Consumer News

The Author Next Door: The New Reality in Book Publishing

Posted: 8/19/2010

Bookshelves are seeing an influx of new authors as a result of the indie publishing revolution.

(NewsUSA) - In recent years, the entire landscape of the publishing industry has changed, and now thousands of authors whose books might otherwise never have seen the light of day are getting published. Following in the footsteps of film and music, publishing is undergoing an "indie" revolution whereby authors invest in their own work to bring their books to the marketplace.

"The indie publishing revolution is all about providing opportunity and expanding the options for both writers and readers," says Kevin Weiss, CEO of Author Solutions, whose imprints include AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris and Trafford. "You no longer need to wait years for the chance of being published; becoming an author is no longer a privilege, and the literary world is now accessible to everyone."

Indie book publishing has also expanded the reasons people write and publish a book. Books are now being used in genuinely new ways -- from raising awareness of important social causes to adding to a businessperson's marketing arsenal and providing significant leverage to attract the attention of a major publisher -- books are now multi-faceted "tools."

Reg Green is an example of the wonderful power of a book to raise awareness of a pressing social issue. After his son Nicholas was tragically murdered, and he and his wife chose to donate his organs, Reg became a leading advocate for organ transplantation. He turned to the pen, too, publishing "The Gift that Heals" through AuthorHouse, which chronicles inspirational stories about organ donation.

Another example, Lisa Genova, was told that nobody would want to read her book "Still Alice," a novel about a 50-year-old Harvard professor's struggle with Alzheimer's disease.

After repeated rejections from traditional publishing houses, Genova chose to self-publish through iUniverse. A literary agent told her she would be basically committing literary suicide if she self-published, and that no publisher would touch her book once she published it independently.

To put it mildly, the agent was wrong.

After a few months and positive reviews, "Still Alice" was picked up by Simon & Schuster and became a New York Times bestseller.

"If you believe in your book, I think you should give it a chance," Genova said. "Still Alice was a book that people already identified with, and a major publisher saw the book's potential in a very real way."

To learn more about indie book publishing visit, www.Authorsolutions.com.

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