Taking advantage of the desperate

I'm on record as not thinking very much of the "publishing services" provided by such outlets as PublishAmerica and AuthorHouse. These companies have much more in common with con artists than they do with real publishers.

(On the other hand, it's the responsibility of the consumer, as well as the would-be author, to educate themselves to the realities of the industry. If people get taken advantage of, they usually have only themselves to blame.)

Now, The Bookseller reports that Borders UK is going to start selling space on their shelves to self-published writers. For a price ranging from £849 to £1999, AuthorHouse will not only "publish" (in reality, they will print copies of) your book, they'll also make the book available for purchase on the shelves of a select number of Borders bookstores in the UK.

Granted, the book will only be available in one of five Borders stores (for 10 weeks), and there will only be three copies of the book, segregated in a special area of the store. (I'd love to see what the sign on that section says.)

Still...Doesn't that sound like it's worth 2 grand?

Comments

[Clea Simon]

not to me... I'm surprised that some entrepreneur hasn't offered a cheaper POD service. The books still get listed via online sales outlets.

I'd be curious what the breakdown of these books would show. Are they mostly fiction? Family stories (if so, why sell them)? Religious tracts?

[PJ Parrish]

Borders has not been doing so well lately. What this sounds like to me is just another way to generate income to prop up their sagging their bottom line.

[PODler]

Some entrepreneur has offered a cheaper POD service. Lulu.com offers a very inexpensive way to list your "work" on Amazon.com. If you put in enough hard into your work, and then some more hard work, and then some more, you will make some money and gain some exposure as did Jeremy Robinson. Really, POD is a legitimate means of publishing your work. All that it needs is its Steven King.