If You Can’t Beat’em, Publish Them
Published August 22nd, 2011 | 
For the past couple of years, traditional publishers have been scrambling to respond to the changes wrought upon them by the digital revolution. In the beginning, they poo-pooed new technology such as the ereaders and POD. They had nothing but scorn for self-publishers who chose to publish and distribute their own works, bypassing traditional channels. They dismissed them all as untalented amateurs and lamented the loss of quality control. Now, it seems, they are seeing the benefit of recruiting successful self-publishers to mainstream publishing deals.
This is nothing new, really. Some successful self-publishers have eventually gotten book deals with major publishers in the past. Remember that kid who wrote the fantasy novels about dragons? Or, how about that guy who wrote the sappy Christmas-themed novel. Sure, it’s been known to happen. But now it’s happening with a guy who sold a million copies of his thrillers on the Kindle.
Remember John Locke? I blogged about him earlier this year. He sold his thrillers directly on the Kindle Market. Now Simon & Schuster has smelled the coffee and has decided that it’s not such a bad idea to snap up a writer with a huge built-in audience from self-publishing. Locke did all the work himself, now S&S gets to reap benefits from his hard work. Another self-published e-book writer, Amanda Hocking, had already signed a 4-book deal with St. Martin’s Press. This is the future of publishing, folks. Get used to it.
