This seems to be the season of really awkward reports on self-publishing. In yet another “remarkable study into self-publishing,” that distracts with colors and pictures, self-publishing gets another black eye from someone who doesn’t really know the topic.
Well, as someone who helps writers become self-published authors, I have a slightly different viewpoint.
When I first saw the three parts of the “debate” I quickly came to the conclusion that the author didn’t know her subject very well. It certainly didn’t help that the very first two sentences included “road to nowhere” and “in my research.”
The next nail in the coffin was that this was a DBW series of articles; the guys who are notoriously anti-self-publishing.
And then there’s the question of statistics. There’s a famous Mark Twain quote that applies – especially to self-publishing: “There are lies, damned lies and statistics.” (This quote is also attributed to Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Moses and quite a few other dead guys on the internet.)
The “research” was primarily conducted using the flawed Bowker numbers – numbers that are flawed because they’re inaccurate, and inaccurate because they’re incomplete. Maybe it’s just me, but … well, you really can’t use Bowker; they’re using in-house numbers that aren’t based on the actual realities of self-publishing or the self-publishing world.
At the end of the day, Bowker bases their unicorn-like statistics on the number of ISBNs purchased that fall outside the “traditional publisher” series. Amazon – undeniably the largest (and first successful) seller of ebooks since 2007 (that’s almost 14 years for the math impaired) – doesn’t require an ISBN for ebooks. And Amazon doesn’t release these numbers.
There are thousands and thousands of self- and indie- writers who have gone it alone – without going through Bowkers – who make a very comfortable living that way. And indie writers have been successful for hundreds of years. To say self-publishing is a ‘road to nowhere’ is to insult thousands and thousands of writers. Including the spectacular Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, and MANY others – all the way up to the modern successful authors like John Locke, Stieg Larsson, Lee Child, James Patterson, Amanda Hocking, and so on; the list grows daily.
Unfortunately for legacy publishers, they’re a dying breed. Why anyone would voluntarily opt to give away not only all of their creative and editing rights but also 56% of royalties royalties that are available FOREVER to the self-published author – to is beyond me.
When I can hire competent and respected proof and copy editors for a set price, develop cover art for a set price, get both an ebook and a dead tree book formatted and up for sale on every major retailer for a set price, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to give away royalties and rights because some legacy publisher says that’s ‘how it’s done if you want to be successful.’
That’s just crazy!
You can read the DBW “debate” HERE – but just don’t take it too seriously.