The followng is a guest post by Grant Piercy. Check out Grant’s previous guest post, Quoting Lyrics and Dodging Copyright Issues. Want to submit a guest post? Read our overview and drop us a line!
It might interest you to know that even though I consider myself a writer and an author, I’ve never submitted a manuscript to a legacy publisher. Neither have I ever attempted to get an agent for representation. This might seem like a strange approach for a so-called writer and author, but this is the way of the world now. It’s not just the state of the publishing industry, but the state of most mass media outlets.
Over a decade ago, Napster was forced to close down by a U.S. District court, and was only truly active for about two years in its original form. By then, the damage was done. Napster exposed an unfair pricing model for the music industry. People wanted music, single songs most of the time, but were always forced to purchase entire albums (usually with sub-par content) for anywhere between $13 and $20, depending on the chain store (most of which are now out of business, after having put many small, independent record stores out of business themselves). Napster showed the true power of the Internet — sharing information and media content between a host and thousands of users. And it was all free.
This all seems like ancient history now — a mere reality of a zeitgeist that’s been in upheaval since the start of the new millennium. Music was just the beginning. With increased networking capabilities and the availability of high-speed, broadband internet in the years since, enormous files are downloaded in mere seconds — where megabytes in the old Napster days used to possibly take hours. Music, movies, radio, television shows, podcasts, books — they’re all available from anyone who wants to give them away.
Then there’s the legacy distributors: music labels, movie studios, and book publishers. It started with music, which already had a nice free component in radio and television distribution (at least when MTV played music). Movie studios and television networks got scared (rightly) that it would soon be as viable to pirate movies and shows as it had been to pirate music. The RIAA and MPAA began to go after these pirates pretty hard. What they really did was show the contempt they had for people who were fans of their products, and here’s why: they were prosecuting people for being fans.
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There was a time when publishing a book was pretty straightforward; you had two courses. One: find an agent to represent you, seek a publisher who in turn will produce and promote your book and pay you for the privilege of doing so. Two: take your manuscript to a vanity press and pay them to produce your book so you could promote and sell it yourself.
Self-publishing has its up and downs — just ask any aspiring writer. Like those authors I also been through the process for three books now and I am happy with the results. The middle parts can and will test your nerve and patience. I spent months writing, editing, and polishing my work. Only when I thought I had finished – I realised you never are when you self-publish.
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