Self-publishing is still a niche, whereas the publishers are established mainstream. They have distribution sources and bulk pricing that self-publishing can't compete with, yet. I'd say it is a matter of publishers holding the traditional market where people know to look for books, but the self-publishing is edging into their market.
And the established authors working with publishers do have something to lose by going self-published, because they lose the visibility of the bookstores. Move any item from one outlet to another and you can easily lose many readers because they either don't know how or don't want to get their books from online rather than the local bookstore. I'd use the example of Howard Stern going from regular radio to satellite radio and losing much of his listening audience, but I don't know if they exactly equate. Any drastic change in a business from ease of acquiring to raising the price causes a business to lose customers immediately, although it may gain more in the long run.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2011-01-14 03:34 pm (UTC)And the established authors working with publishers do have something to lose by going self-published, because they lose the visibility of the bookstores. Move any item from one outlet to another and you can easily lose many readers because they either don't know how or don't want to get their books from online rather than the local bookstore. I'd use the example of Howard Stern going from regular radio to satellite radio and losing much of his listening audience, but I don't know if they exactly equate. Any drastic change in a business from ease of acquiring to raising the price causes a business to lose customers immediately, although it may gain more in the long run.