Monetizing the Slush Pile

"Self-publishing has moved into the mainstream of our industry" --- Penguin CEO John Makinson.

Just a couple of my previous posts on the new uses and newly-earned professional status of self-publishing:

'Medium' A New Lightweight Publishing Platform and Democratized Distribution


Self-Published Books Are Dynamic ‘Business Cards’

For those who haven't read these posts, they provide excellent insight and info RE self-publishing today :)

Yes indeed, the old slush pile has always been ripe with relevant and talented work. And now the big publishing houses want to monetize this beautiful source (you know, the 'screw you' source the old traditional publishers kept on the back burner or ignored because they had too much control over writers and just did not have the manning or talent to handle the workload --- so, they made the actual writers feel inferior with rejections to cover their own ineptness).

Further proof of self-publishing legitimacy is evident by the traditional publishing houses seeking out self-publishing or publishing services firms to purchase --- to possess this capability in-house.

This insight from John Makinson, Penguin CEO:

Why self-publishing is no longer a vanity project

The rise of self-publishing marks a radical change for publishers, readers and writers


A few years ago, HarperCollins launched Authonomy.com, a website dedicated to "flushing out the brightest, freshest new literature around". Site members share their works in progress – and HarperCollins and others publish the best. Last year, Penguin US launched a similar site, Bookcountry.com.

There's another term for what Authonomy and Book Country do: "monetising the slush pile". It's a pretty cruel one, as the "slush pile" of unsolicited manuscripts has long been a fine source for publishers, and publishing lore abounds with stories of much-rejected classics finally being picked up. But the addition of "publishing services" (self-publishing, essentially) to both sites suggests that publishers intend to profit from all of this work, even if it doesn't reach their house standards.

This summer, Penguin acquired Author Solutions Inc, one of the world's largest providers of publishing services, or what might have once been called "vanity publishing"...

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Digital Age Presents an Opportunity Not Threat for Printed Matter

Printed books (including non-academic books) are not dead. In fact they are growing by 15% to 18% per year in India, China and other Asian countries...And Asian countries are cutting edge in new digital tech, which encompasses all the new eReaders, eBooks and ePublishing platforms.

"Technology is merging things, but the book is still at the center"...Indian critic Sunil Sethi.

Some key, insightful and juicy perspectives are jumping forth from the Asia-Pacific's largest annual literary event, the DSC Jaipur Literary Festival, taking place right now between 21-25 Jan in Jaipur, India. This event is attended by literary giants from all over the world.

Want to publish a printed book to a large market? Go global and publish in India!

This from Reuters by Henry Foy:

The book is dead? Long live the book, authors say

Rubbishing those who hail the digital age as the end for books, publishing industry players and best-selling authors on Saturday hailed a new dawn for publishing, with India's voracious readers at its forefront.

Book sales have been squeezed in recent years by e-books and the huge success of Amazon.Com's Kindle reader, but India's booming publishing market is proof of the physical book's staying power, said participants at Asia's largest literary event, the DSC Jaipur Literary Festival.

"You read something on Twitter and you know it is ephemeral," said Patrick French, a best-selling historian and biographer who has written extensively on Asia. "Yet the book is a solid thing. The book endures."

Regional language novelists and poets rubbed shoulders with Nobel laureates and Booker Prize winners at the seventh festival to be held in the historical pink-tinged city of Jaipur, the capital of India's northwestern Rajasthan state.

Hundreds of book lovers attended a debate on the fate of printed books in the sun-drenched grounds of a former palace as part of the free five-day event.

"The idea of the book dying comes up all the time. It's wrong. I think this is a wonderful time for books, to enlarge the audience of the book and draw in more readers," said John Makinson, Chairman and CEO of the Penguin Group of publishers.

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