Category Archives: Self-Publishing

Self-Publishing And The Sexes

A report in the Guardian newspaper makes some interesting claims about self-published books.

In particular, I was struck by the figure that 67% of books on the top ebook publishing platforms are written by women. This percentage comes from an organisation that’s new to me, called Ficshelf.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/06/self-publishing-lets-women-break-book-industrys-glass-ceiling-survey-finds

They claim that 61 of the top 100 traditionally published books on Amazon are written by men. This is seen as further proof that men rule the long-established world of book publishing. Male writers dominate in lists compiled by newspapers for best novels.

Somehow, none of this surprises me, for I’ve always believed that more women regularly read books than men, and there’s a tiresome old boy network among book firms. It’s unusual to find a literary agency or publisher that has a woman as CEO.

It’s food for thought. Perhaps I should become Pauline Whybrow to publish my ebooks that have a romantic and spiritual theme, to encourage more female readers …

It might confuse the taxman, which would help.

Turning down Amazon

An erotic romance author turned down an Amazon publishing deal. Aubrey Rose, a successfully self-published writer, said that the offer from online giant was far less than she could make on her own. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/08/amazon-publishing-deal-turned-down-author

From my limited dealings so far with Amazon, I know what she means. After publishing on Smashwords, which felt like doing business with a friendly neighbourhood corner shop, putting my books onto Amazon had all of the charm of swimming in a pool full of sharks, while covered in bacon!

Corporations don’t become huge by being nice.