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Self-publishingUpdate spring 2014In 2013, “self-published authors (whenviewed as one single publisher) had morebest-sellers than any other single publishinghouse.” (Blog post by Jeremy Greenfield, DigitalBook World, dbw, 5 March 2014).Case study author earningsIn February 2014, bestselling author Hugh Howey triggereda controversial debate as he published an “AuthorEarnings” report based on data compiled from crawlingvarious ebook bestseller charts (mainly in the genre fictioncategories) on Amazon.com, plus earnings data shared byother authors, concluding, among other statements, that“indie authors are outselling the Big Five” (as “indie” representingindependent self published authors, versus the“Big Five” largest US Trade publishers, which are PenguinRandom House, Hachette Book Group, Harper Collins, Simon& Schuster, and Macmillan): “Indie and small-pressbooks account for half of the e-book sales in the mostpopular and bestselling genres on Amazon” (which include,as genres, Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction/Fantasyand Romance). Howey continues arguing that because titlesfrom the Big Five publishers are priced higher thanselfpublished titles on average, yet less well rated by readers,while owning a larger share in top bestselling positionsin the Amazon ebook charts, so that in the end, selfpublishedauthors have an advantage by earning more thanthose published in traditional ways. (Hugh Howey: TheReport. Published online on 12 February 2014).Howey’s report triggered a highly controversial debate, asa number of voices fundamentally challenged his approachand mthodology, including publishing consultantMike Shatzkin, data mining expert Dana Beth Weinbergand the editor of Publishers’ Lunch, Michael Cader, whoalso summarized the debate in his newsletter, in twoparts).Aside from Howey’s bold and provocative statements(“The experts? They have no idea.”), the controvery highlightedat what point selfpublishing had grown a selfesteem,namely among its star authors, and a prominence inpublic opinion (not the least from its promotion by notablyAmazon and its set of services to authors) that was nowready to challenge even the largest representatives of theold players, namely the five largest trade publishers andtheir prestigious history.The debate also highlighted the lack of reliable data (asneither Amazon nor Barnes & Noble would reveil any detailedsales information) on a segment of the industrywhich, undoubtedly, has grown dramatically within just afew years, and had largely contributed to radically reviewand also change the established value chain and role modelsof the sector.Case study Harlequin and profitability in the romancegenreWhen Canadian publishing group Harlequin, a specialiston romance genre, and a forerunner in ebooks for manyyears, posted financial results for 2013, a remarkable debateemerged on the interpretation. Since 2009, and forfour years in a row, Harlequin has recorded a downwardspiral in revenues, from $493 million, to just $398 million,and a drop in profitability as well.According to Harlequin’s publisher and CEO, Craig Swinwood,pricing, and the impact of selfpublishing, are at thecore of the problem: “The pricing is the biggest issue withintraditional publishing right now. The value perceptionof books over time will be eroded if people think that free107 The Global eBook Report