There have been a few posts in the publishing blog world recently that seem to set certain groups against each other. There was #agentfail, Victoria Strauss’ response to self-publishing positivity and Indie Author’s defence of self-publishing, amongst many others.

But despite our differences, we are still a community of people who love books, love writing, and love creativity. We may sit in different parts of the Publishing Quadrant…but the differences are beginning to melt away.

• Traditional publishing has been steadily moving into the Digital Publishing quadrant with many top authors releasing ebook versions. As ebook sales have increased, so have print versions. Romance and erotica seem to be taking off especially well! Barnes & Noble bought Fictionwise and we can expect some more consolidation of the ebook retail market.
• Traditionally published authors are using free ebooks to sell more print books: Cory Doctorow and Paulo Coelho amongst others.
• Digitally published authors are also crossing into traditional publishing. J.C.Hutchins podcast success has got him a book deal with St Martin’s Press. Video blogger Gary Vaynerchuk got a 10 book deal with Harper Collins because of his online platform.
• Audiobook success in the UK is giving an extra income stream to traditional publishing.
• Traditional publishing may also consider POD as the economy stops large print runs.
• Self-published authors use POD to sell their books overseas on Amazon.com through Lulu, Booksurge, CreateSpace and others.
• Self-published authors are using ebooks to expand their market on sites like Smashwords which also allows the book to be sold on mobile devices like the iPhone
• Authors are using self-publishing to get attention for their books and move into the traditional publishing quadrant (Christopher Paolini “Eragon” is one example, as well as the recent Lisa Genova’s Still Alice).
• Traditional publishers are also encouraging the self-publishing authors to pitch in new digital ways, for example, Harper Collins Authonomy.

Of course, this diagram is simplistic and there is so much more to each quadrant, but we are all still part of the same brilliant industry. We all want more books, more readers, more creativity and innovation in publishing.

By working together across these quadrants, we can achieve that.

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Joanna Penn is a self-published author. Her blog, The Creative Penn, has information and inspiration for authors on writing, publishing options, internet sales and promotion. Twitter: @thecreativepenn

[Special thanks to Joanna for this! Understanding that the pieces flow together rather than operate independently is so important.]

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