Would-be authors are more comfortable with self-publishing, according to a recent article.
The Hartford Courant article says self-publishing has become much more affordable and democratic in recent years.
Self-published titles surpassed traditional books in 2008, and in the years since have increased by 437 percent, to nearly half a million books in 2013, according to the international publishing firm Bowker.com.
The article quotes Carl Pritzkat, who oversees self-publishing operations for Publishers Weekly. The firm set up a website booklife.com for indie books last year, which lists some 7,000 titles. The quality of self-published books is getting better and better, he states.
Hartford Courant feels that authors no longer see self-publishing as a stigma – and that they view the process of bypassing traditional publishing as positive – giving them greater independence and control over their work.
But that doesn’t mean self-publishing is easy. Successful self-published author Laura Noe (Travels With My Son: Journeys of the Heart) tells the Courant that she works hard and her book was vetted, repeatedly critiqued by a writer’s group and a writing coach, edited, and rewritten.
Other self-published writers believe that no one can do it better than they can. Connecticut's poet laureate Robert Rennie McQuilkin went into self-publishing because he did not like the design of his first book of poems, which was published by an established house.
Major houses won’t publish poetry because it is not a big seller, so more and more poets are looking at various kinds of self-publishing, he says in the article – and that even well-known poets are turning to it, for financial and design choice reasons.
Read the full article here.
The Hartford Courant article says self-publishing has become much more affordable and democratic in recent years.
Self-published titles surpassed traditional books in 2008, and in the years since have increased by 437 percent, to nearly half a million books in 2013, according to the international publishing firm Bowker.com.
The article quotes Carl Pritzkat, who oversees self-publishing operations for Publishers Weekly. The firm set up a website booklife.com for indie books last year, which lists some 7,000 titles. The quality of self-published books is getting better and better, he states.
Hartford Courant feels that authors no longer see self-publishing as a stigma – and that they view the process of bypassing traditional publishing as positive – giving them greater independence and control over their work.
But that doesn’t mean self-publishing is easy. Successful self-published author Laura Noe (Travels With My Son: Journeys of the Heart) tells the Courant that she works hard and her book was vetted, repeatedly critiqued by a writer’s group and a writing coach, edited, and rewritten.
Other self-published writers believe that no one can do it better than they can. Connecticut's poet laureate Robert Rennie McQuilkin went into self-publishing because he did not like the design of his first book of poems, which was published by an established house.
Major houses won’t publish poetry because it is not a big seller, so more and more poets are looking at various kinds of self-publishing, he says in the article – and that even well-known poets are turning to it, for financial and design choice reasons.
Read the full article here.
