'Hybrid' publishing and authors

'In our world authors may grumble at poor advances, royalties and meagre sales, but at least - in the main - the money flows, as it should, towards the author and availability in shops is a given. In the alternative reality of hybrid, subsidised or contributory publishing, it is authors who provide the investment in return for giving up their rights. The rewards can be dubious...

Some of this speaks to how the world has changed over the past two decades. Where once it was simple to spot vanity presses, Amazon Kindle's self-publishing platform has legitimised "indie" authorship and provided a route to publication for thousands of writers eschewed by the traditional companies...

I take an old-fashioned view of such things. If authors are having to invest their own money in their publishing then they need to be clear on their goals and how their money is being used...'

Philip Jones, editor of the Bookseller, in his editorial