And now for the news!
Some highlights from this month in the world of self-publishing, specifically regarding publishing trends within the publishing industry, and their implications for all authors!
This article, courtesy of Courthouse News, chronicles the surprising story of a self-published work of erotic sort-of-fanfiction which might have been destined for obscurity had it not, well, featured a number of real life people, including an actual New Englands Patriots player and an actual picture of an actual couple on their honeymoon. And obviously, having not consented to this use of their names and/or images, these individuals took the author–and the self-publishing companies which sold the book!–to court. (Barnes & Noble was also sued, but doesn’t quite rate the headline. Courthouse News contributor Matt Reynolds describes both the history of the case and its implications for self-publishing authors and companies in the future. But two points seem adequately clear already: (1) featuring real-life people in your self-published works without consent opens you up to a whole plethora of troubles, and (2) it might also make your book famous. That said, we don’t advocate for this kind of flirtation with ethics; we recommend reading Reynold’s entire article and making up your own minds.
What are they? Well, we will do our best not to spoil this entire article for you and rather recommend that you take a peek at Ben Fox Rubin’s whole article, but suffice it to say that the Kindle has had quite a history of both successes and failures, and one of Amazon’s trademarks is the ability to turn the flip the latter around, learn from it, and find a marketable way of moving beyond it.
A trick we could all learn from, eh?
Rubin’s article is interesting for more reasons than the clickbait indicated by the article’s title; here he gives an insightful tour of the device’s–and the company’s, and self-publishing’s–early days, its path to profitability, and some key indicators of what’s to come next. You might have heard that tablets and dedicated e-readers are going away, but what does the largest manufacturer of dedicated e-readers actually think about this idea? Check out Rubin’s article in full for further excellent thoughts.
As a self-publishing author, you may find it helpful to stay up-to-date on the trends and news related to the self-publishing industry.This will help you make informed decisions before, during and after the self-publishing process, which will lead to a greater self-publishing experience. To help you stay current on self-publishing topics, simply visit our blog every Monday to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.
