PW Select, our new quarterly supplement listing self-published titles, is for religion books as well as general trade, children’s, and comics and graphic novels. Launched by PWxyz president George W. Slowik Jr., the PW Select registration site is now live and accepting submissions for the first supplement, which will appear in our year-end issue in December.
PW Select will provide a quarterly listing of self-published titles that have been submitted to the magazine for listing. Self-publishers will be charged a $149 processing fee to be included in the inaugural listing; the processing fee includes a six-month subscription to the digital edition of PW. Self-publishers who are PW subscribers get one listing for free. While each supplement will review at least 25 books, the processing fee does not guarantee a review. Titles to be reviewed will be determined by the entire PW editorial staff, including our Religion Reviews editor, Marcia Z. Nelson. In addition to the listings and the reviews, the supplement will offer news as well as an overview of trends and a look at authors in the self-publishing marketplace.
The rise in self-publishing, DIY, subsidy, or vanity publishing—whatever term you prefer—is probably one of the most significant changes in the publishing industry in recent years. Since the magazine was founded in 1872, Publishers Weekly has strived to cover the entire publishing industry, and this new supplement is simply our latest effort to fulfill our historic mandate. Over the past 20 years, self-publishing has produced an explosion of new authors and new books. Nearly 800,000 books were produced in the U.S. last year and were characterized by Bowker as "nontraditional." Much of this was self-published and POD.
Religion and spirituality titles are no strangers to self-publishing. James Redfield sold 100,000 copies of The Celestine Prophecy from the back of his car before a mainstream publisher picked it up. And the August 16 issue of Religion Update included an article on self-publishing for religion writers, "Self-publishing: Changing Model, Getting Respect." PW Select’s purpose is help find other self-published books that deserve a wider audience, and we encourage authors who have self-publishing on their minds to give PW Select a look. The two-month reading period for our inaugural December supplement is under way now.
