Sunday 26 June 2016

The book is dead, long live the book.


But like the royal family, you need new blood or you end up with a tendency to be related by more than marriage. And so it is with publishing, with the new blood here being indie or boutique house publishing. It’s not better, it’s not worse, it’s just different.
With more and more well-known authors opting to self-publish, the stigma on this is fading and yet the process isn’t so far removed from the traditional model. Self-published books are still edited, professionally typeset and have cover designs that win awards. Yes, there are a few horrors out there, but the majority are every bit as good and sometimes even better, than those you’ll see in bookstores.

Publishing, like all businesses, is in the business of making money and the easiest way to do this is to sell block busters; millions of copies of the one book. The downside for readers, if they only buy from a bricks and mortar bookshop, is that they have fewer books to choose from.
So, if you fancy adding a little ‘Harry’ to your library, check out the much maligned indie author. Who knows you could just discover a Prince Charming of a book