As a self published writer I still retain all my publishing rights!

Hachette v's Amazon

Hi all, this is tickling my fancy in a peculiar way.

In Ireland self publishers seldom get a chance to publicise their books on or in the media. It appears traditional publishers have an unseen veto, on who can get on air or into papers, to ramp up interest in their books.

There are some exceptions to this when a retired "Personality" of radio or TV writes a book - on "How I Tied My Shoelaces Each Morning." They will be indulged by an editor or producer they worked with.

Of course when that happens - I immediately Tweet the program and ask if I can come in and talk about my book as well.

I'm still waiting to be invited.

So Publishing Houses ganging up on us -that's us, as in we authors, and Amazon our outlet for sales - in not new to me - just amusing.

More so in fact when I hear Stephen King has signed up to the campaign on the Publisher side.

Mr. King tried very hard from 1982 – 2000 to sell his book, The Plant, directly on the Net. He was griping about his publisher and the money they were taking from him. He wanted all the royalties for himself.

His idea was to offer the first few chapters as free download, then he tried to sell the remaining chapters at $1 each. The project was a failure. And after six instalments it folded and the book is yet to be completed.

The last instalment was published on December 18, 2000. The book is yet to be completed. The original instalments are now available for free on Stephen King's official website.

So King has tried Self Publishing and is now against authors trying to directly produce and sell work.

When Paperbacks were first produced Hardback Publishers were also up in arms. But when they got into the market by producing their own Paperbacks they "Cried Off" the protest, instead of crying about the process.

Watch this space when traditional publishers get "Bought Off" by Amazon this "Storm In A Teacup” will blow away. I wonder though when it does - will the traditionally published writers get an increase in their 8, 10 or 12% royalties? Maybe also an increase in their signing on advance. An advance that is paid back from the royalties.

But it's not the money I get by self publishing my work that attracts me: it's the publication rights, the film rights, the hardback rights, the magazine rights etc., that I retain for myself.

That's the clincher and maybe this traditional publisher against Amazon may not be just about money: it's also about publication rights.

The traditionally published writers who are jumping on the band wagon didn't retain their publication rights: they have taken the 30 pieces of silver and perhaps now regret that they did.