At first glance some may think best-selling thriller author, Barry Eisler is nuts to walk away from a half million dollar publishing deal with one of the Big 6 NY publishers. But I don't think he is. I believe he's smart and visionary in his decision to self-publish ebooks.
Many new or midlist writers, as well as best-selling authors are now putting their books at Amazon Kindle, Smashwords (which distributes to a number of retailers in various ebook formats), and publishing print on demand through Amazon Creatspace for -0- or $39. What is nice about all of these, is the author sets the price on his or her book, and can change it at any time. It appears the books that are selling the large numbers, especially at Kindle, are priced from .99 cents to 4.99. But you never know. It all depends on what someone might want to read, fiction, nonfiction, and the many subjects and genres. Lots of choices.
If you are an author, new or old, thinking of e-publishing backlist books, or new manuscripts, but still unsure about taking the leap, read what Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath have to say in this discussion of ebooks. It is possible it may remove any resistance you have to the idea of self-publishing. (Be prepared to have a cup of coffee at your side before you start reading as it is a long discussion, but well worth the read.)
~Linda
