Indie publishers are sticking it to Big Publishing. Sort of. Perhaps we should gauge it as a kick in the shins.
Publisher’s Weekly posted a news brief on a fresh report from Bowker on self-publishing books, “Self-Publishing in the United States, 2006-2011: Print vs. Ebook” (October 2012).
According to PW, the report says self-publishing has seen 287% growth since 2006, with e-book formats driving the gains.
Small presses — publishers who have produced 10 or fewer books — accounted for 34,107 titles in 2011, with 21,256 print books and 12,851 e-books.
Bowker says: “This was a time when the emerging technologies of print on demand and digital publishing dramatically cut the cost of book production and opened the door to almost any author with a story to tell.”
We indie publishers could say, “Yeah, take that, New York! Take that traditional publishing. We don’t need no stinkin’ agents or disdainful acquisition editors.”
The downside is that competition for readers grows as well. Also, with Amazon and Penguin dominating, are the indies truly reaping all the benefits?
The stat that surprises me is the one for Smashwords, based on feedback from authors who say SW is only a small percentage of their sales, compared to Amazon and BN. Anyone have any thoughts on this phenomenon?
If you want to read the entire Bowker report, it’s available at http://www.bookconsumer.com/ . . . for a mere $139.
Read the entire Publisher’s Weekly article.
Polishing Your Prose 