Category: news from the self publishing world

We apologize for the interruption to our normal routine! This has certainly been a disrupting time for everyone, not just us, and we hope that now we are settling into all of our respective new routines that this post finds you well and thriving despite the difficulties.

And now for the news.

Highlights from this month in the world of self-publishing:

• Coronavirus lockdown: Authors battle to publish the first Covid-19 bestseller

There have been many interesting by-products of the virus-related shutdown, but one of the most significant ones as far as we are concerned is the potential for self-publishing to flourish under the new restrictions. “Authors are rushing to dust off dystopian tales which might once have joined the list of great unpublished novels,” writes Adam Sherwin of inews.co.uk. (One assumes that he’s not talking about authors who have children at home to manage who would otherwise be at daycare or school while they were at work.) Sherwin focuses on the specific development of one manuscript by thriller writer Peter May, who began writing the book Lockdown after a previous, less severe pandemic. Sherwin also covers several other newly-released books that touch on the novel coronavirus in some way, including A. M. Smith’s self-published novel Muller, which was likewise inspired by earlier historic episodes of contagion.

• Are Self-Published Authors Still Indie Authors?

Here’s an interesting food-for-thought article by Mike Coker for Publisher’s Weekly, which in summary poses and attempts to answer the question: Has Amazon become just as much a bookish gatekeeper as the remaining Big Five traditional publishing houses that preceded it? And if so, are the authors who self-publish through its platform truly indie authors? We’d be really curious to hear what you think. (Comment below with your thoughts!)

• If You Are Writing Your Story During The Time Of Coronavirus, Here’s What To Do

Estelle Erasmus has opinions, and she’s here to share them in a recent article for Forbes. “COVID-19 has many of us hunkering down in place and social distancing. If you are a writer, and have all your survival needs met (food, shelter, support), then it might be the opportunity you need to get your story written,” she says, and in the perfect follow up to Sherwin’s article on books already making it into the world, she has some tips for those looking to make the most of that opportunity by getting your own story out there. From crafting a narrative arc to asking yourself the right questions as you move forward, this article is a concise and ultimately straightforward set of suggestions that are worth considering, if they fit with your own life and routine.

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 each month to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

And now for the news.

Highlights from this month in the world of self-publishing:

• Remembering Lillian Masitera, Pioneer of Self-Publishing

This thoughtful article from Joyce Jenje Makwenda, correspondent for The Herald of Zimbabwe, covers the life and passing of self-publishing pioneer Lillian (or “Lilly”) Masitera, “one of the few writers who had the self-confidence to challenge the monopoly of established publishers” back in the 1990s, and in so doing, “paved the way for self-publishing for many local writers.” Makwenda counts herself as one of Masitera’s beneficiaries, describing the evolution of this iconic African writer from childhood through years of writing creative “letters to friends and relatives before the era of e-mails and text messages.” From these letters, Masitera learned that she had a gift for communication that had the potential to touch many others beyond her letters’ reach, and the confidence to put her words out there. The US National Library of Poetry published several of her poems in a collection in 1995, and for this, writes Makwenda, “she was awarded the International Poet of Merit Award” courtesy of the International Society of Poets. While she faced the same challenges in marketing and distribution as all indie authors, Masitera managed to push through the difficulties and still find time to encourage other women authors to do the same. Her loss is felt throughout the global world of self-publishing.

• Viterbi Freshman Writes Self-Published Sci-Fi Novel

This fascinating little profile from Grace Chang of the Daily Trojan covers the rise of Aaron Bergen, a freshman in college who started working on his first novel at age eleven and kept returning to that same story time and again until he finished it and brought it to publication this year. The book, titled 2049, “follows a young adult named Thomas, who discovers that his recently deceased father was working on a time machine and rebuilds the time machine to go back in time in an attempt to save his dad.” According to Chang, Bergen “considers himself a self-taught writer,” leaning on YouTube tutorials and gifted acquaintances to assist with beta reading and cover art design. He’s leaving the future open to a sequel, which means that this is one canny college freshman whose self-publishing story has just begun.

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 each month to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

And now for the news.

Highlights from this month in the world of self-publishing:

• Sask. publishing industry struggling, but finding ways to innovate

Self-publishing is HUGE in the United States, and very accessible. But what about in other countries? This article from the Regina Leader-Post out of Saskatchewan, Canada, offers some interesting insights into just what the industry has done to instill change beyond our national borders. Lynn Giesbrecht chronicles the journey of one author whose work was published traditionally, only for the publishing house that released it to go bankrupt shortly after, taking her book down with it. The grim summary is that “the cost of producing a book in Canada has jumped by 40 per cent since the 1990s while retail book prices have remained virtually the same. This has caused profit margins for the publisher to drop from between 10 and 12 per cent per book to single digits.” But not all is looking so grim, writes Giesbrecht: one respected author of science fiction has recently gone indie, reporting that “Over the last few years, Willett has seen a steady rise in the number of Saskatchewan authors turning to self-publishing or using local publishers instead of submitting their manuscripts to the major companies.” While the loss of any small or indie publishing company is a hard blow to the province of Saskatchewan, the general attitude seems to remain one of upbeat ambition.

• Foreword to ‘Going Alt-Ac: A Guide to Alternative Academic Careers’

On the one hand, this review in the form of a forward is just that: a review of a book about academics who have successfully carved out a niche beyond traditional academia, making use of new platforms and new opportunities courtesy of this digital, connected, global age. But on the other hand, this review/forward by Joshua Kim to the website Inside Higher Ed gives us a critical insight into the ways in which self-publishing has become foundational to even general conversations about the state of supposedly “unrelated” fields. As we’ve noted in previous news summaries and other pieces here on the Self-Publishing Advisor blog, many professors are moving away from traditional textbooks and towards open resources that their students can access for free. In an age where the average textbook seems to cost more than a bout of gambling in a Vegas casino, it’s hard to justify paying for–or asking one’s students to pay for–a book that they’ll likely never look at again, save to perhaps (if they’re lucky) pass it off to another student at a fraction of the price. But Kim’s summary, while it is specifically referring to just the one book, also hints at whole new aspects of connection between academia and self-publishing. It builds a case for the 1974 self-published The Moosewood Cookbook helping launch a generation of “vegetarian academics,” academics who were more likely to question the status quo, and more likely to pursue “alt-academic” careers, and more likely to turn to open resource and self-published materials as resources–or create them themselves. Are we reading a little too much into this? We leave it to you to decide.

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 each month to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.