Simon & Schuster announced Tuesday that it would become the first of the big six publishing houses to dive deeply into the booming self-publishing market.
Self-publishing is a rapidly growing and lucrative sector of the publishing world; the number of self-published books has tripled since 2006, to about 235,000 titles annually, according to the research and consulting firm Bowker. But big publishers have been tentative about entering the market, partly for fear of tarnishing their brand by allowing content they have not reviewed to be published under their name.
But Simon & Schuster has gotten around that problem by teaming up with Author Solutions Inc., a company based in Bloomington, Ind., that already has a robust self-publishing business. Author Solutions also has partnerships with several smaller and niche publishers including Harlequin, which specializes in romance books, and Thomas Nelson, which focuses on Christian books.
The two companies have c reated a separate house called Archway Publishing, which will be available for authors looking to publish fiction, nonfiction, business or children's books.
Simon & Schuster hopes to distinguish Archway from other self-publishing options as a premium service, at a premium cost to the authors. In addition to the standard editorial, design and distribution services normally offered by Author Solutions, Archway will offer a host of new options designed in consultation with Simon.
Authors can buy packages ranging from $1,599, for the least expensive children's package, to $24,999, for the most expensive business book package.
In return, authors will get a range of services, like having their books included in Edelweiss â€" an industry online catalog available to major retailers and wholesalers among others â€" or having access to a speaker's bureau that will help find speaking opportunities. They might also benefit from a video pr oduction department that creates and distributes book trailers.
Author Solutions' chief executive, Kevin Weiss, hailed the deal as a step forward for the self-publishing markets. “This is the largest non-niche publisher that we have established a partnership with to date,†he said in an interview. “And we are establishing a high-end service and a children's service by adapting criteria designed by Simon & Schuster.â€
While the venture promises to access the expertise of a major publishing house, it will be completely operated and staffed by Author Solutions. With no Simon & Schuster personnel involved, and without the Simon & Schuster name attached in any way to the final product, Archway's prices â€" significantly higher than even the most expensive competition â€" could be a hard sell.
Mike Shatzkin, chief executive of Idea Logical, a publishing consulting firm, said: “If you change the branding you are not as attractive to the self-published au thor, because, obviously, they are looking for the branding.â€
But Adam Rothberg, vice president of corporate communication for Simon & Schuster, said that another attraction of Archway is that Simon & Schuster will be carefully monitoring sales of books completed through the new venture and will use it as a way to spot authors it might want to sign to a contract.
One odd twist of the deal is that Author Solutions was purchased by British publishing giant Pearson in July. Pearson also owns Penguin, a Simon & Schuster competitor. But since Simon & Schuster was already far along in the planning for the new brand, they decided to go forward anyway, Mr. Rothberg said.
