Category self-publishing:

Steve Almond, author of Candyfreak and My Life in Heavy Metal, among others, has taken publishing matters into his own hands. Though Almond is still a hot commodity (his Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life will be availble April 13, 2010), he found that one of his book ideas was not generating much interest with publishers. His idea was a book that could be flipped over and read in two directions. One side would offer short stories, and the other side would contain essays about writing. The title? This Won’t Take But a Minute, Honey.

 

On November 17 Harlequin Enterprises, the biggest name in romance publishing, announced that it was launching a new imprint, Harlequin Horizons, in partnership with Author Solutions Inc., a self-publishing company. Under the new imprint, unknown romance writers will be able to publish their novels for a fee of $599. The books will be distributed electronically through Author Solutions, and authors will receive royalties equivalent to 50 percent of net proceeds on each copy sold.

For Harlequin the venture represents a point of entry into the burgeoning self-publishing market, as well as an avenue (potentially) for discovering new talent to publish under their traditional imprint. As reported by the New York Times, Brent Lewis, vice president of Digital and Internet at Harlequin, gave assurances that the new initiative would not in any way diminish the integrity of the Harlequin brand.

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