This week in the world of self-publishing:
We’ve written about Espresso Book Machines before, but now it looks like the prestigious and world-renowned Shakespeare & Co. bookstore in the Upper East Side is set to unveil one of these delightful gadgets for its patrons to use. All that’s necessary for New York’s elite to self-publish a book is, now, to drop on by the store at Lexington and 68th Street with a flash drive in hand. The machine prints around 100 pages a minute, and provides cover design features to make the process as easy as hailing a cab. In addition to the EBM, Shakespeare & Co. has additional good news for self-published authors: as its summer-long renovations wrap up, the store is set to unveil a new section dedicated entirely to self-published authors! For more information, check out Shaye Weaver’s article on DNAinfo.com.
Self-published author Zen Cho has locked in a three-book deal with major publishing houses Penguin Random House (in the US) and Pan Macmillian (in the UK). 29-year-old Cho, a London-based writer with Malay roots, has seen previous success through publication in indie online magazines and through the 2012 release of The Perilous Life Of Jade Yeo, a romance which centers on a Malaysian writer in 1920s London. In Annabeth Leow’s article for Asia One, Cho dishes on both her writing method and the backstory to her latest book, Sorcerer to the Crown, an English Regency romance that tackles subjects as ambitious as the “transatlantic slave trade and the conquest of India,” all while adding a fantastical twist to the Alternate History genre. While she joins the ranks of traditionally-published authors with this twist to her own tale, Cho’s story remains one that holds a lot of pith and promise for those of us who steer clear.
In this article for The Guardian, Anna Baddeley delves into what’s changed and what’s remained the same in respect to the conversations surrounding ebooks. And the long and the short of it is this: more has changed than has stayed the same, and that’s a very good thing. She comments on the diversification and stabilization of the ebook market and its interconnectedness with self-publishing. To Baddeley, the obsession over whether ebooks are going to destroy the publishing industry is little more than a “distraction,” and as the market matures beyond this distraction, it lays the groundwork for a few clear benefits. Says Baddeley, authors are now more “clued up about how books are made – and more aware of the power they have to influence what and how they read.” For us indie and self-published authors, there’s no better encouragement to keep making the choice to empower ourselves and our readers than the knowledge that we do, indeed, have the collective power to reshape the industry to very, very good ends.
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.
ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.
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