Wordclay, the DIY self-publishing print-only service, is to close its doors for good on December 10th. In a communication to its authors, Wordclay, owned by ASI (Author Solutions), the self-publishing service giant which announced a partnership deal last week to run Archway Publishing for Simon & Schuster, cited the growth in ebooks as the reason for the closure.
“The book publishing industry changed since you first registered with Wordclay, and we adapted with it. From 2007 to 2011, e-book sales have at least doubled every year. e-Books are more than a fad; they’re here to stay… we invite you to publish for free with Booktango, the DIY e-book publisher from Author Solutions, the makers of Wordclay.”
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| ASI HQ, Bloomington, Indiana. |
Wordclay, pitched specifically at DIY self-published authors, was one of the early POD (print-on-demand) services, and though less well know than rivals Lulu and CreateSpace, it built up a small but dedicated following of authors over the past ten years. Indeed, it was something of a square peg in a round whole in comparison to ASI’s much larger and more well-know imprints like iUniverse, AuthorHouse and Xlibris.
What remains to be seen is if the closure of Wordclay is a strategy shift within ASI following the purchase of it by Pearson a couple of months ago, and the start of further ASI imprint wind downs.
Wordclay published a book for me…I wanted to order more,,,what can I do