The SPBE October 27, 2012 NYC ~ No one will care about you book as much as you do

Did you know that Shakespeare kept complete control over his writing and never relinquished any of his rights to a printer or publisher? The same holds true for many other famous authors. Obviously this is not a new idea; it’s just much easier to do today thanks to the rapidly expanding world of self-publishing. As a result, traditional publishers are scrambling to change in an attempt to swim with the tide of SP not against it. Those that don’t are about to disappear forever because self-publishing is now becoming a tsunami! Evidence of this is provided by the fact that the top six publishers are now searching self-published books for their next big hit. This puts indieBRAG in a pivotal position within the emerging SP industry because through our process, the sea of self-published books is being methodically filtered and purified.

Self-publishing gives you, the author the ability to keep control of your creative work product and capture more of the profits. So why then are some successful SP authors seeking deals with traditional publishers? Well for one thing, self-publishing is hard work. In addition to the first and most obvious task of actually writing a great book, there are a myriad of other necessary things that must be done to produce, present, and promote it. Most authors don’t want to spend the time doing all this but the brutal fact is that if they don’t, no one else will, and their book will languish on the web pages of amazon.com and other online booksellers.

Most SP authors who have been wooed by traditional publishers say it was because they were offered upfront money, and were relieved of the “heavy lifting” that goes along with publishing a book. For example, at the Self-Publishing Book Expo one of the SP industry’s most promising and successful young authors, Darcie Chan (and we’re proud to say one of our B.R.A.G. MedallionTM honorees), said that doing such a deal gave her three things: the opportunity to spend more time writing; more time with her family; and the financial security that she cannot get by self-publishing.

Obviously, there are reasons for an author to self-publish their work, and reasons to traditionally publish it. Only time and talent will determine which should take precedence and an author should consider both options carefully and use them to their advantage and benefit.