Do Authors Need Publishers?

Do authors need publishers?I’m feeling a little sorry for Steven Zacharias. He’s the CEO of Kensington Publishing, a family-owned publishing company in New York, and this week he wrote a blog post for the Huffington Post about how authors still need publishers. You know, because they offer us so many benefits, like great editorial support and help with publicity.

Yeah, I laughed when I read that, too.

Then I asked him to clarify the following statement: “From what I’ve read, some e-books are quite good but, for every one of these are many more that aren’t.” I wasn’t sure from that whether he had read many indie titles, or whether he was just going by hearsay. Turns out it’s the latter. Mr. Zacharias told me, “I’ve only read a handful of indie published books because it’s natural for a reader to go to the bestsellers where publishers have spent a lot of money marketing that author or book.” Hmm, well, I’m a reader, and I don’t read many bestsellers at all. It’s been years since I’ve found much of anything on the bestseller lists that interested me. Okay, I take that back. I really liked Hugh Howey’s Wool. Oh, that’s right – Howey self-published the series first, didn’t he? Continue reading “Do Authors Need Publishers?”

Indie News Beat: Now With Extra Snark!

Greetings from the Indies Unlimited Broadcasting Plaza. Our satellites scour the cyberverse for news, views, and crap you can use.

Chris James is still on sabbatical, promoting his new book. So, get out there and buy some copies so I can put him back on the job.

In protest of his absence, I am now in the third hour of my six hour hunger strike. This is grueling, people! It’s hard not to just post links about bacon. Is that what you want? IS IT??? (ahem) Sorry, I get cranky when I’m hungry. Continue reading “Indie News Beat: Now With Extra Snark!”

The Impact of the Dept. of Justice Investigation

The Indie Author in the world of Publishing

Last week, on March 24, 2012, we looked at a brief history of eBooks, Publishers and the Agency vs. Wholesale pricing model. You can review that post here.

Ironically,on Thursday March 29, 2012, the Huffington Post ran a story by Mark Coker the founder of Smashwords. Most of you are familiar with Smashwords as one of the first distributors to supply eBooks to retailers including, Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, the Diesel eBook Store, and Baker and Taylor. Continue reading “The Impact of the Dept. of Justice Investigation”