Question Home

Position:Home>Arts & Humanities> Self-publishing versus traditional publishers - the POD generation?


Question:

Self-publishing versus traditional publishers - the POD generation?

Beginning writers today aren't constrained by the options of traditional publishers, subsidy publishers, or hiring a printer. Hundreds of thousands of books appear on Amazon annually, produced, edited, self-published by authors through the same printer/distributor POD house the large publishers use.

The advantages are obvious. Beginning writers get exposure never before available, don't have to get raped by a traditional publisher or subsidy house, and the royalties are higher than they'd ever see under the 'older' system.

But what's the cost to the readership?
For one thing, there's evidence not much editing is going on. Quality is generally suffering in across the board.

Can you think of other subtle costs manifesting as a result of this combination of Amazon Advantage/LightningSource, and the new wave of publisher-writers?


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Is sounds like you're talking mostly about fiction, but I would point out the costs to readers when it comes to non-fiction as being far more detrimental, particularly in the fields of science and medicine. Elesevier, an evil, evil publisher, has created a monopoly in that niche, and in response to that, the open access initiative has developed. One of the biggest challenges to open access publishing models, however, is the common criticism that the process of peer review is largely absent. Without peer review, credibility is nill.