Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
How potential readers will react should be a big factor in the author's decision.
Vanity publishing is not new. It's just gotten a lot easier and cheaper in digital form. Self-publishing is just a euphemism.
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What is occurring today is not the same as vanity publishing was back then. Believe me. I looked at options 15 or so years ago. It's night and day. Almost every single aspect and cost is different from format, delivery, options, quality, distribution, marketing and cost. Even from the reader standpoint it's different because the quality of POD is so much higher. I would also argue that with the internet, the quality of writing can be much improved--it's sooooo much easier to get feedback now than it was when I started writing some
thirty years ago.
One of the hardest things for a new writer is getting feedback--and I don't mean honest feedback, I mean FEEDBACK period. Most people don't want to take time out of their busy day to read a manuscript that is on large paper in a three ring binder. They lose it. They set it aside. They can't drag the thing with them to the doctor's office. If they do read it they are likely to give a pat on the back--it's great, yeah, loved that line about Mr. Pig blowing up the house. "Uhm, mom it was the wolf that blew up the house..." Pause. "Yeah, that's the part."
Now I can join critique groups (thank you Baen), I can find beta readers, I can find copyeditors, proofreaders, other authors, you name it. That was simply not the case even 20 years ago.