Simon & Schuster will enter the self-publishing world
The publishing giant is teaming up with Author Solutions Inc. to create Archway Publishing, a publishing house which will focus on self-published works.
The publishing giant is teaming up with Author Solutions Inc. to create Archway Publishing, a publishing house which will focus on self-published works.
If there was any doubt in the publishing industry that self-publishing is here to stay, news that a top mainstream publisher is teaming up with a self-publishing company to create a self-publishing imprint should put those doubts to rest.
Simon & Schuster announced Tuesday that it is partnering with Author Solutions Inc. to create Archway Publishing, a separate publishing house focused on self-published fiction, non-fiction, business, and children鈥檚 books.
Self-publishing is a booming sector of the publishing industry, and Tuesday鈥檚 news reaffirms the significance of self-publishing.
鈥淪elf-publishing has become a viable and popular route to publication for many authors, and increasingly a source of content for traditional publishers, including Simon & Schuster,鈥� Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. 鈥淲e鈥檙e excited that we鈥檒l be able to help more authors find their own path to publication and at the same time create a more direct connection to those self-published authors ready to make the leap to traditional publishing.鈥�
Simon & Schuster is marketing Archway鈥檚 self-publishing offerings as a premium service 鈥� which comes at a premium cost to authors. Archway will offer authors a range of packages from a basic $1,599 children鈥檚 package that includes 鈥渆ditorial assessment鈥� and 鈥渃over copy review鈥� to a $24,999 鈥淥utreach鈥� program for business books that includes an 鈥渁uthor profile video,鈥� and a reception at BookExpo America, the industry鈥檚 annual national convention.
It might be a tough sell. Archway will be staffed and operated by Author Solutions (not Simon & Schuster) and final products will not have the Simon & Schuster name attached to them. 鈥淲ith no Simon & Schuster personnel involved, and without the Simon & Schuster name attached in any way to the final product, Archway鈥檚 prices 鈥� significantly higher than the competition 鈥� could be a hard sell,鈥� writes the New York Times.
Still, the partnership helps an established publishing house like Simon & Schuster get in on the skyrocketing self-publishing trend with relatively little risk.
According to data from research firm Bowker, some 211,269 books were self-published in 2011, up more than 60 percent from the previous year, as reported by Shelf Awareness.
Driven in part by the rise of e-readers, self-publishing has itself given rise to self-published author stars like Amanda Hocking, the e-book phenom and millionaire behind the 鈥淭rylle Triogy,鈥� and John Locke, author of 鈥淪aving Rachel,鈥� the first author to sell more than one million self-published e-books through Amazon.
Further proof that self-publishing is highly sought-after? In a move to capture some of the self-publishing market itself, Simon & Schuster鈥檚 rival Pearson, parent company of Penguin Group, bought Author Solutions in July, before Simon & Schuster鈥檚 announcement. That鈥檚 two large publishing houses (and three by extension, since Penguin Group is merging with Random House) going after one small self-publishing start-up.
As Bob Dylan said, the times, they are a changing.
Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.