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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
10
Weiss: … One thing that it means is that there's more choice for people. I think we're going through a transition. ... And that old standby model, which was, "I give you a big advance, you give me a manuscript, and we'll publish the book and print lots of copies, and cross our fingers and hope you're a success," just doesn't work anymore. It's a very risky model, and it's one that I don't believe can stand completely on its own. ... There will be a lot of opportunities in the future for people to experiment with different methods of publishing. … We want to help participate in those changes that are taking place. And, where appropriate, we'd like to be the catalyst for change. ...

Extra: What sort of reaction is ASI getting in the industry from the introduction of this model?
Weiss: ... It's far more favorable than unfavorable. But the unfavorables tend to dominate the landscape. When we announced the Harlequin partnership, the Romance Writers of America just threw up their arms and went into a fit about this. ... The Mystery Writers of America came out and said, "No way. Absolutely not. We're not going to support Harlequin." And the Science Fiction [and Fantasy] Writers [of America] came out [with] ... (basically, my words, not theirs): "No one in their right mind would ever read something that was not traditionally published." ... It's amazing to me that these writers guilds would … be so archaic. They're there to support writers. We have mutual interests. ... We're in an age where consumers choose, right? ... I think that, over time, they will come around and see that this is not something that's going to restrict writers' ability to get published; it will not restrict anybody's ability to be a traditional publisher versus an assisted self-publisher like we are, an indie publisher like we are. And everybody's going to come around. It'll be a while before they do.

Extra: Why are traditional publishers like Harlequin and Thomas Nelson finding these types of partnerships beneficial?
Weiss: ... When a traditional publisher gets into this business—either by themselves directly, which is hard to do for a traditional publisher, or through a partnership with somebody like Author Solutions—they get the opportunity to, in essence, create a farm system. ... [Traditional publishers] get the opportunity to watch these writers and see how they do in the marketplace before they give them an advance. ... Because we do so much volume, costs are much lower than [traditional publishers']. It gives traditional publishing the opportunity to look at a different form of production of the physical book and start to experiment, and see how other people do things and get a much closer look at it. … It gives the publisher the opportunity to get involved in a new form of publishing without building all the infrastructure and expending all the time and energy that it takes to build something new. ...

Extra: What are ASI's plans for growth?
Weiss: ... We're going to keep doing what we're doing. And we want to do it better, faster and cheaper than we currently do it today. ... We're expanding our presence. We've opened up operations in Australia and New Zealand, and this past year, we opened up another operation in the United Kingdom. ... We're going to get heavy into the Spanish language. ... And we're going to be opportunistic in the opportunities that we think can help us expand the imprints that we have today. We're going to continue on this push with partnerships, because we'll get by … the big "fastoche" that's going on in the marketplace today. We'll get beyond that here in 2010, and there'll be more people stepping up. We've got several proposals out there right now in the marketplace for more of these partnerships. ...
 

Companies Mentioned:
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COMMENTS

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Most Recent Comments:
Candace C. Davenport - Posted on February 26, 2010
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.
joe sixpak - Posted on February 14, 2010
self publishing was never a dirty word
.
big biz publishers tried to make it so as part of their power grab to control publishing
.
self publishing existed before any commercial publisher
.
self publishing is coming back as the net allows people to take back teh power
.
the article above describes more of the current vanity press style of operation that has also morphed with the net
.
it is a shame that thomas nelson bought into this model
.
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
.
Pat Holl - Posted on February 12, 2010
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.
Diane Eble - Posted on January 25, 2010
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.
aaron - Posted on January 16, 2010
The publishing world has to change or it will die. www.thestonepublishinghouse.com
Doris Baker - Posted on January 15, 2010
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.
JTC - Posted on January 15, 2010
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.
Walt Shiel - Posted on January 15, 2010
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.
Ron Pramschufer - Posted on January 15, 2010
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.
Donna Swanson - Posted on January 15, 2010
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.
Click here to view archived comments...
Archived Comments:
Candace C. Davenport - Posted on February 26, 2010
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.
joe sixpak - Posted on February 14, 2010
self publishing was never a dirty word
.
big biz publishers tried to make it so as part of their power grab to control publishing
.
self publishing existed before any commercial publisher
.
self publishing is coming back as the net allows people to take back teh power
.
the article above describes more of the current vanity press style of operation that has also morphed with the net
.
it is a shame that thomas nelson bought into this model
.
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
.
Pat Holl - Posted on February 12, 2010
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.
Diane Eble - Posted on January 25, 2010
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.
aaron - Posted on January 16, 2010
The publishing world has to change or it will die. www.thestonepublishinghouse.com
Doris Baker - Posted on January 15, 2010
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.
JTC - Posted on January 15, 2010
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.
Walt Shiel - Posted on January 15, 2010
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.
Ron Pramschufer - Posted on January 15, 2010
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.
Donna Swanson - Posted on January 15, 2010
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.