the decline of publishing
From the blog of the The Superversive, a very entertaining parable about the decline of the large publishing establishment.
I think it’s pretty much spot-on. The publishing industry was designed to do one thing – distribute physical books and make a profit. Ebooks make distribution way easier and cheaper. If you can distribute your books yourself via the various epublishing platforms and keep 70% of the sales price (before taxes), then why go with a big publisher and keep 25% of the ebook net price (before taxes)?
I can’t think of a reason. At least not for me – I’m sure others have their own. But for me, unless there’s a dump truck full of $100 bills involved, it’s better to self-publish.
I get mentioned in the follow-up post.
-JM
Interesting stuff from Tom Simon, though a tad of it may be emotion, after all I believe he got a bit screwed over by big publishing not that long ago. I am looking forward to reading his stuff, so if self publishing helps him get it out faster, then count me in!
Self publishing has it’s place, true. But even with their antics, big publishers are the only ones who put out printed books, so I still have soft spot for ’em.
Yes – I too am looking forward to reading his stuff.
Technically, self-publishers could put out printed books. CreateSpace is, by all accounts, pretty easy to use. That said, I don’t think it would be economical to do printed books, at least not for me.