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!
We’ve written in the past on this latest trend, in which media engines like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon have been looking to self-publishing platforms such as Wattpad for their source material; previously, Hulu had tapped the Wattpad piece The Kissing Booth for translation into the visual medium. Now it’s Light as a Feather’s turn, a soon-to-be-ten-episode horror story originally by author Zoe Aarsen. This article, from Forbes contributor Adam Rowe, chronicles the process through which this story has gone since its publication. Aarsen is an ardent supporter of self-publishing, having joined Wattpad in 2012 “specifically because she was interested in self-publishing and ‘Wattpad seemed like a great way to build an audience.’ ‘When I posted chapters for the first time,'” she told Rowe, she “‘became really excited by receiving feedback from readers all over the world, and so quickly!'” Self-publishing’s timeliness and responsiveness has long been touted as one of its strengths, and it’s certainly one which has paid off for Light as a Feather, and Wattpad certainly seems to be having a moment as well, according to Rowe: “As the biggest and buzziest media companies continue to realize that books are the simplest medium for IP acquisition, Wattpad’s uniquely data-driven artistic approach seems to make the most sense.” We’ll leave the final judgment call up to you, but if you’re interested in serialized fiction, this is a must-read piece!
The grand Good E Reader is showing up for the industry again, as this article from contributor Mercy Pilkington demonstrates. In analyzing several reports from Publishers Weekly and Bowker, Pilkington crunches the numbers and comes up with a summary: “To correlate the numbers, the number of ISBN-assigned self-published ebooks has been dropping steadily–a fact that makes for really good soundbites from publishing industry conference stages–but the number of self-published books is still growing.” Which is a nice and straightforward way of saying: don’t trust the numbers from industry titans whose stranglehold on ISBNs is no longer universal, and whose expensive services an increasing number of self-publishing authors are learning to circumvent. The numbers that matter–and that can be tracked–are giving us far more good news than bad, Pilkington indicates, proving once more that self-publishing is in no way, as it was originally predicted to be, just a “flash in the pan.” Check out her full article!
Last but not least, we bring you some more of those very good numbers! This report comes to us courtesy of Books + Publishing, one of Australia’s premiere news sources for global industry data. This report, published less than two weeks ago, also digs into the Bowker report indicated above–an annual report covering worldwide publishing and self-publishing statistics–and highlights several other important details not touched on in depth by Pilkington. But first! The raw data. The report indicates that “Self-publishing in the US grew by 28% between 2016-2017, with a total of 1,009,188 self-published titles in 2017, up from 786,935 in 2016 with 8% growth from 2015-2016.” This is good news all-around for readers and writers in the industry, with unparalleled volume of reading material promoting the production of higher-quality material, as well. (As is indicated by the increased tendency of media engines in picking up self-published material for adaptation!) B+P agrees with Pilkington that the decrease in ISBNs issued has more to do with authors skipping that process altogether and the diversification of publishing paths–Wattpad is now considered a viable alternative to Amazon, as is the growing stable of quality indie and self-publishing companies–than it does with any decrease in self-publishing overall. Keep publishing, ya’all! You’re doing great things!
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.
Self Publishing Advisor 