“...writers are delusional...”
Laughter broke out at a recent web seminar when Publisher’s Weekly Reviews Director, Louisa Ermelino said, “And writers are delusional; no matter how they’re published.”
Many interesting points on the topic of self-publishing were discussed, most of a more serious nature.
Panelist and author Jason Pinter expressed frustration at frequently hearing the same success stories of self-publishing. “What annoys me is that the same names are always used: Godin, Konrath, Hocking, The Shack.”
Pinter also said that poor marketing is the reason so many self-published books fail, a point Carolyn Pittis, SVP of Global Author Services at HarperCollins, agreed with. “Marketing is the issue of our time. Book marketing is the biggest challenge that anyone in the book business is facing today, purely because there’s so much noise and so much content getting created and so many potential distractions.” Phil Sexton, of Writer’s Digest, also believes that the efforts authors put behind their marketing plans influence the success—or failure, of their books.
Ermelino made another very interesting observation, “Maybe self-publishing is going to be an extra step added to publishing … Maybe what’s going to happen is you self-publish a book, someone notices it … an agent? ... and it goes from there into the traditional sphere.”
Seminar moderator Guy LeCharles Gonzalez asked the group how programs such as Harlequin’s self-publishing imprint can help self-published writers, to which one panelist responded, “It’s all about the money; it’s not about finding wonderful books—come on.”
The event was sponsored by PW and Digital Book World and held on February 22, 2011.
The entire article, written by Lynn Andriani can be read on the Publishers Weekly Website.
