There is a tarmac path up Orrest Head in the Lake District — a smooth, accessible route that allows everyone, regardless of ability, to reach the summit and share in the view. Self-publishing is, to my mind, the literary equivalent of that path. It is not a lesser route. It is a deliberately built one, designed to let more people through. The Old Gatekeepers and the New Landscape In the past, the traditional publishing industry functioned much like the central massif of the L