If you are Writing a Book ~ Read this First !
Traditional Publishers
For many years authors have wrestled with publisher after publisher, trying to find some way around the gate keepers at the traditional book printing houses. They negotiate their manuscripts with the publisher's staff, who are essentially cherry picking for the best selling potential. Some lucky and usually only the most persistent authors will finally land a publishing contract. After signing the agreement and submitting their writing, the manuscript is then edited, re-titled, often re-arranged and commercialized. Most of the revenue their book produces is consumed by the publishing staff in editing, printing, shipping, storing and then marketing to book sellers. The consumer pays $15 to $27 dollars at the book store, but after everyone else in the process takes their cut, the new author is lucky to get $1.00 per book.
Self Publishing Route
So if none of the publishers selected your book, the alternative was to publish it yourself. You wrote a great manuscript and found a company to format the book. They designed the cover and printed the copies . . . lots of copies . . . before you knew it . . . and $5000 dollars later . . . you were a published author, and your garage was full of books to prove it.
Bottom line: printing, storing and shipping book copies is very expensive and marketing them is even tougher. Unless you have a powerful network of friends or an organization that is going to want your book, the garage is going to be full of boxes for a long time.
e-Books and electronic publishing
e-Books and the advantages of electronic publishing can resolve most of these issues. Remember many of the authors at the top of "Amazon Kindle Best Seller list" never made it past the staff members at main stream publishers, but ultimately found great success with e-books. Readers enjoy e-books at dramatically reduced prices, shopping on the Internet and conveniently downloading content. Authors benefit from significantly increased profit margins, due to dramatically reduced expenses.
Higher Payouts for Writers
An e-Book sold on Amazon for $5.99 could potentially have a royalty payout as much as 70%, so the author makes about $4.19, which is about four times as much as would have been earned from a traditional publisher. Consider the potential to sell many more copies and see the power of the Internet and the magic of e-books.
Lower Prices sell many more Books
The average person surfing on the Internet sees an interesting hard cover / paperback title for $25.99 (plus shipping), usually it goes on the wish list for Christmas or a birthday gift. At the same time an interesting e-book title comes to view, it is attractive and only $5.99 . . . "CLICK" . . . it's over . . . one second later . . . $5.99 is debited from the consumer's account and e-book content is downloaded to the Kindle . . . best of all $4.19 in royalties is deposited into the authors account . . . "GAME OVER" . . . all over the Internet and all around the world. . . fast fun, and around $5 bucks . . . most people will take a chance to enjoy something interesting without hesitation.
Hence many more copies sold !