I’m going to be gone for several days, but I couldn’t leave without sharing the news: Publishing giant Thomas Nelson is going to offer an imprint for self-publication. Michael Hyatt made the announcement recently in his blog, Michael Hyatt, Leading with Purpose. Thomas Nelson’s new division is Westbow Press, and is in partnership with Author Solutions.
Among Mike’s readers, the announcement generated quite a response–both pro and con, but mostly pro. One of the benefits of self-pubbing through Westbow Press is the possibility a self-pubbed writer will catch the eye of the powers that be in the house. If that happens, he/she may receive a contract from them. Also, although the packages are priced higher than can be found elsewhere, most of them include some form of promotional aid.
Of course, as one person commented on the site, if an author is successful promoting his own book, why would he want to sign a contract with TN, thereby losing some of his profits? Mike answered the question in his site convincingly: Alone, an author could sell thousands. With a publishing company, the author could sell millions.
So, while I’m gone, I’d like to know: What do you think?
(Choose all that apply):
Feel free to leave a comment and state your opinion. I’d love to know what you think. I may not be able to answer right away, but I promise I’ll get back with you.
I have mixed feelings about this. I do think TN is making an interesting step in taking notice of self-publishers. And I think it’s probably going to be a very good thing for the handful of authors who use Westbow and are subsequently picked up by TN. But, ultimately, I don’t know that this route is necessarily wise. If I’m going to self-publish, I might as well go a significantly less expensive route with CreateSpace and put my extra money into promotion. But if I’m going to publish traditionally, I might as well not waste my time and money fooling around with Westbow.
The possibility of selling a lot more of your books through the publishing company sounds tempting to me.
I’m not hot or cold on this. I can see the benefits of a publishing house being able to promote some places that I couldn’t get my foot in the door on my own, but is it worth the extra cost. I haven’t compared cost yet so I may change my mind if there is a wide gap between said costs.
Yip, it’s tempting, but I guess I need something to publish first.
I have mixed feelings about it, too. It seems to be a sound business decision for TN. It’ll be interesting to see if any of the other publishing houses do it.