Quote:
Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks
A number of publishers also have a "self publish" imprint; perhaps the ebook only is a "compromise." I guess it depends on who is paying for editing and how much editing is done.
I think the line between self-publishing, half publishing and so on is becoming very blurry.
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Most of the BPH's "self-publish" operations are actually fronts for Author Solutions.
http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2...nda/#more-2755
As for the line blurring, why should there even be one to start with?
Some argue that it never really existed, inasmuch as whether a book is indie or trad-pubbed publishing is just a business decision made on a book-by-book basis. Today's "indie author" was yesterday's trad-pub veteran and vice versa.
Here is David Farland's take:
http://www.davidfarland.net/writing_tips/?a=228
Quote:
It’s Not an Either-Or Decision
Many professional authors today have dual writing tracks. For example, my friends Kevin J. Anderson, Tracy Hickman, and Brandon Sanderson all started out with traditional publishing and still work in those careers, yet they also have some self-published works. These might include short stories or novellas, out-of-print works whose rights have reverted, or perhaps those old favorite “hard-to-sell” novels that they’ve always wanted to do.
And remember, even if you self-publish, you may find that your self-published works also attract traditional publishers. For example, my friend James Owen recently self-published “Drawing Out the Dragons: A Meditation on Art, Destiny, and the Power of Choice,” and soon found himself regaled by publishers who wanted to take it traditional. In the same way, Tracy Hickman created a new series about people living in a fantasy village—no earth-shattering wars, no high magic battles, just little personal tales. But as soon as he began to publish them, a major publisher begged for the rights, and the books appear to be doing well.
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The only thing I'd quibble with is that he implies an author can choose to trad-pub a book.
The actual choice available to a author is whether or not to submit the book to the traditional publishing *process* to see *if* an agent chooses to present it to a publisher, who then decides if they *think* the book will sell enough for them and *they* choose whether to publish it or not. The trad-pub decision that matters is out of the hands of the author.
As Farland says, there are no absolutes; different authors will choose a different process for different books for different reasons. Just as readers have different expectations and preferences for what they choose to read, most writers have different goals and expectations for their books.
And, just as for readers what matters is finding reads that satisy *them*, what matters for authors is understanding the strengths and weakness of each approach and choosing the path best suited to *their* project, based on the realities of the business as it exists *today*.
(Oh, and avoiding Author Solutions like the plague. That one is pretty much a clear-cut absolute.
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