John Green is a cult author with more than 1.5 million Twitter followers, a hugely popular Tumblr page, and more than a million YouTube subscribers for the channel he shares with his brother. He headlined Carnegie Hall this year, and we featured his latest book The Fault In Our Stars for a month in our Book Club, which has been on the New York Times Young Adult Bestseller List for more than a year. He talks directly to a huge online following that loves him - so shouldn't he start self publishing his work?
Many people say that he doesn't need the middle men of booksellers and publishers in order to make money, that his popularity is evidence that he could strike out alone to increase his profit margin. But as Green says, isn't only about the money, it's also about the quality of the editing and the support he gets from the existing publishing, bookstore and library structure.
Green has spoken about self publishing before on his blog, making it clear that he doesn't have an issue with it in principle. However, in the short video above, filmed as an acceptance speech for the American Booksellers Association Indie Champion award, Green refutes that he would be better off self publishing work himself, in a vociferous and sweary manner.
Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments!
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