1. Patrick T says:

    Good article, good perspective and overview. Thanks.

  2. DJ Edwardson says:

    Excellent thoughts and spot on. It’s great to hear that literary awards have warmed to independent authors as well. And I really like your comparison with the music industry.

    I do think traditional markets do still have vestiges of prestige in certain circles, even if most authors there really aren’t making much money (in the majority of cases).

    I decided to self-publish after hearing about the experiences of several authors, but one in particular, who gave a workshop I attended, stood out. He was published by one of the big publishing companies, but was getting almost nothing in the way of promotion. He had a friend who was helping him with his website and another one who helped him with his book trailer (neither of which were all that impressive in my opinion). Sure, the company gave him an editor and a nice book cover, but not much else. Independent authors have learned that they can pay for these costs themselves.

    There are also a number of other advantages independent authors have over traditionally published authors. Authors with a publisher can have their books pulled and taken out of print. Royalty payments can be delayed. Books take longer to come to market. Books are not always priced competitively. The publishing company can make edits or cover choices the author doesn’t like. And on and on it goes.

    So three cheers for self-publishing and the openness to new fresh voices in storytelling! Now if we could just get the Christian public to start reading more…(but that’s another article altogether)

What do you think?