Is 'Self-publish' No Longer a Dirty Word? Author Solutions Inc. CEO Kevin Weiss explains why some major publishers now are embracing this model.
January 15, 2010 By Heather Fletcher
While the term "self-publishing" still may carry a stigma for many in the book industry, the ranks of major publishers embracing the concept are on the rise, and Bloomington, Ind.-based Author Solutions Inc. (ASI) is a part of that turning tide.
In October, ASI—which provides self-publishing services to authors and publishers, and is the parent company of self-publishing imprints AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford Publishing and Xlibris—partnered with religious publisher Thomas Nelson to create a self-publishing arm, WestBow Press. The following month, ASI announced a similar partnership with romance publisher Harlequin to create Dellarte Press.
According to Author Solutions CEO Kevin Weiss, ASI and its brands have helped more than 85,000 authors publish nearly 120,000 titles over the past 13 years. In 2008 alone, it helped bring more than 21,000 new book titles to the market.
Weiss says innovative partnerships like the ones with Thomas Nelson and Harlequin are just the change the book publishing business model needs. He recently spoke with Book Business Extra about ASI's strategy and how it can benefit publishers.
Book Business Extra: What are the mechanics behind Author Solutions' partnerships with publishers like Thomas Nelson and Harlequin?
Kevin Weiss: … We've believed for quite a while that the self-publishing services model that we have, as a company, is not something that necessarily needs to be ours alone. ... And so, last year, we started to talk about the growth in our business and what we were seeing as an explosion in the marketplace. … Where could we help others drive the marketplace? We looked at what was going on in traditional publishing and how it was ... changing. ... We said, "Traditional publishers really are in a position to be able to offer a variety of things in the marketplace. But they don't know how to do what we do." We had a hunch that there was this model whereby traditional publishers would create their own self-publishing imprint, and they'd have the opportunity to watch [authors] who are inside that imprint and determine which ones they were ready to pull out and offer a contract to traditionally publish. We put this model together, and we started to call on publishers … . That's how it came about. … It's just more of a "How can we participate in the ever-changing landscape that's currently called publishing?"
Extra: How does this type of publishing impact the industry?
In October, ASI—which provides self-publishing services to authors and publishers, and is the parent company of self-publishing imprints AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford Publishing and Xlibris—partnered with religious publisher Thomas Nelson to create a self-publishing arm, WestBow Press. The following month, ASI announced a similar partnership with romance publisher Harlequin to create Dellarte Press.
According to Author Solutions CEO Kevin Weiss, ASI and its brands have helped more than 85,000 authors publish nearly 120,000 titles over the past 13 years. In 2008 alone, it helped bring more than 21,000 new book titles to the market.
Weiss says innovative partnerships like the ones with Thomas Nelson and Harlequin are just the change the book publishing business model needs. He recently spoke with Book Business Extra about ASI's strategy and how it can benefit publishers.
Book Business Extra: What are the mechanics behind Author Solutions' partnerships with publishers like Thomas Nelson and Harlequin?
Kevin Weiss: … We've believed for quite a while that the self-publishing services model that we have, as a company, is not something that necessarily needs to be ours alone. ... And so, last year, we started to talk about the growth in our business and what we were seeing as an explosion in the marketplace. … Where could we help others drive the marketplace? We looked at what was going on in traditional publishing and how it was ... changing. ... We said, "Traditional publishers really are in a position to be able to offer a variety of things in the marketplace. But they don't know how to do what we do." We had a hunch that there was this model whereby traditional publishers would create their own self-publishing imprint, and they'd have the opportunity to watch [authors] who are inside that imprint and determine which ones they were ready to pull out and offer a contract to traditionally publish. We put this model together, and we started to call on publishers … . That's how it came about. … It's just more of a "How can we participate in the ever-changing landscape that's currently called publishing?"
Extra: How does this type of publishing impact the industry?
As the publishing industry is morphing over the years, and distinctions between companies get blurred when different companies pick up different pieces of the pie, it is starting to all come down to semantics. Who really cares what it is called?
the bottom line is that authors want to have their books published. They need good editorial/design services if they want a good product. They need a company that will print their book nicely. They need marketing and promotion. There are companies that provide one or all of these services and the author has to take the responsibility to find one that does what they want.
There will always be companies that will take advantage of people. Again, the author needs to take the responsibility to find one that won't and provides the services that they need. It doesn't matter the name of what they have done, just as long as the work is good.
