Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case at all. Now suddenly the cost of getting published plummeted to the point that anyone could self-publish for $99. You can’t really fully appreciate the significance of this unless you had forked out $15,000-20,000 for a print run a few years earlier.

Now suddenly the flood gates opened and all the thousands of authors who had been denied publication because they couldn’t place their work or afford to self-publish inundated the marketplace with new books. What this meant to the small press authors was that this sudden deluge of new competitors made it difficult to get book signings, unpaid reviews, and media appearances. Since these had always been our main source of marketing life suddenly got more difficult.

In the past the chain stores would often stock new titles from small presses, the larger libraries would buy a good number of books and small press authors were welcomed at trade shows and conventions. Now that has all changed because the proliferation of small presses, new authors, and new titles has made it impossible to sort out the good from the mediocre.

Another problem is the proliferation of authors has opened up a new industry of businesses designed to help authors get published. Unfortunately, this industry is riddled with predators who promise the world but really only want to pick your pocket. Even the legitimate editors, agents, ghost writers, publicists, and distributors often don’t really have any unique expertise that will guarantee you success. They will certainly work on your behalf but rarely will they be worth the cost.

This proliferation of new authors has drawn the attention of the major players in the publishing business. I was appalled when Foreword Magazine, Kirkus Reviews and other started reviewing anybody’s titles for a fee. It used to be your book had to be good to get a review but not anymore. And this is just the tip of the iceberg as Amazon, Google, Bowker and others race to exploit this new market of naive authors who can’t get their wallets out quickly enough to spend whatever it takes to make them a best selling author.

But, as difficult as it has been for the small press author to adapt to this new publishing environment nothing has prepared us for the ebook revolution.

To be continued...

William Manchee is the author of the Stan Turner Mysteries and Tarizon Trilogy which is available in print, ebook, and audio format.

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