More on Self-Publishing

Clive Warner, an IWW member who has written several informative pieces on the evolution of the publishing industry, found this piece on Publishers Weekly.

"CreateSpace Books on Demand will allow customers to have their works sold through Amazon and also be printed by the company. Amazon has dropped the fees it once charged for its on-demand technology; users can create their own customized e-store at CreateSpace.com."

Clive notes, "Regarding the galley reviews, I have already worked out how to do exactly the same thing - in fact I have started doing so already. It had occurred to me that the first reviewers of upcoming books could gain some useful publicity for their own books through posting reviews on Amazon. The recent posting of one of my ARCs on EBay set me searching for other sites selling ARCs and I found several. I just bought an ARC (yes, unread ...) of what looks to be an interesting book (Beaufort, by Ron Leshem) and bought it for the princely sum of $2 + postage. I hope to be the first to post a review of it on Amazon.

"The second piece is even more interesting; I am waiting to see if Amazon's new venture is simply another iUniverse, PublishAmerica, Booksurge, or Lulu, which many in the trade regard as little better than vanity publishers. The only way it could be otherwise would be for Amazon to establish their own printing facility, which is truly a huge investment."