A new year means change for the self-publishing industry and the publishing industry as a whole, which can be exciting, frightening, liberating…or a mixture of all three. Midnight Publishing is an affordable and professional editing, ghostwriting and marketing company in Phoenix, Arizona, and it’s our job (as well as yours as an indie author) to understand the publishing landscape and how best to maneuver it while pursuing your author career.

For 2016, some hypotheses from top self-published “authorpreneurs” and others in the publishing industry have caught Midnight Publishing’s attention, and we wanted to share them with our readership, as well as our insight into the topic and how best we can help you utilize the concepts in your own life.

1. Selling books through your OWN website with distribution services like Aer.io:

Imagine a world without online retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple taking a cut of your e-book and paperback earnings. Sounds crazy, right? Well in 2016 (and most likely the years beyond), it isn’t going to seem like such a stretch. Distribution and e-commerce company Aer.io, which was recently acquired by printing press giant Ingram, is going to change the way indie authors sell their books—by allowing you to incorporate storefronts into your own websites while handling the creation (Ingram prints the book) as well as the shipping and handling via Aer.io’s system. Aer.io’s storefront includes social marketing tools, a mobile-optimized cart and checkout and fulfillment with several types of e-books (ePubs and Kindle versions).

2. Selling more books outside of the U.S. (foreign rights, translations, etc.):

More ability to sell to the global market is being predicted by successful “authorpreneur” Joanna Penn of TheCreativePenn.com. As companies like babelcube.com and translatorscafe.com continue to grow (and hopefully newer, more reputable translation service sites pop up!), indie and self-published authors will gain access to the one area still “out of reach” for the most part: selling books in other languages. Cautionary tales about poor translations and untrustworthy freelancers still abound, but as 2016 continues and other freelancer companies like Reedsy consider taking on translation professionals, indie authors can make lasting connections that will open up their bookselling abilities to many countries beyond the U.S.

Read Joanna Penn’s account of translating her books to German, Italian and Spanish here!

3. Audiobook sales continuing to grow for indie authors:

Audiobook sales are another way that indie authors will continue to grow their income as entrepreneurs in 2016. As more audio professionals and voice-over artists continue to link into companies like Amazon’s ACX for audiobook production, the ability for a self-published author to add an audiobook to their repertoire becomes even easier. And who knows—maybe ACX or another audiobook distributor will soon link up with Aer.io to allow you to distribute e-books, paperbacks, and audiobooks all through your own website’s storefront!

Read Midnight Publishing’s posts on ACX here and here, and how self-publishing authors can get started with it! Or just contact Midnight Publishing today to discuss how we can help you with the process.

Whether you’re still in the drafting stages and need a professional ghostwriter’s help, are ready for a developmental edit or copy-edit, or just need a final proofread before publication, Midnight Publishing is an award-winning Phoenix-based editing and ghostwriting company available for any publishing need. Contact us today to discuss your free sample edit and what we can do for your book!