Here is the full text of the press release.
Bloomington, Ind. (PRWEB) December 7, 2009 — Kevin Weiss, president and CEO of Author Solutions, the world leader in indie book publishing, issued a video statement Monday addressing the importance of providing expanded choice and opportunity in the book publishing industry.
During the three-and-a-half-minute statement Weiss addresses concerns that the rise of self-publishing, including ASI’s groundbreaking partnerships with leading traditional publishers, signals the destruction of the industry. Rather than the end of an industry, Weiss views these new alliances as signs the industry is adapting to new realities.
“The publishing industry has been around for many, many years, and it will continue to be around for many years into the future, but what it looks like will be different,” Weiss said. “And that’s the thing that’s difficult for people today. Change is hard. You can either be impacted by change or you can embrace change.”
Weiss also addresses protests lodged by writer’s guilds in response to last month’s announcement of a publishing partnership with women’s fiction publisher Harlequin Enterprises Limited. Weiss takes exception to these guilds’ position that only traditionally-published books can succeed.
“There are plenty of books in traditional publishing today that just don’t make it; it’s a hits business,” Weiss said. “It’s why the publishing industry is going through a transformation today and the consumer has everything to say about what is good content and what isn’t good content. To say that in order for a book to make it in the marketplace it has to blessed by a traditional publisher doesn’t make any sense in 2009.”
I would like to ask Mr. Kevin Weiss how much money the typical user of his services spends, and how many copies the typical user of his services sells.
Ditto.
What is noticeable about the ASI supported packages from both WestBow (Thomas Nelson) and DellArte (Harlequin) is that the comparable services are actually cheaper if an author goes with say AuthorHouse, owned and run by ASI.
Now we know where Thmas Nelson and Harlequin are digging out the profits.
For the most part – authors using these services, depending on which sources you rely on, the vast majority average out between 50 – 200 copies printed/sold – of which most are bought directly by the authors themselves.
Not very edifying, but then, this is the reality for many authors using self-publish services.
In response to the questions posed here, I can tell you the average author spends a little over $1,000 with ASI brands to publish their books.
The overall average is under 200 copies sold, but figured into this equation are thousands of memoirs, family cookbooks and other personal projects that authors publish with no intent of distributing beyond their families and friends.
Overall, across the ENTIRE industry, Neilsen BookScan reports that only about eight percent of titles sold over 1,000 copies in 2008. I can tell you that our authors produce similar figures.
The book business is fragmented. Good books with good marketing sell. Bad books, poorly marketed, don’t sell.
Best,
Kevin A. Gray
Author Solutions, Inc.
kgray at authorsolutions dot com