The Time Seems Right for E-Publishing

I’ve been reading a lot of author sites that are starting to tout the e-publishing venue. Many of these authors have been, or are currently, being published through the big time publishers. I’m noticing a trend however. Many of these authors are saying the e-publishing is the new way to go. I’ve read some articles from these authors and some stuff I’ve learned after doing some research on my own and I have to say that e-publishing certainly does sound enticing. I’ve summed up a few of the reasons that these writers are leaning the way they are.

 You get to keep creative control of all the work that you do: So this means that not only do you not have to bow down to what your publisher thinks is a good idea, based off some chart with recent numbers on it, you can write in your own style and keep all the creative control.  

The big money issue: The big money issue is actually several. First, you don’t have to worry about making your advance versus sales. Granted you don’t get an advance when you are writing for yourself, without a contract, but that also means that you will garner almost all of the revenue generated. The large publishers pay royalties twice a year, that’s it. With e-publishing, most sites will pay you each month. Some of these authors have also stated that they sometimes don’t receive the royalties they are due, at all. Thinking about the book advance also brings up the thoughts of not selling enough books that the publisher makes a profit. That means you really only have the advance to show for all the time you took to write your book. Many times a publisher will drop you like a hot brick if you don’t meet the expectations in terms of sales. That will make it very difficult for you to get back in with any publisher, as you will likely be known as the author whose sales didn’t pay out the advance. By e-publishing you take charge of your income. You get to decide how much your book will sell for, and don’t have to worry about making up the advance that was given to you.  

Promotion: With e-publishing, you do have to promote your own work. This isn’t really much different from promoting your book that is put out by a publisher. Unless you are the next up and coming New York Times Bestseller, than the amount of promotion the publisher actually creates is minimal. In fact, most agents and publishers expect you to already have a promotional scheme in the works, or has been created already. They call this “A Platform.” I’m not sure if I’m going to be going on the e-publishing band wagon just yet. However, I can see that this option is looking better and better as our technology grows.

 What do you think?