People-Powered Publishing

Self-publishing used to be synonymous with unprestigious “vanity publishing,” where well-off authors who couldn’t get their books into print by traditional means paid small, independent presses to publish them. But with the advent of e-books, social reading sites and simple digital self-publishing software and platforms, all that has changed. An increasing proportion of authors now actively choose to self-publish their work, giving them better control over their books’ rights, marketing, distribution and pricing.

Other authors, like Kelly, self-publish as a way to bypass the seemingly endless rounds of rejection, particularly when sending books to publishing houses, hoping to get “spotted” once their work rises on the e-book charts.

Although out of fashion for many years, the rise of the mobile and social web has brought serialization back in vogue. Using the strategy, authors can keep readers excited about a story, gather feedback in real time and generate buzz. The piecemeal approach also suits modern reading patterns, as people increasingly consume shorter content on mobile devices, often on the go.

And self-published authors have the most freedom to experiment with such a convention.

In today’s digital and social age, self-published writers are forcing traditional publishers to sit up and take note. As self-published titles notch up more and more reads and establish a strong, vocal fan base, the traditional shift of power moves from publisher to author.

That shift in power could move authors even further away from the traditional publishers, with the advent of people-powered publishing. Rather than wait for your manuscript to land on the right desk, simply get enough of a fan base behind you and you can create your own hard copy book, with funds generated from the fans.

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