self-publishing means you do it your... self

The latest news in publishing is that Penguin is opening a self-publishing arm. Publisher’s Weekly has it here.

But there’s a whole lot of opinions going around on this. I urge you to go visit the following sites:

David Gaughran at his blog Let’s Get Digital.

Quotey Goodness:

In fact, I have an offer for them. If they are seriously, genuinely considering using Penguin/Book Country to self-publish their book, I will send them a copy of Let’s Get Digital to show them how easy it is – and how much cheaper it is – to do it themselves.

JW Manus has more good information here.

More Quotey Goodness:

They are doing a few hours worth of work, if that much. They want you to be afraid of what is actually the easiest part of self-publishing– the formatting and uploading to distribution sites. What makes a self-published book successful is well-edited content, marketing and publicity. None of which Book Country will do.

I don’t talk much about publishing on my blog. That’s not what I want this space to be. But this is news-worthy and I hope, if you had only heard the good parts of these kinds of “we’ll help you self-publish” operations that you’ll take the time to check out these pages (and the links contained therein, there’s a wealth of information).

Worse, I think we’ll only see more of the same. And while I’m not in any camp or have any horse in the indie vs. traditional race, I do believe if you’re going to sell your words for money, you should do it well. Whatever “well” happens to mean for you and your readers.

But going through a self-publishing services that wants permanent royalties is a rights grab, not a service that helps you (or your readers).

About these ads