Clear Springs Press

As the internet began to become extablished as a public domain entity, multiple ebook formats and platforms came and went. Ebooks became a mass market item when Amazon introduced the first kindle reader along with the kindle format. Ebook readers enabled a book like experience in a portable device that meant that you didn't have to read the book on your computer monitor. Now there are multiple reading apps for smartphones and nearly everyone is carrying a smart phone.

Today anyone can set up a kindle publisher account on amazon and publish their own books. The same is true with Print on Demand formats of your books. Again Amazon is probably the largest POD publisher, but not the only one. Amazon is also the largest ebook publisher and distributor, but not the only one.

There are pros and cons to self publishing versus traditional publishing. It can be difficult for new authors to get accepted, even for really good authors and really good works. If accepted, it can take a long time for your work to be published. When self publishing digitally it is instant. Your royalties from self publishing is much more generous than from traditional publishers. When self publishing, you have full ownership and control over your content.

The big con is that when you self publish, you also have to do all of your marketing and promotion to sell your work. While traditional publishers are supposed to handle that aspect of book sales, they may be inclined to commit most of their resources to specific authors and works, and that may not include new or less well known authors.