The digital revolution has torn down the barriers to publication, putting every manuscript only a click away from freedom. But why are authors taking matters into their own hands? What does it feel like to forge your own path to publishing success? And how is this radical new route to readers transforming the industry, the writing life and literary culture?
For the writer Orna Ross, founder of the Alliance of Independent Authors, self-publishing is opening up new opportunities for writers and readers alike. Catherine Quinn, who sold 150,000 copies of her self-published fiction and then signed with Amazon, describes how publishers' attitudes to her work shifted after she had found success on her own.
Hugh Howey, the bestselling author who kept his electronic rights when he signed a six-figure deal for Wool with Simon and Schuster, paints a picture of an industry which has already been transformed. He runs through the findings of his Author Earnings report – a data-gathering exercise which suggests self-published authors are matching the big-five in ebook sales and making more money in the process – and answers critics who have cast doubt over his sweeping conclusions. Publishers just need to catch up.
The editor of the Bookseller, Philip Jones, explores the challenge self-published authors present to traditional publishers. But for Gordon Wise, a senior agent at Curtis Brown and vice president of the Association of Authors' Agents, and Jade Chandler, a commissioning editor at Sphere, the industry is learning fast and still has a lot to offer.
