Now available online is the weekly [more or less] podcast The Writing Show’s interview with Susan Driscoll, President and CEO of leading self-publishing firm iUniverse. Host Paula Berinstein engages Susan with provocative, probing questions about self-publishing that brings to light a lot of useful information.
Susan certainly knows what she is talking about. Author Mark Levine, in his book evaluating 58 self-publishing companies, ranks iUniverse in the top-tier of companies.
Susan underscores the value of traditional publishing, and she thinks it’s here to stay. These publishers find good books with identifiable audiences large enough to justify the cost of publication. They have a well-oiled system for getting the books into stores across the country, in many cases timed with book reviews and perhaps even advertising. But she does point out that traditional publishers can only serve a sliver of the aspiring authors out there
One of the truly distinguishing characteristics of the self-publishing industry is that the books seldom make their way into the big book chains. Marketing simply must be done via other channels, with the author usually carrying most of the load.
Writers considering self-publishing will pick up lots of information about various steps involved, the different “levels” of self-publishing, the costs associated with these levels. And she emphasizes that quality still counts, quality of writing, of cover design [some interesting observations here about genre-specific design], of marketing plans.
This interview is worth downloading and filing away so that you can return to it as necessary. If you are unfamiliar with Podcasting, the show’s website provides step-by-step instructions,
There have been a wide array of guests on the podcast. For a full list of guests, go HERE. There’s enough here to provide a good education about the business of writing.
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Comment by
PODdy Mouth
13 Oct 2007
I agree, this is worth listening to, although I doubt many of iUniverse authors have, or will. Susan is pretty candid and blunt on a lot of issues that might suprise the aspiring author who considers publishing with iUniverse. Also interesting is Susan’s tendency to round the cost of her $1299 publishing package down to $1200. I commented on this interview in more detail in my blog, too.
PODdy Mouth
http://poddymouth.wordpress.com
Comment by
Tom Colvin
13 Oct 2007
Thanks for your comment — and especially for bringing your new blog to my attention. I’m very impressed with the depth of your knowledge about POD publishing and will bring it to the attention of my own readership.
We certainly do see eye to eye regarding Susan’s candor. I wonder too how many at iUniverse listen to it.
Tom