It’s no secret that we’re living through a publishing revolution. As Neil Gaiman put it a few years ago, “the gatekeepers are falling away.” Whereas authors may have had to toil away for years to get a publishing house to take them seriously, they can now upload their work for free. But this comes at a cost. Publishing houses have millions of dollars and well-trained editors behind them. It’s hard to imagine how an indie author can stand up to an arsenal like that.
But as the market has grown, services have sprung up to accommodate the huge influx of new indie authors. For a fee, some websites will handle all aspects of self-publishing a novel. Others will design the cover art. And others, even more ambitiously, will handle the promotion.
eReaderowl.com is a little different in that respect. We take about 12 hours out of our day – six days a week – to send our subscribers customized eBook suggestions, free of charge. We also currently aren’t charging authors to promote their work through us. Now thousands of subscribers strong, we’re beginning to make an impact on the self-publishing scene. If authors are discounting their book for a day, or setting it as free, we tell our readers in the daily newsletter and if it’s up their street, they purchase it. It’s that simple.
