WestBow as an imprint is still associated with popular Christian fiction writers such as Ted Dekker and others. How these folks will like being equated with pay-to-play is beyond me to guess.
It was an odd move by Thomas Nelson to use an already existing imprint of theirs. However, CEO Michael Hyatt has pointed out on Rachelle Gardner's blog that WestBow's Press last title published by a traditionally contracted author was back in early 2006, and since then, most of the authors still contracted have been moved across to Thomas Nelson Publishing itself. Subsequently, many of those authors have had reprinted editions published by TN.
I still believe WestBow was chosen as the vehicle for all this primarily because it was once a traditional press and imprint of a large reputable trade publisher. For me, this goes to the very heart of the perceptions and stigmas of self-publishing and vanity presses. Any publishing house engaged in the business model of mainstream publishing and decides to offer self-publishing services or even associates themselves with the business of self-publishing (affiliate programs) feels the need to undergo some form of
identity cleansing first.
This reminds me a little of the now defunct Cold Tree Press. In 2008, Cold Tree Press changed their name to Cold Tree Publishing to group their three distinct imprints. Under Cold Tree Press, they had trade paperbacks, Hooded Friar for literary fiction, and Moorsgate became their author solutions service. Here was a company who started out offering self-publishing services - made the decision to adopt a traditional model of publishing - yet chose to move the self-publishing end of the business out to a new imprint called Moorsgate. In some ways it was the opposite of what Thomas Nelson have done. WestBow Press was known as a traditional imprint - now it's a self-publishing service.
If we look at Author Solutions, the company Thomas Nelson have afforded the strategic partnership to run the nuts and bolts of WestBow Press, we have, in effect, a self-publishing service using the identity of a reputable publisher. Nice if you can get the gig, and kudos to Author Solutions, they just did!
