Adieu Euan. Self-publishing will miss you

In the August issue of Victorian Writer, well known self-publishing advocate and author of Self-Publishing Made Simple, Euan Mitchell announced that he is hanging up his self-publisher’s hat.

It is certainly true, as he points out, that things have changed for the self-publishing author in recent years. The increase in the availability of digital printing and print on demand services has made book printing more accessible and the Internet has made global book distribution and marketing possible for any author.

In fact it seems that Euan is opting out just at the point when the self-publishing industry is set to really take off and that most people are opting in rather than opting out! As the debate hots up over e-books, the validity of the book distribution chain, the ownership of digital assets and the feasibility of social media for marketing campaigns the pendulum seems to be swinging in favour of self-publishing. Even the Australian Society of Authors, usually hyper-cautious in its discussion of self-publishing, offered the comment in its recent paper “E-books – Royalties and Contracts”:

“Not everything has to be done through a conventional publisher of course. Authors may want to retain their e-book rights and act as their own publisher”

The wonderful thing about all of this is that authors are really starting to benefit from the past work of people like Euan. Self-publishing authors who are willing to work hard, explore the opportunities, promote their books through traditional and new media and who approach their self-publishing project in a business-like and professional manner have a huge opportunity to succeed.

No-one really knows what the next big thing will be and sometimes it is baffling as to how certain books do so well. After all, the biggest selling self-published book is (I think) still the 4 Ingredients cookbook. No accounting for taste, literally. However, you have to tip your hat to Rachael Bermingham – if other authors worked as relentlessly at promoting their book as Rachael, they too may sell over 1.5 million copies.

It isn’t as if major publishers have a sixth sense about what will sell and what won’t. History tells us that – as does the a list of books passed up by publishers which go on to be best-sellers such as Harry Potter. However large publishers have lots of titles on the go at once, increasing the probability factor, experienced staff and they manage the fundamentals of their business well. When you boil it all down publishing comes down to risk management which is how the big publishers will benefit from a healthy self-publishing market. This new market provides an “on-tap” pool for the publishers to dip into as they see successful self-publishing authors emerging –test driven, so to speak.

However, time will tell whether self-published authors will still be drawn towards the lure of a publishing contract once they have created their own success. It may be that authors won’t want to be published by major publishers – they may prefer to be author/publishers in control of their own content and its potential in a myriad of forms.

It may be the end of your self-publishing career, Euan but for the rest of the world it is just the beginning. Welcome to the future.