Jeepers! Hollywood bonkbuster queen Jackie Collins is to self-publish!
Yes, according to The Guardian, Collins plans to publish a complete rewrite of her novel The Bitch in eBook form. Unintentionally (I think) hilarious headline notwithstanding, this is interesting not least because Collins, on the face of it, seems an unlikely candidate for what is, in essence, an indie venture. Could this be a sign of things to come?
Notably, Collins says that her decision to self-publish is due not so much to financial reasons (though royalties in the region of 35 – 70% are surely not to be sniffed at, even if you’re Collins) as to the greater freedom it may offer her:
“If it (The Bitch) does well, I probably will continue to e-publish, because I have a book of short stories and my publisher says short stories don’t sell.”
Interesting. It doesn’t require a huge leap of the imagination to suspect that a number of other writers out there may be finding the pressure to stay in their accustomed pigeonholes and keep the money rolling in a tad vexing. Could self-publishing, at least of the occasional variety, become a common and accepted practice, even for successful, traditionally-published authors? Is it a new dawn, or just another day? Time will reveal all, no doubt…
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