A *good* epublisher is worth going with. I sell far more books and thus make far more money through Loose Id than I would through self-publishing. But there's a huge gap between the top tier of epubs and the wannabes, and you're quite right about successful epublishing being a tough game. Emily Veinglory set up the EREC site in part from frustration at the lack of information out there about the difference between the good, the bad and the ugly in epublishing. My backlist books can sell more in a single month, after a couple of years out, than some of the bottom-feeders manage in their entire first year.
There's an interview with one of the Loose Id owners here: http://fogcitydivas.typepad.com/dishing_with_the_divas/2007/04/today_i_am_very.html She talks about how much planning and investment went into setting up the company, and it gives you some idea of why they were successful when so many others crashed and burned. They could still crash, of course, but they've been very canny and not expanded faster than they could handle. In particular, they didn't rush into print and its associated high risks. They had a small pilot programme to get a feel for the market, and have been very cautious about putting out more titles. Triskelion may well have been burned by the costs associated with going to print, as they had a much bigger print programme. Even Ellora's Cave, the 900 pound gorilla of epublishing, has had trouble with the print books being a financial drain in the wake of the Borders shakeup -- the difference there is that EC has the cash reserves to ride it out, and the business nous to understand they have a problem and deal with it. They didn't over-extend themselves to go to print.
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There's an interview with one of the Loose Id owners here:
http://fogcitydivas.typepad.com/dishing_with_the_divas/2007/04/today_i_am_very.html
She talks about how much planning and investment went into setting up the company, and it gives you some idea of why they were successful when so many others crashed and burned. They could still crash, of course, but they've been very canny and not expanded faster than they could handle. In particular, they didn't rush into print and its associated high risks. They had a small pilot programme to get a feel for the market, and have been very cautious about putting out more titles. Triskelion may well have been burned by the costs associated with going to print, as they had a much bigger print programme. Even Ellora's Cave, the 900 pound gorilla of epublishing, has had trouble with the print books being a financial drain in the wake of the Borders shakeup -- the difference there is that EC has the cash reserves to ride it out, and the business nous to understand they have a problem and deal with it. They didn't over-extend themselves to go to print.