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Originally Posted by fjtorres
Gatekeeping....
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As the sheer volume of self-published works rises, gatekeepers will be more and more critical. They don't have to be publishers, and will never be perfect, but the more crap that's out there, the harder it will be to wade through.
Self-publishers also don't normally get anywhere near prestigious (or half-way decent) reviewers -- another gatekeeper.
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Originally Posted by fjtorres
Editorial services - proofing, editing, formatting, covers. All of which are available separately from qualified professionals for lump-sum fees instead of an eternal percentage of income.
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1) Good editors are not easy to find.
2) It's very easy for an author to fire an editor who is in fact doing good work, and doing what they're supposed to do -- namely, challenge the author to do better -- mainly because they hate the idea of someone changing their work.
3) Good editors (and formatters, and cover artists) are not cheap. You're basically pushing a few thousand dollars onto each self-publisher, or at least those who actually care about their work.
Don't forget the authors will also have to absorb any and all legal costs, PR costs and advertising costs.
It should not be much of a surprise that many who benefit from self-publishing are authors who were already published, already have industry experience, and thus have significantly lower costs for distributing their own work.
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Originally Posted by fjtorres
Up-front financing - basically, payday loans....
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The reason it's called an ADVANCE is because they're paying you, up front, against what they expect you to earn. If you fail to earn out your advance, you're not on the hook. You aren't charged interest. The loan doesn't grow in size every week.
At least some authors can't do their work without the advance, especially if they actually need to do research to write the book.
I agree it's up to the author to decide if that's something they want or need. However, you're not going to get an interest-free loan from a bank.
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Originally Posted by fjtorres
Distribution services....
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I doubt many self-publishers can get their books on Amazon's front page.
For example, when I navigate to the Kindle Books initial page, there's a "New & Noteworthy" section. The titles are published by Amazon Crossing, Thomas & Mercer, 47 North, Montlake Romance -- i.e. Amazon imprints. One is from "Other Press," which appears to be a small publisher.
How can a self-publisher compete directly against their
biggest distributors/retailers?
Another element to consider is that in theory disintermediation is great, but in reality it means more work, more exposure and less protection for the authors.
If the DoJ gets its way, it won't be long before Amazon is back to dominating the market, and will be able to impose higher costs on self-publishers. People will kvetch and moan, but the reality is that anyone who will want access to the big retailer will have few options but to knuckle under.
Meanwhile, the music industry is several years ahead of the book business. The record labels are also far, far more mercenary than book publishers. So what do we see? Is the top 100 better quality than it was 10, 20 or 30 years ago? (No.) Has it been bum-rushed by self-publishing musicians? (No.)
The record labels are threatened -- but not because fully independent musicians are disintermediating, but because revenues from recordings are dropping overall. Recording revenue is plummeting, which means the only way to really make a living as a musician is from live touring and merchandising.
I.e. the Wonderful Digital Future really has not materialized for musicians. And the same is a likely outcome for authors as well, who will find it harder and harder to rise out of the sea of self-published drek, and will become more and more dependent upon Amazon as their distributor and retailer.