19 ms·

As an avid reader + book buyer I see little value add coming from the publisher other than marketing which should be available separate from the publisher or la

As an avid reader + book buyer I see little value add coming from the publisher other than marketing which should be available separate from the publisher or lack thereof ... As with other media like music the author/artist should cut out the middle man and reap the bulk of retail costs using print on demand ditto for academic publishing

csande17 7y ago
Publishers can help with a lot of book-related things--typesetting, printing, cover design, and so on--that authors don't necessarily know how to do themselves. Automated print-on-demand services get you most of the way there, but professionals can still do a better job a lot of the time.
- shantly 7y ago
  The real problem is the money to pay for it all. Most authors can’t afford to gamble four or five figures editing, proofreading, promoting, and distributing a book that may show nearly zero return. Think of publishers as VC for books.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    Publishers don't necessarily do a lot of structural editing. Copyediting (proofreading), yes. But that's more like three figures to pay someone to do (which you really do need to do). Non-fiction editors will often also pay for someone to do a technical edit. Promotion. For the average book, not much. The main promotion/benefit for, say, technical non-fiction is that you're in their catalog and will be on display in venues like trade shows. Generally speaking, publishers aren't paying for book signing tours, publicists, etc. Distribution these days isn't a big deal. Everyone can be on Amazon.
sb8244 7y ago
I've gotten a lot of benefit from Pragmatic while writing my book (went in beta back in August)... Probably more than I thought I would get. The biggest benefit has been the specific technical editor that I work with as well as the tooling that saves me a lot of time. I think this has led to a much better book that should (hopefully) be felt by readers.

csande17 7y ago

Publishers can help with a lot of book-related things--typesetting, printing, cover design, and so on--that authors don't necessarily know how to do themselves. Automated print-on-demand services get you most of the way there, but professionals can still do a better job a lot of the time.

shantly 7y ago
The real problem is the money to pay for it all. Most authors can’t afford to gamble four or five figures editing, proofreading, promoting, and distributing a book that may show nearly zero return. Think of publishers as VC for books.
- ghaff 7y ago
  Publishers don't necessarily do a lot of structural editing. Copyediting (proofreading), yes. But that's more like three figures to pay someone to do (which you really do need to do). Non-fiction editors will often also pay for someone to do a technical edit. Promotion. For the average book, not much. The main promotion/benefit for, say, technical non-fiction is that you're in their catalog and will be on display in venues like trade shows. Generally speaking, publishers aren't paying for book signing tours, publicists, etc. Distribution these days isn't a big deal. Everyone can be on Amazon.

sb8244 7y ago

I've gotten a lot of benefit from Pragmatic while writing my book (went in beta back in August)... Probably more than I thought I would get. The biggest benefit has been the specific technical editor that I work with as well as the tooling that saves me a lot of time. I think this has led to a much better book that should (hopefully) be felt by readers.