The market for non-fiction, especially as major press imprints have consolidated, has changed dramatically in the last decade (or two). Bob Newhart's character on the old (not the really old) Bob Newhart show was supposedly a writer who wrote simple how-to books like "How to build a shelf" and other books that, in the YouTube days, are now a video posted by amateurs or an article on a blog (Okay, sometimes in a magazine). Does anyone even remember the books that had detailed pictures and walked through projects for the readers? They used to be available from major publishing lines, but now even Good Housekeeping guides are pretty much extinct.
Enter digital self-publishing. There seem to be a million (okay, there are also a bazillion really bad ones) of these simple how-to type of book on Amazon for a few bucks. Few, if any, seem to get professional editing, let alone professional illustration or photography, at least of the type that used to appear in the print books of yesteryear. But, for some reason, people are buying them. Some people are actually earning money off them. And yes, there are many that are shilled with faked five-star reviews and are really making it hard to find the decent works.
But have they actually re-energized this market? Or are they just the domain of the get-rich-quick scammer that also seems to be enjoying a renaissance with the ease of digital self-published works?
I ask because I have at least three book ideas that are too esoteric to attract an agent or traditional publisher but could be viable in this type of market.
Thanks,
Jeff
Enter digital self-publishing. There seem to be a million (okay, there are also a bazillion really bad ones) of these simple how-to type of book on Amazon for a few bucks. Few, if any, seem to get professional editing, let alone professional illustration or photography, at least of the type that used to appear in the print books of yesteryear. But, for some reason, people are buying them. Some people are actually earning money off them. And yes, there are many that are shilled with faked five-star reviews and are really making it hard to find the decent works.
But have they actually re-energized this market? Or are they just the domain of the get-rich-quick scammer that also seems to be enjoying a renaissance with the ease of digital self-published works?
I ask because I have at least three book ideas that are too esoteric to attract an agent or traditional publisher but could be viable in this type of market.
Thanks,
Jeff
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