Indie publisher offers alternatives

Published 8:00 am Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Independence is empowering, and just as the new wave of filmmakers did 20 years ago, more authors are jumping on to the do-it-yourself bandwagon.

Years ago no one really knew how big independently produced films would become. But with the advent of consumer camcorders in 1985, and more importantly, the arrival of high-resolution digital video in the early 1990s, the technology barrier to movie production was lowered considerably and movie-making became relatively inexpensive.

The publishing industry is presently experiencing a similar transformation. In a world with accessible technology many publishers, editors and agents are looking to the world of independent publishing as the next generation in the book world.

Diane Gedymin, vice president and editorial director of iUniverse and co-author of “Get Published!” is a featured presenter at this year’s Whidbey Island Writers Conference.

Gedymin believes that authors today have more publishing options than ever before. With more than 30 years of experience in traditional publishing, Gedymin is certainly qualified to educate aspiring authors about book publishing. She was formerly a literary publisher at HarperSanFrancisco and vice president and senior editor of the Putnam Berkley Group.

“I’ve had my successes in the publishing industry,” Gedymin said. “But I felt like everything was such a struggle and that often authors didn’t stand a chance.”

So when president and CEO of iUniverse asked Gedymin to join her in the realm of independent publishing, Gedymin was impressed with what she learned about the company.

“They were offering to publish authors whom I had to reject at HarperCollins or Putnam,” Gedymin recalled.

Gedymin saw that at iUniverse they were able to provide real editorial services for many authors who were writing good books but who were not able to make their way through the thick mire of barriers that is the reality of the traditional publishing houses. Self-publishing allows authors to take control of the process, retain all rights to their work and bypass traditional industry players to publish and market directly to readers.

With the streamlined system of high-tech editing and marketing, authors are able to receive as much or as little help as they want when publishing and selling their book. Depending on what level of service the author purchases, a book can receive everything from basic editorial help to content and developmental editing, book doctoring and research help to post-production services like publicity and marketing tool kits.

Every book is guaranteed publication, but what makes the service valuable is that the company has a crack team of professional editors who will do an editorial evaluation for each book.

It’s what Gedymin calls an editorial “Rx.”

“We can create a ‘prescription’ for what the book needs,” Gedymin explained.

After the book is evaluated, the author can then choose to take advantage of the full extent of services provided and do all that is prescribed for the book or not. But if they do take the advice and make the prescribed changes to the book and the book meets high editorial standards, the company will then give it an “Editor’s Choice” stamp of approval in the marketplace and the book will have a better chance of selling well.

There are several packages available to authors that are listed on the Website. The top package offers complete editorial services including distribution to wholesalers and book retailers and worldwide distribution through Barnes & Noble.com, Amazon.com and other online retailers.

In addition, the company went one step further and added another incentive for authors. They teamed up with Barnes & Noble to offer the “Publisher’s Choice” designation. Publisher’s Choice rewards authors with books that meet key editorial and industry retail standards with the opportunity to have their titles placed in a local Barnes & Noble store for eight weeks, or longer, if the book is selling.

Gedymin said that this new world of publishing allows editors and agents to be supportive of authors. They can tell an author exactly what needs to be done to make the book the best it can be.

There can be more success stories, said Gedymin.

iUniverse has been in operation for eight years. Gedymin has been there for three years and is pleased with what she sees as the future of the book industry.

“You’ve got to do the work,” Gedymin said. “But now everyone has the chance to publish a great book.”

Visit the Website at www.iuniverse.com or call 1-800-AUTHORS to find out more about self-publication.

Patricia Duff can be reached at 221-5300 or pduff@southwhidbeyrecord.com.