Self Publishing and the Marketplace of Ideas

Well, I'm getting called out for not blogging. Shame on me, I guess.

I'm still thinking about on demand publishing.

I mentioned this last night to a well-published colleague, and he said, "The problem is that nobody reads it."

That's a match point, really. And it's eerily similar to my first thoughts about Weblogs. If everyone's speaking, who is listening?

Yet blogs are working. They are extremely influential. So much so that Procter & Gamble wanted to bring Mommy Bloggers to Cincinnati in order to influence these influencers.

So will a book that you write and publish yourself ever be read? For less than $700 (if I understand correctly), you can publish a book, register the copyright, and have it listed on online booksellers, such as Barnes & Noble.com.

Then it's up to the power of the Internet -- and if you're lucky, Oprah -- to get the book sold.

Unlikely, you say?

Well, on August, 25, 2008, I wrote about "On Demand Publishing," and today there are 5 ads on my blog for various publishing services. The Internet works.

If you have something people want to hear, they will find your content.

And rather than vanity publishing, this, to me, is the best case of the marketplace of ideas. Literally, you are not bound by an agent or a bookseller's notions of profitability. You are bound only by your ideas and your ability to come up with $500 to $700 in upfront capital.

If your idea sells, you will make back the initial investment and then some. If not, you paid perhaps $700 for the privilege of getting it off of your chest.

But the point is that the idea is out there. It is, quite literally, part of the marketplace of ideas. Some of the best ideas of all time were not popular at the time they were conceived.

Unpopular -- and even revolutionary -- ideas are just that: unpopular. If they're controversial, they are unlikely to sell many copies. Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is one of the great books of all time and sometimes referred to as "the most widely read philosophy book, ever" but was rejected by 121 publishers.

Pirsig persisted. How many others did not? Would the book had caught on if the advances of the digital press made on demand publishing earlier? I do not know.

But I think humanity must be better served when the questions begins with what people need to hear rather than what idea can be sold for a profit.