Simon & Schuster gets wise to self-publishing

Simon & Schuster Inc. is getting on the self-publishing bandwagon. The book publishing division of CBS Corp. announced Tuesday that it has joined with veteran self-publishing firm Author Solutions, Inc., to form Archway Publishing, a service that will focus on writers who want to publish fiction, non-fiction, children's and business titles. The venture unites Simon & Schuster with a rival: Indianapolis-based Author Solutions was acquired by Penguin Group in July for $116 million. Publishers are under pressure to find new revenue streams. Digital sales are growing but do not make up for the declining print revenue and the high cost of maintaining publishing's brick-and-mortar infrastructure. Self-published books have the advantage of making money no matter how few copies are sold because authors pay for the privilege of print and digital publication. Though the new vanity publisher will be run by Author Solutions, Simon & Schuster will add plenty of bells and whistles to make Archway stand out in a crowded field that has long been dominated by Amazon. Along with providing guidance on book design and access to its marketing capabilities, the New York literary house will be keeping an eye on the titles to see if any might be suitable for its own list. That makes Archway attractive to potential authors, and could provide Simon & Schuster with a farm team. "[Simon & Schuster is] obviously following Penguin and Amazon's lead and trying to make successful... Continue reading at 'Crains New York'

[ Crains New York | 2012-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]

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