4 ms·

If the middlemen weren't providing a service, authors wouldn't use them. At least, if they had any sense. I agree that it seems like they get a pittance, but

If the middlemen weren't providing a service, authors wouldn't use them. At least, if they had any sense. I agree that it seems like they get a pittance, but that is their choice. You can chain yourself to the monster and get a lot of money, but only a small % of the total money made... Or you could go it alone and get a huge % of the total money, but only a small amount of money total. Unless you're really awesome, and then this way would seem to be better in every regard. From what I can tell, Stephen King played with self-publishing for a bit, but didn't follow through with it. Why? I couldn't find a reason, but it was over 10 years ago that he first tried it, and he's still using established publishers. I suspect it's because they take care of SO much stuff that it's cheaper and easier for him to let them handle that, and he can do what he does best: Write books. Of course, he probably also gets better deals than Joe Average, but most of the major writers will.

kijin 15y ago
If Stephen King were still self-publishing, Under the Dome would have been 500 pages longer than it already is. Thank God there's an editor to tell him to keep it "short". Also, there were speculations a few months ago that J.K. Rowling was planning to do something interesting with electronic versions of her books. [1] I can't find any follow-up on this, but this could be worth watching out for. Perhaps nobody cared when King played with self-publishing many years ago, but these days people might pay attention to a well-known author doing self- something. [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2693384 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2693384
Tyrannosaurs 15y ago
My guess is that if Stephen King couldn't make it work with a massive installed fan base and a global reputation then it's a non-starter (or at least a very tall order) for an author who has neither of those.

kijin 15y ago

If Stephen King were still self-publishing, Under the Dome would have been 500 pages longer than it already is. Thank God there's an editor to tell him to keep it "short". Also, there were speculations a few months ago that J.K. Rowling was planning to do something interesting with electronic versions of her books. [1] I can't find any follow-up on this, but this could be worth watching out for. Perhaps nobody cared when King played with self-publishing many years ago, but these days people might pay attention to a well-known author doing self- something. [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2693384 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2693384

Tyrannosaurs 15y ago

My guess is that if Stephen King couldn't make it work with a massive installed fan base and a global reputation then it's a non-starter (or at least a very tall order) for an author who has neither of those.