NEVERTHELESS… there is a potential bonanza for book writers (or authors, as we pretentious types prefer to call ourselves) in the news that Amazon has gone into competition with the expected Apple tablet and, as of June 30, is offering authors and publishers a 70% royalty for their copyrighted work to be published on the Kindle.
The devil is hugely in the details on this, but this is something of a revolution and could be very good news for writers indeed, but not such good news for publishers. As a relatively established – and suddenly greedy – writer I’m thinking, what do I need a publisher for? Why should I split the 70% with those thieves? For what? Cover art? I can hire someone myself for peanuts (well, large size peanuts anyway). Publicity? I can bribe my fellow bloggers with a flat beer to promote the damn thing. And, okay, a few of those publishers are or have pretty good editors, but there’s always spellcheck and that weird grammar helper on Microsoft Word. (Does anyone know how to use that?) And now Amazon (and Apple) provide the distribution. I don’t even have to lick envelopes. Or pay my daughter to do it.
via pajamasmedia.com