Friday 18 June 2010

Apple to the rescue? Self-publishing debate continues...

Did you see any of the articles where Apple has invited  authors to self-publish on iPad bookstore?

We all know that getting a book deal isn’t easy and Apple is now offering an alternative to the traditional publisher. The company this week opened a new portal for independent authors to self-publish their books for the iBooks Store open to iPad (and soon iPhone) customers.

More from the article:

Apple’s iTunes Connect program has a section where authors can self-publish their work under certain formatting requirements, MacLife first reported. Basically, the books must be made in the ePub format like the rest of the offerings in the iBooks Store.

With iBooks and the iPad, Apple’s biggest target is Amazon, who hosts its popular Amazon e-book store and sells the dedicated Kindle e-reader. Amazon, too, allows authors to self-publish books through their market. Their e-book sales now outnumber their print sales.

What do you think? Would you take up Apple's offer?

Have you self-published? I'd love to hear about it...

There is an informative article on Amazon e-books here...and another here...and a great site full of info on self publishing here...Thank you Lisa Shae.

14 comments:

Swimmer said...

I haven't nut my friend Bethany Greenier has a great book out there available on Amazon. She also sold it to several local bookstores, and it is amazing!!

Denise Covey said...

That's great news!

Aubrie said...

I definitely think people should try ti if they've already tried to get agents and other routes like ebook publishers haven't worked either. But I would try agants and ebook publishers first.

Karen Roderick said...

I think anything that gives the author more control and rights over their work is a brilliant idea. I hate the frusty world of publishing, it's about who you know, and not necessarily if your work is any good. I am totally in favour of Apple and think self-publishing gives all writers a chance at letting the world read their work. I also like to think e-publishing is going to shake up the publishing world and open the door to some fabulous writers who don't get a chance because they can't be pigeon holed, or because publishers can't make money off their backs. I'm in!

Angela McCallister said...

At first, I thought this whole self-published ebook thing would bring down writing standards. Recently I've noticed there's plenty of substandard writing around in print, self-published or not. Now I think this is a great chance for good writers to get their work out there when agents and publishers can't handle the workload. I'd personally rather have an agent, but I'm also not going to wait ten years to get published.

Denise Covey said...

Aubrie: Good advice, and coming from someone who has sweated the agent trail..:)

Karen: Coming from someone who has been published, this is a good recommendation for self publishing. I do think the whole publishing world needs a shake up..:)

Angela: I do hope you find an agent and go the regular route, but I think there is some great self publishing success stories out there. It's hard work either way..:)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for connecting with me on the 365 Days of Novel Writing. Actually no, I haven't read this article. I will check it out though. I've self-published a non-fiction book. This was to a select target of people though. I don't plan on going that route with fiction.

notesfromnadir said...

Thanks for the helpful links.

This is a debate that will continue to rage online for many years. There are advantages to both print & ebooks. It's best to do lots of research on the topic of ebooks before sending your manuscript to an ebook publisher or doing it yourself via Kindle or iPad. Sometimes it's very beneficial, other times it's not.

Denise Covey said...

J. Kaye: Your blog looks great. Thanks for connecting and commenting. Yay! You were follower no 60!

Lisa: Thanks for the helpful advice. I really like the idea of self publishing but it does sounds daunting and risky..:)

Debi said...

Hmmm. Apart from the issues of real books vs e-books (huge debate in itself) I see the problem as the same one that exists for self-publishing in any format.

No doubt there are undiscovered gems out there, but the vast majority of self-published books have been through no sort of editing process at all. Most are unpublished not because the publishing world is such a wicked place (even though it is ...) but because they simply are not at the required standard.

I know the frustrations of going the traditional route (believe me, I know!) but the truth is that if a book really is good enough and the author is persistent about pitching it and can handle multiple rejections - I do believe they will get there in the end.

HelenMWalters said...

It will be interesting to see what happens with all this. Too soon to tell I think.

Denise Covey said...

Debi, yes I think you need a rhino hide to handle the rejections, but I guess if you really believe in your work, you will soldier on! Good comments. Thanks..:)

Helen, yes, we'll see. At least there's another option. I'm sure as Debi says, there'll be a lot of unedited rants, but maybe the good will outweigh the bad..:)

Suzanne Ross Jones said...

Very interesting post and thank you for the links - am off to have a look.

mary.anne.gruen@gmail.com said...

I'm glad that there are other options out there for writers. The economic realities in publishing don't allow traditional pubs to take many chances.

I remember ten years ago when writers and readers saw the popularity of vampires coming fast and traditional pubs were afraid to publish vampire stories till one broke big. Even then, they wanted to lead with known authors writing vampire stories because they needed to be careful of their bottom lines.

Self-publishing allows authors to do a bit more leading. And perhaps create their own big breaks, even as they begin the next fad.

I think ultimately self-publishing will be a net gain for the industry as a whole.