There’s been a lot of discussion about whether self-publishing is better or worse than publishing through more traditional channels. So I thought it was interesting that prominent author John Edgar Wideman has decided to self-publish his new book Briefs: Stories for the Palm of theMind with Lulu. 
Wideman has won several awards, and was a National Book Award finalist. Currently, Briefs is only available through Lulu, but will be released with an ISBN in a few weeks. When asked why he self-published, he answered, “Why not?” Which is a really great answer coming from an author who is already established and tenured.
But what about the people who haven’t been published before? What incentives does self-publishing offer? Not many right now, honestly, but perhaps if other big name authors decide to self-publish there will be less of a stigma about self-published books being the works only of authors who couldn’t find a “real” publisher. It would be great if that was the result of Wideman’s break from the norm.
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