Posted on 2013-Feb-18
Publishing Schools of Thought
It might not come as a surprise that the publishing schools of thought have been divided clearly between traditional publishing and self-publishing. While the former school is held accountable to gather as many field experts as possible to publish the most elegant book, the latter focuses on freedom of expression that squeezes every last bit of rigorous schedule to transform materials in their head into concrete conversation in the form of readable texts. Without the official support of the experts et al, self-publishers have to work harder to achieve what they have been fighting for; that is, to tell the reader their best version of a story.
Self-developmental and Evangelistic Self-publishers
While the traditional school of thought is worried that the self-publishers and online retailers would jeopardize the overall publishing industry, there are many incidents that self-publishers feel naturally urged to talk about how the industry will unfold and how they perceive it as the transformational period. Perhaps, everything was rough in the beginning when the transformation was subject to inferior quality as opposed to nicely designed books. However, self-publishers dust themselves off and did not waste time producing bestsellers back to back and with an opportunity to connect with their readers. Self-study is part of vital crash courses that any curious person could enroll to better utilize their independent project as a viable tool to sell more books. There is a list of evangelistic do-gooders in our website who share how-to guides about eBook production. In fact, our previous post led us back to visualizing how you can carve out a well-planned promotional strategy or experiment with different methods to maximize your sales.
Insightful Webinar
Stumbling upon one of the evangelists’ website, Hugh Howey, I did not only learn the mastermind behind the creation of Wool, it was also an intimate moment to familiarize myself with creative processes and useful guidance. For example, the officially announced webinar is the newly coined term that struck my attention to the extent. Several questions posted here will be dealt with by a successful self-publisher, Sarra Cannon, and KDP marketing expert, Amanda Wilson. While I’d like to make my points clear here that I do not intend to promote their talk and it absolutely depends on your budget to spend, my initial impression was the opportunity to witness how the tight-knit community of independent authors join forces to clarify what the current state of publishing industry is shifting to.
Being Open-minded to Uncover Valuable Quality
Nonetheless, coming to terms with the reality that self-published books are aplenty, certain disappointments like poor quality cover design may prevail. According to Huffington Post, “shoddy” book cover turns the writer away from picking up and reading what is inside. Admittedly, this sentiment plagued many books from being exposed to their readers. My only suggestion is we need to raise aware of open-mindedness. What Amazon has done to classical novels is pretty obvious for Kindle readers to realize how absolutely amazing reading is if we can look past beyond the external fence. Although it is not considered a secret that lavish book covers will attract more readers, my personal experience getting acquainted with prolific authors on Twitter allow me to focus on their materials rather than how much cosmetics have been applied on the surface. There were moments of nodding and smiling to appreciate the level of honesty authors have proficiently shown and precisely worded. Two eBooks sprang up to my mind to coincide with this praise.
Bankable Fortune
Perhaps, in the era of digital publication, self-publishers can virtually live closer to their readers who advocate their passion of criticizing and echoing their love of storytelling. While living independently is certainly the utopia among artists and authors, adopting the reader-centric mentality will always be crucial for their career development. Look no further than the Hugh Howey’s premise and other resources. In the final paragraph ending the revolution in progress article, I have to disagree with getting the “big name’ interested and read what FrancisHamit said about bankable fortune at the bottom of the page.
Label: Self-Publishing
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