A friend of mine (traditionally published, of course) seemed to take delight in sending me this link yesterday:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jan/30/self-e-publishing-bubble-ewan-morrison?CMP=twt_gu
Ewan Morrison has been writing about the shifting publishing landscape for a while. In this article, he points out the similarities between e-publishing today and other financial bubbles of the past.
Is he on to something? An interesting feature of bubbles is that the people riding high in each one all told themselves that "this time it's different." (Which is the title of an amazing book about financial bubbles).
My feeling is this: Independent authors are able to make money in this field primarily because the big publishers have chosen to stay out of it. As long as they charge more for an e-book than they do for a mass market paperback, it creates opportunity for authors who publish for less. Until they come to their senses and price their backlist down where we are residing, the "bubble" will remain intact.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jan/30/self-e-publishing-bubble-ewan-morrison?CMP=twt_gu
Ewan Morrison has been writing about the shifting publishing landscape for a while. In this article, he points out the similarities between e-publishing today and other financial bubbles of the past.
Is he on to something? An interesting feature of bubbles is that the people riding high in each one all told themselves that "this time it's different." (Which is the title of an amazing book about financial bubbles).
My feeling is this: Independent authors are able to make money in this field primarily because the big publishers have chosen to stay out of it. As long as they charge more for an e-book than they do for a mass market paperback, it creates opportunity for authors who publish for less. Until they come to their senses and price their backlist down where we are residing, the "bubble" will remain intact.