Do-it-yourself publishing: New success story for authors

Blogger Rasana At reya's first novel Tell 'A Thousand Lies' was shortlis ted for the Tibor Jones South Asia Prize in 2012. The response to Atreya's foray into published writing was tremendous. She lacked up sales in India and the UK, drew a swathe of positive reviews on platforms like Goodreads and Atreya is now out with her second book.
Then there's Sri Vishwa nath, who's authored nine bo oks, with readers in the US UK and India, and Viji Varda rajan who has written a string of cookbooks on South Indian cuisine.The three aut hors share at least one thing n common: their books have all been self-published, in the e-book format on Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing KDP) platform. It's among several avenues available today for authors who want to self-publish their books, and among the most popular.
Widely prevalent in the US and Europe, self-publishing has steadily begun making inroads in India. Bestselling authors like Amish Tripathi had opted to selfpublish. After over a dozen publishing houses rejected 'The Immortals of Meluha', Tripathi decided to take on the task himself.
The book was such a hit online that publishers reached out to Tripathi soon after, resulting in a hefty contract with Westland India for his Shiva trilogy .
Self-publishing is no longer "vanity" publishing as it was once considered, says Naveen Valsakumar, co-founder of NotionPress. Among the country's fastest-growing publishing firms, it prints over 700 books a year ­ a huge leap from the 50 they started with. With teams dedicated to both maintaining editorial quality, and marketing and distribution ­ cited most often as the area where traditional publishing scores over self-publishing. The company provides publishing services to authors with packages that cost as low as Rs 25,000. It handles a mix of physical books and e-books. "Things have never been better for selfpublishing. What is happening now is just the tip of the iceberg," says Valsakumar.
What's lent a further boost to the trend is the rising popularity of e-book platforms. A fifth of the top 100 books on Amazon on an average are the ones published using KDP, say representatives. The fact that publishing takes place within minutes, putting the book on Kindle stores worldwide within 48 hours, and the high royalties have had several first-time authors sign up for the platform.
The earlier-held assumption of self-published books being low on quality is an unfair one, says Gautam Padmanabhan, CEO of Westland India. "There are so many badly written books coming out of publishing houses, after all," he says. "I think the idea of focusing on the e-book for mat for self-publishing has tremendous potential. The ebook culture is picking up here and that should be explored further." As long as there are checks in place to ensure editorial quality , Padmanabhan sees no reason why traditional publishers should look down on self-published works. "There is still so much more potential for publishing in regional languages, in locations outside of metros where authors might not be aware if the various self-publishing platforms," adds Valsakumar. "There's a whole lot more to do. We're just getting started."
Hear about self-publishing from the experts themselves at the Times Litfest, Mehboob Studios, Dec 4-6. For more details, visit www.timeslitfest.com.