A nation of sidewalk publishers

Like almost all self-published books, "Natural Cures" fell under the radar of reviewers at major newspapers and industry journals, which tend to ignore anything not printed by a mainstream publisher. But unlike almost all self-published books, its author had the resources to distribute and promote the book, says Publisher Weekly's Ms. Abbott.

At iUniverse, employees try to make sure authors understand the big picture, says president and chief executive officer Susan Driscoll. "People have big dreams and grand expectations," she says. "It's up to companies like iUniverse to provide them the education, but not pull the wool over their eyes."

Fledgling authors complain that some publishers don't have their best interests in mind. Several firms have been accused of defrauding authors and failing to provide promised services.

Then there's the matter of quality, or the lack of it, in self-published books.

Most self-published books "are bad in ways that even the worst commercially published novels are not," says Vermont horror novelist Nick Mamatas. He tells scary stories of seeing typos in titles - like "Creation's of a Madman" - and a heavy reliance on "ancient clichés and amateur-hour designs."

Earlier this year, a group of science-fiction writers wanted to see if a self- proclaimed discriminating publisher, PublishAmerica, bothered to read submissions. So they produced "Atlanta Nights," which came to be dubbed the worst novel in history. The authors were told to write badly and had no idea of the novel's plot or where their chapters would appear. Some chapters were duplicated or had no copy at all, and one featured random gibberish created by a computer.

PublishAmerica initially sent an acceptance letter, but rescinded its offer the next day. "Atlanta Nights" - harmless, except to the reputation of the publisher, perhaps - has now been self-published.

But some publishers express concern about authors who can easily publish books without any layer of editing. As a result, books containing dangerous and incorrect information about important subjects such as health could easily appear on the market.

"If publishing is available to many people, you're going to get the good with the bad, there's no question about that," says iUniverse's Ms. Driscoll. "It puts more of the obligation on the reader. But the Internet has made that true anyway, with all the websites out there. Being able to tell the good from the bad is a reality of our life."

Of course, plenty of low-quality books - not to mention inaccurate and misleading ones - were available to the public well before the self-publishing craze. The difference is that more authors like Peoria's Layman have a chance to show that they're special.

"I happen," he says, "to be unique."

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