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For Immediate Release
Contact: Sue Collier
Days: 720-344-4388
Email: Sue@CommunicationCreativity.com
Highlands Ranch, COLORADO—In the 21st century, small presses and self-publishers are producing successful alternative titles that are ultimately gobbled up by large conventional houses. According to The New York Times this trend is well under way. Harry Evans, president of Random House, has instructed his sales representatives to scout bookstore shelves for these diamonds in book jackets.
Self-published gems like The Celestine Prophecy, Mutant Message Down Under, and The Christmas Box monopolized top spots on bestseller lists in the '90s. The amounts their authors were paid took monumental leaps over previous advances for self-published works: $800,000, $1.7 million, and $4.2 million respectively.
According to NYT reporter, Doreen Carvajal, in the last decade the number of small publishers has increased by more than 200 percent. Mainstream publishing houses love this trend because they prospect among these books for proven new titles to pick up. This approach saves them editing, typesetting, often cover design time and expense—a real boon in today's downsized companies.
"Publishing has done an about face," explains Marilyn Ross, CEO of SelfPublishingResources.com. "Twenty years ago it was the big houses that nurtured budding authors and published their manuscripts. Today small presses are taking those risks. Like a good bird dog scenting the pheasant, independent publishers pursue promising projects with a vengeance. It's often their creative, nontraditional marketing strategies that fuel successful titles.
"Independent presses and self-publishers have become to our industry what talent scouts are to the entertainment field," says Ross. "With major houses looking to them for product, they have new clout and fresh opportunities."
Want more input on self-publishing? Marilyn and Tom Ross are articulate, informed, and provocative resources. To discuss an interview, e-mail Sue@SelfPublishingResources.com