My hunch is that there is more going on than just self-publishing. It seems to me that Gen X and Gen Y are fundamentally different than previous generations of authors. Many of these authors have a business approach and have the tools that enable them to build platforms and reach a target audience. They see themselves as partners in business, and not just in publishing but telecom, and other vertical business silos.

I think of self-published authors almost like small venture capitalist. They are risking a relatively small amount of their own capital to compete for a prize of 70% of retail from Amazon. If they get it right, the return upon investment is huge. They don’t think or act like typical english majors. They seem to look for oportunities where others would not by breaking orthdox traditional ideas about publishing to find new and creative ways to sell. Who cares if they can write?

I look at publishing the same way I look at accounting or real estate or legal work, or even dental or medical matters: it’s my responsibility to take care of my business. Consequently, I will educate myself as far as practicable in that field — and then I will hire a professional to do the work, while I concentrate on MY work: writing.