I posted the following at the Absolute Write forum today.

Dean Wesley Smith has a blog post today about a 3,000 word short story he just published, currently free on his website, also available through the usual e-book distribution channels. I assume it being available for free is a temporary promotional event.

In the blog post he talks about how this short story came into being. From the concept to the writing to the e-book formatting to the cover creation was approximately 6 active hours. If I’m reading the blog post correctly, those 6 active hours all occurred in less than 24 hours.

Is this the future of e-self-publishing? Or even close? I haven’t read the story yet beyond the first few paragraphs, and I’ve never read anything by DWS except his blog for the last month or so.

The comments have been interesting. The first four commenters said they hoped this wasn’t the future of publishing, that no way could a writer do all that in six hours elapsed time and have it in polished enough form for sale. The fifth commenter, an experienced, mid-list novelist, said it’s not unusual for a professional writer to have publishable copy at the first draft stage.

Speed of getting work before the public is one of the advantages of e-self-publishing (eSP). You conceive it, write it, polish is, format it, do something big or small with a cover, and publish it. No gatekeepers stand in your way. Lack of print layout and production drastically increases the speed.

The counter argument is that without the gatekeepers, nothing prevents an author from rushing a work to “for sale” status without the proper vetting and editing. The result is that lots of garbage works clog the e-book catalogues, making the reader gun-shy about purchasing eSP books.

So who’s right? As with most arguments, probably both sides are to some degree. The speed factor works for the writer but may work against the reader, or at least much of the time will work against the reader.

It’s something to think about.