Self-publishing

Thought this was a good article that anyone who wants to be a published writer should read:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/14/when-d ... the-books/

It's about the massive shift in the publishing industry going on right now from paper books to e-books, and how that's affecting writers and readers (don't worry, it's a short article!).

This quote in particular caught my eye:

My latest book (an epic urban fantasy about a squirrel) was Creative Commons-released and self-Kindle-published before I sold it to a publisher.

In other words, even though the book was already available online as an e-book (and under a Creative Commons license to boot), a publisher still decided to pick it up.

Being a writer in the digital era is awesome. It's like the Willy Wonka tunnel. There's no way of knowing which way we're going.

The author of this article has it right, though. For a writer, this is awesome. For a reader, it sucks.

RachaelElg wrote:The author of this article has it right, though. For a writer, this is awesome. For a reader, it sucks.

I couldn't agree more. While I love my Kindle, it really does suck that all I own to all those e-books I bought is a license to read that e-book on my Kindle. I can't transfer it to another e-reader, and I can't lend it freely to others either.

I think to pick up book sales all publishers have to do is give away the e-book version for free whenever you buy the hardcover version.

Nate wrote:I think to pick up book sales all publishers have to do is give away the e-book version for free whenever you buy the hardcover version.

The movie industry does that with DVDs now, or at least some of them. I have a DVD The Dark Knight and an iTunes The Dark Knight, and I got the download with the DVD. This is awesome because sometimes--I have friends over, etc--I'll want to use the DVD. Other times--I'm flying somewhere--a DVD is cumbersome and impractical.

Selling the eBook along with the hardcover edition makes great sense. An eBook costs the publisher nothing to make--no paper, no ink, no distribution costs, etc--so they're not losing anything by giving you an eBook of it. The author isn't losing out either, at least not in any way I can tell.

I think their main worry is that the eContent will go wild if they loosen up and allow sharing. If it becomes as easy to get eBooks illegally as it is to get music illegally, profits will take a hit. A big hit. Which is a definite concern for the publisher--but that's when offering the eBook version along with the hardcovers would come in handy.

Cory Doctorow (front runner author in all this mess) makes some great points: http://boingboing.net/2006/02/14/why-pu ... shoul.html