Ever since self-publishing became a common way for authors to get their work out, there has been a lot of resistance from many quarters. The eBook revolution only made things worse because small authors can now sell their books online to a wide audience with minimal cost. One of the places where self-published authors are flocking to sell their books is Amazon. More than a quarter of the bestselling books on Amazon are published by indie authors. Therefore, it is clearly giving authors a place to market their books, regardless of whether they are well-known or not.

The statistics above focus mainly on Kindle publications from self-published authors who use the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform. However, this platform is also used by many smaller presses. You would think that the established presses would crush the competition from indie authors, but clearly independent authors are holding their own.

The print book world is a place where self-published authors don’t do well at all. It is the realm of traditional publishers who are now feeling threatened by the eBook revolution. What has traditional publishers worried is the commanding position that self-publishers hold in the eBook universe. It therefore makes sense that traditional publishers are now struggling to get in on the action in the digital realm.

Big publishing houses have not yet lost the battle for the digital realm. They still have big marketing dollars and highly capable promotional teams at their disposal. They could therefore rebuild their dominance in the eBook universe and continue to fight self-publishing at online sales points. However, the statistics show that this is not yet happening. Indie publishing is still gaining market share in the eBook world. Indie authors are still the dominant sellers of eBooks in the areas that big publishing houses are devoting tons of money to unlock in order to get more money to support their ailing print book departments.

The resistance that traditional publishers are facing when they try to enter the eBook industry has caused them to consider major changes in their operations. Since Amazon and other eBook selling companies will not give traditional publishers the preferential treatment they want, they recently decided to cut Amazon out of the eBook selling business. The big five traditional publishers decided to develop an eBook selling platform of their own. Any person who has been observing the publishing industry will quickly see this as an attempt to win back authors who are now selling their books on Amazon.

Online book sellers such as Amazon have contributed a great deal to the decline of the print book industry. Traditional publishers therefore don’t like them at all and they also want authors to do the same. However, it is a bit confusing for authors when traditional publishers try to create eBook selling markets of their own. Amazon is facing a lot of criticism for tax evasion and monopolistic activities in several jurisdictions. There are also many well-organized and well-funded campaigns to discourage authors from selling their books on Amazon. You can’t help but wonder where the funds for such campaigns are coming from.