As a young lad I loved reading and always wanted to write so I went into journalism because I knew I could always get a job since there would always be newspapers. Boy was I wrong. Sure, newspapers will continue to exist in some manner, though certainly not in the form or with the influence they had when I majored in journalism.
Traditional book publishing is facing the same decline and ultimate fate as newspapers. Sure the major publishers—the Big Five—will survive but not with the profitability nor the influence they have had in the past.
Book publishing is in the middle of a transforming transition, best explained by Michael Castleman in his 2024 book The Untold Story of Books: A Writer’s History of Book Publishing. Castleman divides the history of book publishing into three distinct periods, each birthed by technological advances and each with its own set of challenges and opportunities for writers.
The first period—hand-crafted publishing—began with Johannes Gutenberg and his marriage of moveable type with the printing press, allowing mechanical printing to replace scribes in the replication of manuscripts. Since there were no publishers, authors controlled the fate of their books if they could afford to pay for their publication, which was costly. This period lasted through the end of the 19th century.
Industrial publishing replaced the first period as the benefits of industrialization and mass production were applied to book publication beginning in the late 19th century and continuing through the 20th century. The dynamics of industrial publishing led to the rise of book publishers, supplanting authors as the controlling force.
With the rise of digital publishing at the start of the 21st century, the book industry entered the third period identified by Castleman. This era became sales- and distribution-centric through Amazon and Ingram Content Group. I would argue that digital publishing has returned more—though not all—of the power to authors to regain control over their works, if they opt to self-publish.
Digital technology and print-on-demand advancements now make independent publishing economical for writers to publish their own books as my wife and I have done with our award-winning Bariso Press imprint. To regain that power, authors can also utilize a hybrid publisher and pay for the services they must outsource. Castleman postulates that a professional package for publishing services can run from $5,000 to $10,000 or more.
The other and more economical option—though it may require a steep learning curve—is for authors to do it all themselves, writing, editing, proofing, page layout, cover design, cover copy, promotional materials, copyrighting, LCCN registration, and pricing.
That is the option we have chosen and have had successful outcomes in producing a professional product. We now handle all of the production and distribution components through Kindle Direct Publishing for e-books and IngramSpark for print editions. We do outsource our marketing and social media services, which allows us to focus entirely on the formulation, writing, editing, and production of our books.
Since 2021, we have published a dozen books on varied topics, some of which we would never have attempted through a traditional publisher. To date, nine of our books have earned 18 awards, including a Spur Award from Western Writers of America and a Will Rogers Gold Medallion Award, among others.
Besides the satisfaction of producing a quality product, we publish what we want without gatekeepers; we set our own publication schedule; we don’t have to go through the woke nonsense of sensitivity editors; and we turn out books faster than a traditional publisher can. On top of that, we retain the rights to all our works with more flexibility for handling subsidiary rights.
While this may not be the future of all authors, independent publishing is certainly right for us (and many others) and has provided a wonderful opportunity for us to publish books that meet our vision rather
