News

MightyWords Slashes Self-Publishing Program
Edward Nawotka -- 11/20/00

MightyWords.com, the online publishing company, is drastically cutting back on the number of self-published titles it will host on its site. In an e-mail sent November 9, MightyWords informed authors that because its customers have reported that the vast majority of the titles they want to buy fall into a few main categories, including brand-name business, technical, health and fiction titles from well-known authors, the company has made the decision to focus its resources on those areas. The e-mail added, "Unfortunately, this means that during the second week of December 2000, your title(s) will not be included on the MightyWords.com or Fatbrain.com sites as we move forward."

Judy Kirkpatrick, general manager of MightyWords, told PW the company will reduce the number of titles for sale from 10,000 to 2,500. She said, "As a company, we can't do a perfect job promoting self-published titles, and we had to stop offering these books for sale because the authors didn't do enough to participate in the process of marketing and promoting their titles themselves. Because they didn't do anything to help the books, the books didn't sell."

The company will refocus its efforts on publishing "professionally edited product" and, one may presume, shoulder the burden of marketing the titles itself.

MightyWords did not fully shut out self-published authors. The company extended an invitation for authors to resubmit their work for republication, saying: "To better manage incoming material and to ensure that your material gets appropriate attention and review, we have decided to restructure and streamline the submission process.... If one of your submissions is accepted in the future, we'll give your work the professional treatment it deserves." Submissions must now be made on paper and include a marketing plan.

The company suggests that "if MightyWords d sn't work out for you... a number of other sites provide various levels of self-publishing opportunities and services that might better meet your needs." It recommends the services of vanity press 1stBooks Library.

One author who won't be staying with them is Denny Johnson. Johnson used MightyWords to self-publish his novel Oaxaca Connection. He told PW: "I'm disappointed in them. Ever since they were sold to Barnes & Noble.com, I haven't gotten good service anyway. Now I'm going to go to Xlibris and have the book printed in paperback. That way I can send it off and have it listed on Amazon.com."

Kirkpatrick said, "One of the reasons we're limiting the titles for sale on our site is so we can more easily broaden distribution. The deal to place our books on the B&N.com site is just one example of how we're offering better service to our writers. Our priority is not having the largest amount of titles, but having the most marketable."