Libraries as publishers?

[Albert Tucher]

A new wrinkle in self-publishing. (New to me, anyway.)

 

http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/article/wanna-write-good-o...

[I. J. Parker]

I don't see this doing anything beyond producing local content for local consumption or local school projects.

 

Thank God!  There are entirely too many people already who just know they have a bestseller in them.

[Linton Robinson]

That's pretty interesting, all right.

I could really see libraries having sections for their own lines.

One flaw would be the idea of hiring editors and all that.  They wouldn't have the sales base to cover it.

Actually, since they are producing for libraries, the sales base would be "approaching zero"

But I think there are ways this could work.

One might be having a library employee run it, with interns.  Not offering services to all authors--there is plenty of that going on.  But generating their own titles.  By local authors or contests or whatever. 

[Jack Getze]

I think librarians would make better gatekeepers than the Big Six -- which does provide opportunity -- but publicly funded libraries would have a difficult time competing. There's a whole lot more to business success than having a good product.

[Benjamin Sobieck]

Agreed, and that starts with paying out. Who gets the bigger cut of the lending/sales royalties? The writer, the library or the taxpayers? That's too sticky to work.