Writing can be a lonely endeavor, and self-publishing—without the support of a major house—can be even lonelier. Enter Bookworks.com, a Publishers Weekly–affiliated site, which will be relaunched June 1 to further empower its indie author members.
“Many self-published authors are putting out fine books, but don’t know what to do because they’re not being helped by traditional publishers,” says BookWorks.com CEO and founder Betty Sargent. “There’s no central place where one can go to get all of the services we offer.”
While BookWorks.com (booth 1852) has always been a popular resource for indie authors—they can commune with each other, hire editors and designers, or find workshops and conferences about publishing—its revamp gives members the option of some truly white glove services. Premium memberships, for instance, provide a telephone consultation with Sargent or another on-staff expert to talk in detail about a member’s particular book. “We like to offer guidance on an individual level,” Sargent says.
And it will be expert-level guidance, as Sargent has extensive roots in traditional publishing. She served as editor-in-chief at William Morrow, executive editor at both HarperCollins and Delacorte Press, fiction and book editor at Cosmopolitan magazine, and did book reviews on CNN. She’s also written seven published books.
But premium members aren’t the only beneficiaries of the BookWorks.com upgrade. Sargent is particularly excited to introduce a feature called Works in Progress, which will allow BookWorks.com members to post 2,000-word excerpts from their books and get reviews from their peers. Other features for members include the opportunity for one’s work to be showcased as the Book of the Week or to leverage the site to sell copies online.
And Sargent sees bigger opportunities on the horizon for both BookWorks.com as well as its members. She anticipates having 8,000 to 10,000 members by the end of the year.
