Does Digital Self-Publishing Threaten Traditional Industry?

The Wall Street Journal:

Writer Karen McQuestion spent nearly a decade trying without success to persuade a New York publisher to print one of her books. In July, the 49-year-old mother of three decided to publish it herself, online.

Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal

Comments

[SoonerThought]

04:38 PM on 06/10/2010

I like Smashwords. http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/6806 My book is available in the iBook store, Kobo, Sony, B&N, etc. Bye bye gatekeepers.

[nexxtep54]

02:25 PM on 06/05/2010

Digital self-publishing a threat. Hmm. . .guaranteed to be published, no royalties, instant publication, instant reviews, instant success or failure.
YES.

[BlackJAC]

10:27 AM on 06/03/2010

When will people understand that it's about people knowing your stuff is out there in the first place and not about the format it comes in?

[SF TKF]

11:49 AM on 06/04/2010

Those who do not want to understand this never will.

Self-published books sell on average less than 200 copies (regardless of what format you release them in). Authors who are already famous and have a following (such as J.A. Konrath) will have more success with self-publishing (or publishing via Amazon Encore) because they will take their fan base with them. This fan base, however, was established because they were traditionally published.

I’m quite happy to stick with my publisher and their distribution, even if it means I get a smaller percentage of the cover price. A smaller percentage of a much higher number of units than I could move on my own is the better business decision.

[spottery2k]

08:34 AM on 06/03/2010

I find the cost of self-publishing prohibitively expensive. For everyone's convenience I placed my current draft in PDF format and mp3s on my website.

http://www.scottpotter.net/documents/The%20Prophets%20of%20Revolution.pdf
(pdf)

http://www.scottpotter.net/media/mp3/podintro-full-score.mp3
(mp3, 4-min)

http://www.scottpotter.net/media/mp3/intro-full.mp3
(mp3, 13-min)

You will also find my CV from the main webpage.

enjoy,

[Andrew Shaffer]

08:13 AM on 06/03/2010

Did the ability of bands to bypass record companies and release music directly on their websites and MySpace destroy the music industry? Years after that "revolution," the majority of best selling musicians are still from major labels...although independent artists have definitely found a route to success that wasn't available 15 or 20 years ago.