At one time, the consumer book market was served almostexclusively by traditional book publishers who lookedsuspiciously at any writer who dared to go it alone. Unless,of course, that writer made money. James Redfield ofCelestine Prophecy fame, for instance, was turned down bya dozen editors before he went ahead and self-published.Publishers would have continued to look down their nosesat him, but for the fact that he was able to sell 100,000books out of the trunk of his car. At that point, WarnerBooks decided they wanted him after all.

But despite the longstanding stigma attached to so-called"vanity presses" by the traditional publishing industry,publishing houses today are being transformed by new print-on-demand technology (the ability to profitably print onebook at a time), and even the largest are positioningthemselves to take advantage of it. Booksellers likeBarnes and Noble have invested heavily in print-on-demand,buying some 29% of iUniverse, even though they refuse tocarry iUniverse books in B&N; bookstores. Time Warner,meanwhile, has created iPublish, a more traditional versionof e-publishing with layers of gatekeepers to maintain theirpublishing standards, and Xlibris is owned by Random House.

According to Steve Riggio, vice-chairman of Barnes andNoble.com, "we're entering an age where the distinctionbetween publisher, author and bookseller will blur. Someauthors will write their books online and sell directly totheir readers. Some publishers will sell directly toconsumers. And some online booksellers will becomepublishers."

While many traditional publishers bemoan the explosion of thenew "vanity press," the fact is if it's profitable majorplayers don't want to miss out. Laurence Kirshbaum, chairmanof Time Warner Trade Publishing, notes that the internet is"growing rapidly" as a consumer marketplace. According tofigures by Accenture, "in five years the consumer e-bookmarket could be roughly 10% of the $32 billion consumer bookmarket—not counting print-on-demand, which could double thetotal" (Publisher's Weekly 3/19/01).

This potential $6.4 billion segment of the market representsbooks published by e-publishing companies like iUniverse,iPublish, Xlibris, Indie Publish, Infinity Publishing,1st Books, and Llumina Press, and is composed of all typesof books from non-fiction to fantasy. All kinds of writersfrom novices to powerful authors whose names are widely knownare taking advantage of e-publishing opportunities. Forinstance, Stephen King offered his e-book, "Riding the Bullet"on the internet, and then sold "The Plant" in $1 installmentsover the web.

The new "vanity press" is no magic act, and it won'tdisappear any time soon. This new technology will redefinethe book industry. While some traditional publishers willcontinue to ignore print-on-demand, and others will attemptto profit from works they don't believe can sell by makingmoney on the printing, when all is said and done, the biggestchange will come when writers recognize that they can, fora very low cost, take charge of their own publishing destiny.Publishers who understand that they can work with writers tomake their dreams reality may change the face of publishingforever.

Deborah Greenspan is a publisher and professional writer oftelevision scripts, movies, books, articles and documentaries.Her books are available at Llumina Press athttp://www.llumina.com where writers take charge of theirpublishing destiny. You can reach the author atmailto:dgreenspan@llumina.com.

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To read more about the new publishing, read another article at: STATE OF THE ART PUBLISHING