get comfortable in her new role as Director of The Book's Digital Strategy. Read more
After I published my first book, it took six years before I published my second book. Today, only six months after publishing my second book, I'm publishing my fourth book.
I've published three books in the past six months. What triggered such a change? It started when Seth Godin told me this on my podcast: Read more
Amazon's latest figures are astounding and cement its dominance of the book business, particularly self-publishing, as well as the huge inroads it is making in many other areas. Read more
Can this be true? A recent study quoted in Bookbrunch claims that 52% of UK adults believe they have a book in them. And, according to the old adage, that's where it should stay. Read more
Some sensational figures have just been released showing the trend towards book sales in print form as opposed to ebook is continuing, as sales of consumer ebooks in the UK dropped by a whopping 17%. These figures exclude self-published titles, which have contributed a large proportion of the ebook sales. But more than 50% of genre sales are now reckoned to be in ebook form. Read more
Coming from the tech arena is a fairly hostile view of traditional publishing, which assumes that it is dead and will shortly be totally replaced by indie publishing. But is this really what is happening at present? It doesn't seem so clear-cut. Read more
The question of how to price ebooks is still of great concern to indie authors and to publishers alike, and recent research from Good e-Reader reveals that readers are prepared to pay disappointingly little. Over the last two months they asked 553 Americans how much they were prepared to pay for a new e-book and the results are sobering. Read more
So what can we say that's positive about the big changes in the situation for authors over the last few years? It's really a matter of the way writers now have the opportunity to get out there and shape their own destiny. Read more
There's been a lot of discussion recently about how things have changed for writers over the last few years. In some ways it's a radically different picture, in others not so much so. Read more
The growth in self-published books reported last week comes from Amazon, whose DIY print business CreateSpace has become far and away the biggest self-publishing platform in the United States. In a week when the Association of American PublishersThe national trade association of the American book publishing industry; AAP has more than 300 members, including most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies reported major declines in sales of trade books, there's also been talk about whether depressed digital sales are hurting Amazon. Read more
Bowker has published a huge report on self-publishing in the US and, although the detailed figures are rather dry, some of the conclusions are quite explosive in their picture of a rapidly growing self-publishing scene. And where America goes, other countries tend to follow, although not at a uniform speed. Read more
A recent interview with Sheila Crowley in Bookbrunch threw an interesting light on changing patterns of agenting. She is a wonderfully enthusiastic agent at Curtis BrownSee Curtis Brown listing London, who prior to being an agent worked in publishing sales and marketing, so she is noted for her strong sales approach. Read more
Self-publishing' - career suicide' or 'really great'? | Latest changes in the book trade 4
The current situation in the book trade is one of rapid change. It's important for writers to understand what is happening as it will impact on their own chances of getting their work published and how it will be published. This newly revised series will look at the changes in the book trade, with a different focus each week. Read more