Why does an author opt for self publication? Keeping all emotions aside the hard fact is that most rookies don’t get the backing from the big publication houses. And this practice is rampant even today.
If one considers the support available for aspiring writers in India there is nothing better than being given the opportunity by the self publication houses. A large, traditional publication house, by a rough estimate, receives two to three thousand manuscripts in a year but ends up publishing less than 10% of the total applications. Many of the rejected authors simply take their work to the self publishers.
Amish Tripathi is one of the best known modern Indian authors and even he had to start with self publication. He was rejected by almost 20 publication houses and self publication was the one route left for him. Once ‘The Immortals of Meluha’ hit the stands he was immediately signed up for a million dollars by Westland India to publish his Shiva Trilogy. Another notable Indian name in the domain of self publication is Rasana Atreya, someone who rejected multiple big publication contracts after her ‘Tell a Thousand Lies’ became a bestseller.
But there is more available in the form of support.
As an author one may not be conversant with the other critical aspects of publishing a book. In fact it is not right to expect an author to be conversant with book cover creation or publication options and other such mundane but essential elements of publishing a book. Help with these elements is available – cover and interior design, editing and proofreading, consulting and eBook creation. Of course all this comes for a price but considering that the other option is not have one’s book published, this sure is a better option.
Amazon, Bloomsbury and Penguin and some of the other top digital publishers have made their entry into India and this has been a big boon for the aspiring Indian authors. Launched in India in August 2012, Amazon is already the biggest self publication platform in the country.
With up to 70% payment in royalties, Amazon is attracting the best talent from across the country. The other top publishers are also gearing up and they are offering better than ever before deals to the aspiring Indian authors. Today Indian authors have total control over the terms of pricing and selling their books and all digital publishers are complying with their wishes.
Another critical form of support that the aspiring Indian authors get through self publication is the ability to reach out to a global audience. Once published on Kindle, the work of an Indian author is available for download in multiple countries. When compared with traditionally printed books this is simply a magnificent opportunity.
The Indian eBook market is still in a nascent stage and most of the self publishers are still those that are getting rejected. But with some big names like Amish Tripathi now coming through the rank of self publication this prospect looks bright enough.
Image credit: Grannies Kitchen on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Profile_Pic_Moumita.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Moumita Goswami is a full-time homemaker and a passionate writer. She stays in Pune with her husband and daughter. After giving up working, she started writing about five years ago and can now be seen using her computer keyboard almost all the time. An MA in Psychology from Calcutta University, Moumita has spent time in Kolkata, Delhi and now Pune. For Moumita, writing started as a sudden chance but she soon discovered her likeness for it. And now she has developed a passion for writing and hardly any day passes without her scribbling a few lines. She dreams of publishing her own book one day and is working towards it.
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