There's a lot of change occurring in the publishing world -- a lot of change. Perhaps you've heard of it -- all the recent advancements in the self-publishing field? And while it is far too early to predict the precise direction that all of these changes will take us, one thing is certain: self-publishing is shaking up the world of traditional book publishing, and self-publishing is not going to go away.

Although self-publishing has been an option for writers since the very beginning of the invention of the printing press, and although many very famous writers in the past self published some or all of their works, it is still nevertheless true that traditional publishing companies maintained a virtual stranglehold on the book publishing industry. Because of this, traditional book publishers could be very selective in their choice of authors and book titles. But this is all changing now, thanks to the self-publishing phenomenon.

But this is rapidly changing. Self-publishing, which requires an author to learn how to publish a book on their own, is an option that many authors have chosen -- and many more are thinking about it. The old-line book publishing companies are of course doing everything in their power to discourage writers from going this route; yet the handwriting is clearly on the wall.

The major force behind the advance in the self-publishing field is technology. Book publishing software is becoming extremely sophisticated, enabling a skilled user to produce a printed book whose quality parallels that of books published in the traditional way -- and the big boys are worried.

A good example of the incredible technological advance is seen in the field of print on demand publishing technology. The print on demand allows for the real-time publication of books. Gone are the days when a publishing company must maintain extensive inventories of books, physically storing the copies in a warehouse for sale in the future.

And here is a dirty little trade secret: even the big boys will sometimes rely on print on demand technology -- for example a publisher may use this technology to meet customer requests for a particular book, one which does not sell in high volumes, but remains in constant demand. If you order such a book, it will be printed as requests are received and not before -- but you will never know it, because only the publishers imprint will be on the book.

Self-publishing has its critics, as well -- and many of them come from within the self-publishing field itself. It is still true that many self-published books do not meet the quality standards of traditionally published books, in particular cover layout and design and a lack of professional editing plague many of these titles.

This has given self-published books a bad reputation -- especially with retail bookstores, many of whom simply refuse to carry such titles. This can present a formidable marketing challenge, as a huge segment of the book buying public still purchase their books to their local bookstore.

Despite these criticisms, self-publishing has worked -- in some cases remarkably well -- and is not going away anytime soon. Legions of authors, producing books in fields as diverse as religion, politics, human sexuality, books for hobbyists, community histories, children's books -- all of these have found self-publishing to be a remarkably liberating option.

So if you are considering a jump into the self-publishing world, you should carefully consider not only the potential benefits but the potentially negative aspects as well before you make a final decision.

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This article provided courtesy of http://www.self-publishing-world.com/