Should Authors Skip Publishers?

Self-published author CJ West hosts an interesting webradio discussion with authors Joe Konrath, Boyd Morrison and Jason Pinter about whether authors should skip the NY Publishing establishment altogether and take their work directly to the Kindle and other e-book suppliers. David Wisehart's Kindle Authors blog interview with me also gets mentioned (it was funny hearing CJ seethe as he paraphrased my words and when he talked about the MWA not acknowledging self-published writers as published authors).  The show is informative, lively and definitely worth a listen. 

2 thoughts on “Should Authors Skip Publishers?”

  1. About time someone speaks out about the MWA’s elitist attitudes. I’m a published author through a royalty press, and they wouldn’t even let me in because my publisher is POD. The book has an ISBN, the publisher is hooked up with the major distributors, I get an advance, I get royalties, I’m not required to buy any copies, I did not have to pay for anything at all, and yet they only offered me a second-class membership.
    According to them, I get “95%” of MWA member benefits, but somehow that “95%” does NOT include eligibility for an Edgar, being an Edgar judge, voting for or sitting on their board of directors, access to their Yahoo group, and a presence on their website.
    Wow!! That’s only 5% of member benefits? What bountiful pleasures would await me should I join? Well, I asked and was told I could be on their mailing list, and would receive their newsletter. Also I could attend their meetings (where I would no doubt be restricted to standing up in the back, while the real members mewl endlessly about the evils of POD). Yowza!!

    Reply
  2. I run an e-publishing business and I think it’s important for writers to have a step between final revision and clicking the publishing button on Amazon.
    One thing that publishers, and agents provide is guidance to make your book the best it can be. Self e-publishing is all about the ease of getting the book out there and the use of social media for marketing. Just like traditional self publishing, e-publishing is not for the faint of heart.

    Reply

Leave a Comment