Self-Publishing, a Necessary Phenomenon, not a Fad.

The Way Things Were

Once upon a time there were Gatekeepers for the publishing industry. They were the "Publishers." Some were big, some were moderate in size, some were dinky. All of them had the same basic flaw: they could only do so much, only publish so many books by so many authors. The assumption was that those who got publishing contracts (the Holy Grail of the publishing world) had "made it," and were the best of the best.

In reality, that wasn't always true. Many published authors from these Publishing companies were in fact, quite good. But there were others who were just okay, and others who were no good at all. There were some who were no better (perhaps even way worse!) than some of the undiscovered, un-published authors. As time ran forward this became the accepted reality, flaws and all.

During this period of publishing, those who were on the outside of the gates of the publishing industry didn't have much choice. They could either pay a substantial sum of money to a "vanity press" (a company that would format/print your book for you but at a sizeable cost and only if you placed a large order for copies of your own book), or the author could just forget about it and go do something else.

Things Change

When digital technology took over the civilzed world it brought with it an unprecedented opportunity: Authors could side-step the gatekeepers and use a Print-On-Demand company. They'd pay a fee and have their book put together and available for orders of any size at any time. Hence "on demand."

Then there was the e-reader. Kindle, Nook, Kobo, etc.

With this new piece of technology, authors didn't have to even print their books to sell them. Upload them onto Amazon or Smashwords or where ever else, and "TA-DA"! The gatekeepers were side-stepped yet again.

Fad? Hardly.

Some called Self-Publishing a fad, something that would eventually pass off into the night like a dream, never to return and hardly to be remembered. but this has not been the case. More and more of us have discovered this beautiful process as a way to at last vent our creative energies and share our stories and ideas with the wider world around us.

Anything that truly hands the reins of creative power over to the creative person is going to propel the industries of creativity forward. This is what Self-Publishing has granted to us. This is why I love it and will continue to do it as long as the creative process continues to surge through my being.

And this is why I will help others to do it as well. I started Fresh Page Consulting because I know what it is like to try to figure out the world of Self-Publinng all by myself. For a long time I wished I had someone to help guide me in the process. Now there is somebody.

Me.

I've been down that road. I've been on it for almost seven years now.

I can help you.

I can walk with you from manuscript to printed and digitally downloadable Book.

I'm not one of the Gatekeepers.

I'm a Gate Opener.

For more infor mation go to the Fresh Page website. Or, e-mail me at freshpagepub@gmail.com.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Sam.