Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
They're not irrelevant. They're just no longer the only option. Many authors would prefer to hand over everything but the book-writing to someone else; going through a publisher means not having to find an editor, a formatter, a cover-designer, a marketing person and so on. It costs a lot, but for some authors, it's worth it.
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What's interesting is the extent to which many of the differences between the vanity and conventional publishers is narrowing. It's actually getting so writers can get
more services from a vanity publisher, at least in all but the respect respect, if they're willing to pay for them; the major difference is how the publisher gets paid. From a reader's point of view, about the only thing real publishers still offer is selectivity, and with excerpts of ebooks available, that's much less of an issue than it was a couple of decades ago (well, the staggering advances paid to celebrities for worthless books hasn't helped either, especially when word gets out and the books tank). I suspect the publishing landscape ten years from now isn't going to look much like what we see today.