Well, it’s happened again. Another traditional publisher has added a pay-to-play “division.”

Yesterday, venerable trade publisher (and one of the Big 5) Simon & Schuster announced the launch of Archway Publishing, a self-publishing services provider.

These days, many authors focus more time on self-promotion through social media than on marketing their books. It’s not necessarily a bad idea, but with all the social media hype, it can be easy to forget about the fundamentals.

The emergence of the iPod has revolutionized the way our culture consumes media; music, videos, apps, and even literature, specifically in the form of audio fiction. Both long and short form audio fiction have thousands of avid listeners who take advantage of commutes, gym sessions, walks, etc., to catch up on their ‘reading.’

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

Widely-discussed book news this week: Amazon UK’s report that ebook sales have outstripped the sales of all print formats combined.

According to unaudited figures released by [Amazon UK] on Monday, sin…

Last March, word went out that self-publishing giant Author Solutions Inc (owner of AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, Trafford, WordClay, Palibrio, and several others, and contractor for the self-pub divisions of several major publishers) was looking for a buyer.

I can’t count the number of questions I’ve received over the years from unhappy PublishAmerica authors, wondering whether a class action lawsuit against PA has been/might be/ever will be filed.

Two fascinating surveys appeared this week. They look at opposite ends of the writing business, but dovetail in interesting ways.

The Writers’ Wo…

When it comes to social networking, Pinterest has emerged as a major player. Cat Rambo provides an excellent overview.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about Raider Publishing International over the years. Founded by a former (and disgruntled) PublishAmerica author, it’s basically a self-publishing service with some added bells and whistles.

The recent mega-success of self-epublishing authors such as Amanda Hocking, John Locke, Darcie Chan, and Kerry Wilkinson has generated a lot of media attention over the past year or so. But the mega-successes aren’t the only ones who are doing well…