Penguin owner buys ASI self-publishing company

| July 24, 2012 | 1 Comment

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According to the BBC, Pearson, which owns Penguin books among other things, has bought Author Solutions Inc in a £74 million deal.

The deal means that Pearson now has control of a self-publishing interest.

The news has raised concerns among some writers that intellectual property (IP) rights for new writers may be at risk, especially as at present ASI demands exclusive rights to works published, and pays only royalties.

However, a number of industry observers have suggested that more mainstream publishers may be looking to buy into self-publishing interests.

This is especially due to the success of recent works that were originally self-published, not least E. L. James’ “Fifty shades of grey”.

Regardless, the way people now read has changed, and self-publishing issues are increasingly on the radar for new writers.

 


Comments (1)

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  1. Nathanm says:

    I can’t see these big time publishers really succeeding at this hijacking of the self-publishing business.

    It took me a few days but I self-published on Amazon Kindle and Createspace as well as Google Play. Smashwords got my ebook onto the other ebook stores and that was it.
    I use Ubuntu and had all the software I needed to create contect, covers and epub format books all for absolutely nothing.

    Any savvy self-publishing author can get the whole work done as a one man band. Having completed my first book, the second should be a doddle.

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