Why don't more authors self-publish?

[Phogg]

Ian Flemming wrote both the Bond novels and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

She could switch genre.

[Daithi]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Ian Flemming wrote both the Bond novels and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

She could switch genre.

I didn't know Ian Flemming wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. How cool.

[OtterBooks]

because one of the best things about being a successful writer is not needing to have a second job.

[cHex]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I expect that many books in the future will never see print (some even now) yet still be "bestsellers."

While not all bestsellers of tomorrow may be printed on paper by a major publishing house, they'll likely still get printed some, if only via Print on Demand (POD). My company's books are being submitted to Amazon in electronic format with this in mind (and it hasn't yet occurred to them to make them available as eBooks).

[JeremyR]

Originally Posted by Daithi

I didn't know Ian Flemming wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. How cool.

Well, to be fair, he was friends with a famous children's book writer - Roald Dahl, the guy who came up with Willie Wonka - who also wrote the screenplay and his influence is a bit obvious.

[Michael Wallace]

I'll throw in my 2 cents as someone who started as an indie but took a tradition deal when offered. I love the control I have as an indie, being able to choose my own covers, find my editors, do my own price, etc. However, there's no question in my mind that the ceiling is still higher for a traditionally published author. My book, The Righteous, has sold over 50,000 copies, but it peaked in April and May and won't reach those lofty heights again on its own. When given the chance to publish with Thomas & Mercer, I was happy to consider the option to reach a much wider audience.

They will be publishing the entire five book series (including two more I have to write), but I still plan to indie publish my other books. I would like to find the right combination of readers, income, and flexibility, and I think this will give me the chance.

[kcmay]

IMO it takes a certain entrepreneurial spirit to be attracted to and successful in indie publishing. It's not for everyone. There are still a lot of aspiring writers who won't go indie because it's not "in their blood." They'd rather wait for a trad deal or not be published at all.

[OneandonlyDoc]

Originally Posted by Michael Wallace

I'll throw in my 2 cents as someone who started as an indie but took a tradition deal when offered. I love the control I have as an indie, being able to choose my own covers, find my editors, do my own price, etc. However, there's no question in my mind that the ceiling is still higher for a traditionally published author. My book, The Righteous, has sold over 50,000 copies, but it peaked in April and May and won't reach those lofty heights again on its own. When given the chance to publish with Thomas & Mercer, I was happy to consider the option to reach a much wider audience.

They will be publishing the entire five book series (including two more I have to write), but I still plan to indie publish my other books. I would like to find the right combination of readers, income, and flexibility, and I think this will give me the chance.

Thomas and Mercer is Amazon's semi-indie imprint, though, isn't it?

[Scott Nicholson]

No, there's nothing "indie" about it. Amazon intends to take traditional publishers to the mat. In addition to Michael, they've signed me and a bunch of other previously "trad" guys, including Konrath and Eisler.

Right now they have their pick of the indie pool. The only reason they don't have more recognizable trad stars is that those stars are locked up in contracts. Look for plenty more in the next couple of years!

[OneandonlyDoc]

Originally Posted by Scott Nicholson

No, there's nothing "indie" about it. Amazon intends to take traditional publishers to the mat. In addition to Michael, they've signed me and a bunch of other previously "trad" guys, including Konrath and Eisler.

Right now they have their pick of the indie pool. The only reason they don't have more recognizable trad stars is that those stars are locked up in contracts. Look for plenty more in the next couple of years!

That makes sense...though I do seem to recall some arm-waving about Amazon not being publisher in the sense of the "Big Six."

[Nancy Fulda]

Originally Posted by OneandonlyDoc

That makes sense...though I do seem to recall some arm-waving about Amazon not being publisher in the sense of the "Big Six."

Amazon is a distributor, not a publisher. But I wouldn't be surprised to see them target successful indie authors for long-term distribution deals in the future. Otherwise, a lot of their best authors might go the way of Amanda Hocking -- straight to traditional publishing.

And yeah... a lot of the major authors (in speculative fiction, at least -- I'm not as familiar with other genres) are contractually required to let their current publisher have first dibs on the next book.

[Michael Wallace]

Nancy, Amazon is both a publisher and a distributor. See this article about my imprint, Thomas & Mercer, for example. I had an acquiring editor, a developmental editor, and my books are about to go to the copy editor. They are commissioning covers and assigning me a publicist for the release. The deal was negotiated by my agent. It's very much like a traditional publishing arrangement with a few innovative differences.

[Fbone]

Thomas & Mercer's four novels on preorder have Kindle prices of $2.99, $4.99, $4.99 and $7.99. Interested to see if they "agency" price with other retailers. And if they will be available on Overdrive.

The print editions are distributed by Ingram and B&T so they will available everywhere including public libraries.

[Todd Young]

I figure most aspiring authors will be going down the indie route within a couple of years. At the same time, you'd have to think the slushpile at traditional publishers are getting smaller. Maybe all publishers will end up picking indies from Amazon and elsewhere.

In a conference on the future of the book I went to, they basically saw the traditional publisher as a force that is cut out of the new model that is emerging.

[apbschmitz]

Originally Posted by Todd Young

In a conference on the future of the book I went to, they basically saw the traditional publisher as a force that is cut out of the new model that is emerging.

But it seems to me that as a reader you will still want some entity sorting through the mountain of manuscripts and matching your taste in writing with the material at hand. Who really has the time or inclination to wade through it all?

From the writer's end it doesn't look much better. In the this particular moment there is an expectation that as an indie self-publisher, you're the writer, the production house and the marketing staff. But the inefficiencies in that seem so great, and the barriers to any wide awareness of any particular writer's work so high, that I have trouble imagining that this is a model with legs.

This feels like a transitional period that is still pretty far from the end.