(NewsUSA) – In recent
years, the entire landscape of the publishing industry has changed,
and now thousands of authors whose books might otherwise never have
seen the light of day are getting published. Following in the
footsteps of film and music, publishing is undergoing an “indie”
revolution whereby authors invest in their own work to bring their
books to the marketplace.

“The indie publishing revolution is all about providing
opportunity and expanding the options for both writers and
readers,” says Kevin Weiss, CEO of Author Solutions, whose imprints
include AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris and Trafford. “You no
longer need to wait years for the chance of being published;
becoming an author is no longer a privilege, and the literary world
is now accessible to everyone.”

Indie book publishing has also expanded the reasons people write
and publish a book. Books are now being used in genuinely new ways
— from raising awareness of important social causes to adding to a
businessperson’s marketing arsenal and providing significant
leverage to attract the attention of a major publisher — books are
now multi-faceted “tools.”

Reg Green is an example of the wonderful power of a book to
raise awareness of a pressing social issue. After his son Nicholas
was tragically murdered, and he and his wife chose to donate his
organs, Reg became a leading advocate for organ transplantation. He
turned to the pen, too, publishing “The Gift that Heals” through
AuthorHouse, which chronicles inspirational stories about organ
donation.

Another example, Lisa Genova, was told that nobody would want to
read her book “Still Alice,” a novel about a 50-year-old Harvard
professor’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.

After repeated rejections from traditional publishing houses,
Genova chose to self-publish through iUniverse. A literary agent
told her she would be basically committing literary suicide if she
self-published, and that no publisher would touch her book once she
published it independently.

To put it mildly, the agent was wrong.

After a few months and positive reviews, “Still Alice” was
picked up by Simon & Schuster and became a New York Times
bestseller.

“If you believe in your book, I think you should give it a
chance,” Genova said. “Still Alice was a book that people already
identified with, and a major publisher saw the book’s potential in
a very real way.”

To learn more about indie book publishing visit, www.Authorsolutions.com.