If you are not directly in the publishing business, when was the last time you picked up a new book and looked at the publisher and chose the book based on the publisher? Most readers just don[t care as long as the book is what they are looking for.
self publishing was never a dirty word
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big biz publishers tried to make it so as part of their power grab to control publishing
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self publishing existed before any commercial publisher
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self publishing is coming back as the net allows people to take back teh power
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the article above describes more of the current vanity press style of operation that has also morphed with the net
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it is a shame that thomas nelson bought into this model
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i would expect the others to do it because it means more profit and at least their imprints dont get dirtied by publishing pure garbage
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What a fantastic business model for traditional publishers! When a traditional publisher picks up a "vanity" published book with a decent sales history, that indicates the book already has worthy content, and has been well-designed & edited. The publisher has relieved itself of the tedious vetting & editing process and can swoop in when all the hard work has been done and profits are more likely. Why would a publisher invest time & money developing a book if the author has already done all the investing? I guess the new publisher can offer marketing and distribution, however, publishers expect the author to participate in marketing, too. That leaves the possiblity of enhanced distribution as the only advantage to the author. Obviously this is very important. The ethical thing for the publisher to do, then, is to pay for all the expenses the author incurred up to the point of his work being 'acquired.'
Here's an idea: Why don't the publishers hire back the editors they laid off? Many publishers have removed the engines from their cars, and are now reduced to hitch-hiking.
I've been in publishing for 32 years as an author, editor, marketer, and now, book publishing coach (www.yourbookpublishingcoach.com). I agree that publishing has to change, and the publishing services model is not necessarily a bad one. What I want authors to look carefully at is what exactly they're getting for their money when they sign on for publishing services. Most notably lacking is distribution and marketing support. Ask yourself, Is the publisher profiting more than I am?
What I also fear is that the "screening" of good books that traditional publishing offered will disappear. The reason "self-publishing" has always had a bad name is, anyone who can pay gets published, whether the books are good or not. Taking a risk on an author meant the publisher deemed that author worthy of being published.
The real problem has always been razor-thin profit margins for publishers, such that they could not afford enough marketing, and authors not knowing how to market/promote books. That?s what I try to help them do as a publishing coach. Now that this form of publishing is becoming a ?proving ground? for traditional publishers to take a risk, as Mark Weiss says, it?s all the more important for authors to know how to market their own books.
The publishing world has to change or it will die. www.thestonepublishinghouse.com
Let's call a spade a spade and vanity publishing vanity publishing. Nothing wrong or devious in the vanity press business model that has been so successful for companies such as ASI, but such companies are not self publishers. And, they are not traditional publishers...no risk, no editing, no vetting of material, no expectation or thought of selling except to the author. I cringe when an author tells me his/her book was 'published' by an online packager.
A great many of the best authors have been forced to self-publish, for various reasons, from Shakespeare to James Joyce, from DH Lawrence to Anais Nin, and many more. Very little has changed, indeed.
No matter how Author Solutions or the big publishers who now send them business try to disguise it, what they are offering NOT self-publishing. It is just a modern Internet incarnation of the old subsidy/vanity model.
As Ron Pramschufer noted, the specifics may have changed but the result remains the same. The only people making money this are the "publishing mills" (like Author Solutions) who make money selling books and services to authors rather than books to retailers or consumers.
Please get your terminology straight and do not call these outfits "self-publishing: companies. The only way to self-publish is the, well, publish it yourself. If Author Solutions, iUniverse, Xlibris, ad nauseum publish it, they are the publisher, not the author.
Thomas Nelson and Harlequin are just trying to make extra money off the hard work of wannabe authors.
Caveat emptor applies here, folks.
Self Publishing has never been a dirty work... Vanity Publishing has been. The old vanity model of deceiving hundreds of people out of thousands of dollars has been replaced with the new one of deceiving thousands of people out of hundreds of dollars. Nothing else has changed.
I would very much like to know more about this! I have self published six books with iUniverse but there was no promotion of course. Also, since they will publish for anyone who has $100, there is no brick and mortar marketplace for them. I edited for two different authors. ONe, a retired Yale professor, had the basics of grammar down and all he needed was some direction in composition and character enhancement. The other, a young minister, had a great mystery story but atrocious grammar. I worked quite hard on his book and had it in the best shape I could. Then our son was struck by colon cancer and I had to stop. He decided to rewrite the book, published with iUniverse, and sent me a copy. There were at least a half dozen typos and misspellings per page. But it was published. Mine had fewer than a half dozen per book.
The better epubs like Xlibris, charge too high a fee for struggling authors. I would like to hear a discussion on this. Thanks.