By Laura Remis
Since the creation of the internet, self-publishing has erupted as a means of authors getting their works out to their intended audiences without having to go through the process of getting rejected/not getting rejected by a publishing house, review processes, working out conditions of rights and royalties, and taking the leap of publishing, laying marketing in the hands of the publisher. Big name publishers, specifically the Big Six (or Big Five), have dominated the publishing industry for years and have worked to keep up with the evolving trends of digital publishing. However, they are now facing a new resistance: “indie” (Independent) publishers. This group, which could primarily be considered part of the “Long Tail”, is finally getting the recognition that they are seeking.
There may be an emersion or an adaptation of who the Big Six could be in 2020, based off self-publishing statistics. A couple of important things that traditional publishers don’t offer their authors are a full extension of rights to their works and a fast an easy publication process. Companies that assist independents to self-publish, such as Amazon, offer 5 minute publication (24-48 hours for a Kindle print to appear in stores), greater royalties than traditional publishing houses, and a greater author control of rights and list prices. Amazon gives independent publishers the option to publish to Kindle, print and audio. According to http://smallbiztrends.com/2014/07/self-published-ebooks-on-amazon-study.html 31% of Amazon’s eBooks are from indie self-publishers; and those numbers are only expected to rise. In an effort to keep up with Amazon and other publishers, Barnes and Noble launched Nook Press in 2013, a way for authors to collaborate and self-publish with them, an upgrade from their prior publishing format that proved to be unsuitable in comparison to competitors. Also on the self-publishing front is Apple, who matches with Amazon’s rights and royalties, as well as a quick and easy publish; however, Apple also offers authors the option to publish free versions of their books, which they believe to be a potentially essential marketing tactic, but with a downfall of it only being suitable for Apple devices. Regardless of their limitations, these three big name ePublishers, along with others not mentioned, i.e. Google, Kobo, and others are becoming more and more attractive to authors. In an article written by Mark Coker for the Huffington Post, he predicts that self-published books will account for 50% of the eBook market come this terrifying “Doomsday 2020”.
There have been articles written on the Doomsday of Publishing, as people flock to fear based on change, rather than embracing an imminent (r)evolution . Traditional publishers fear the change of the shifting industry and they fear the loss of trust as authors move away from them to gain complete rights to their works and self-publish. Traditional authors fear the new market for self-publishers and the success that may come with it, in addition to the fact that self-published authors own their materials, whereas traditional publishers are not the sole owner of their rights. This fear has lead to the idea of the end of the publishing industry, but that isn’t necessarily so; it may be that we are coming close to an end in some facets of traditional publishing; and publishers need to learn not to fear change, but to embrace it if they want to succeed in the market.
So maybe this Doomsday is something that traditional publishers should fear; not in the sense that print will go out of style, but that there may be a new Big Six when we think of publishers: those that aid independent publishing. Amazon, Google, B & N and others may be zombies, but they are very much alive; and are very much coming after the electronic book industry.
An interesting read on 10 reasons self-publishing will consist of 50% of the eBook market in 2020: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-coker/10-reasons-self-published_b_4915694.html
Sources:
http://www.theindependentpublishingmagazine.com/2012/05/future-of-publishing-2020-push-and-pull.html
http://www.selfpublishingadvice.org/apocalypse/
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/pw-select/article/63455-surprising-self-publishing-statistics.html
http://smallbiztrends.com/2014/07/self-published-ebooks-on-amazon-study.html
http://www.techdigest.tv/2013/05/how_to_self-pub_1.html
Since the creation of the internet, self-publishing has erupted as a means of authors getting their works out to their intended audiences without having to go through the process of getting rejected/not getting rejected by a publishing house, review processes, working out conditions of rights and royalties, and taking the leap of publishing, laying marketing in the hands of the publisher. Big name publishers, specifically the Big Six (or Big Five), have dominated the publishing industry for years and have worked to keep up with the evolving trends of digital publishing. However, they are now facing a new resistance: “indie” (Independent) publishers. This group, which could primarily be considered part of the “Long Tail”, is finally getting the recognition that they are seeking.
There may be an emersion or an adaptation of who the Big Six could be in 2020, based off self-publishing statistics. A couple of important things that traditional publishers don’t offer their authors are a full extension of rights to their works and a fast an easy publication process. Companies that assist independents to self-publish, such as Amazon, offer 5 minute publication (24-48 hours for a Kindle print to appear in stores), greater royalties than traditional publishing houses, and a greater author control of rights and list prices. Amazon gives independent publishers the option to publish to Kindle, print and audio. According to http://smallbiztrends.com/2014/07/self-published-ebooks-on-amazon-study.html 31% of Amazon’s eBooks are from indie self-publishers; and those numbers are only expected to rise. In an effort to keep up with Amazon and other publishers, Barnes and Noble launched Nook Press in 2013, a way for authors to collaborate and self-publish with them, an upgrade from their prior publishing format that proved to be unsuitable in comparison to competitors. Also on the self-publishing front is Apple, who matches with Amazon’s rights and royalties, as well as a quick and easy publish; however, Apple also offers authors the option to publish free versions of their books, which they believe to be a potentially essential marketing tactic, but with a downfall of it only being suitable for Apple devices. Regardless of their limitations, these three big name ePublishers, along with others not mentioned, i.e. Google, Kobo, and others are becoming more and more attractive to authors. In an article written by Mark Coker for the Huffington Post, he predicts that self-published books will account for 50% of the eBook market come this terrifying “Doomsday 2020”.
There have been articles written on the Doomsday of Publishing, as people flock to fear based on change, rather than embracing an imminent (r)evolution . Traditional publishers fear the change of the shifting industry and they fear the loss of trust as authors move away from them to gain complete rights to their works and self-publish. Traditional authors fear the new market for self-publishers and the success that may come with it, in addition to the fact that self-published authors own their materials, whereas traditional publishers are not the sole owner of their rights. This fear has lead to the idea of the end of the publishing industry, but that isn’t necessarily so; it may be that we are coming close to an end in some facets of traditional publishing; and publishers need to learn not to fear change, but to embrace it if they want to succeed in the market.
So maybe this Doomsday is something that traditional publishers should fear; not in the sense that print will go out of style, but that there may be a new Big Six when we think of publishers: those that aid independent publishing. Amazon, Google, B & N and others may be zombies, but they are very much alive; and are very much coming after the electronic book industry.
An interesting read on 10 reasons self-publishing will consist of 50% of the eBook market in 2020: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-coker/10-reasons-self-published_b_4915694.html
Sources:
http://www.theindependentpublishingmagazine.com/2012/05/future-of-publishing-2020-push-and-pull.html
http://www.selfpublishingadvice.org/apocalypse/
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/pw-select/article/63455-surprising-self-publishing-statistics.html
http://smallbiztrends.com/2014/07/self-published-ebooks-on-amazon-study.html
http://www.techdigest.tv/2013/05/how_to_self-pub_1.html