This morning’s Financial Times includes a brief profile of Alastair Anderson, a London hedge fund manager who’s self-publishing the four novels he wrote last year, using Amazon.com print-on-demand options “to see if a book could sell itself on its merits alone.” Just, you know, as a fun little experiment to see if there’s anything to his hobby. OK, maybe “hobby” is a bit harsh, but the article does suggest that “as long as writing is a leisure activity, it remains low-risk.” That grinding sound you hear is the teeth of thousands of struggling writers developing an instant dislike for Anderson sight unseen. It’ll drive them even further around the bend when they hear a tidbit that didn’t make the FT story: he’s also giving the books away on his website in PDF format. Look at it this way, though: At least he doesn’t actually have a book deal. If that happened, I think some poor writers’ heads might explode.
(All fairness alert: I looked at some of the pages, and the prose didn’t wow me, but I’m just one reader, so who knows?)