The agent Piers Blofeld has weighed in on the cost of self-publishing and how easy it is for writers to be seduced into parting with cash.

At whitefox, we wouldn’t argue with the central theme that it is possible to spend money taking your book to market yet potentially see very little return on your hard earned investment. It still strikes us, though, that implicit in his argument is the premise that added services simply cannot make a difference. That they are of little or no value.

That isn’t our experience (nor, must it be said, that of many self published authors). A good, cost-effective edit and proofread. A striking, appropriate cover design. SEO and metadata. We had a call this morning from a writer asking for our services to help them create a synopsis of their own book. Because some people are bloody good at it. And if they are that good and can make a difference, then they are worth paying accordingly. I know agents don’t like breaking the model that ultimately sees someone paying to invest in content. But all those services which have traditionally been buried beneath a publisher’s desire to seem fundamentally a successful shining sales and marketing machine do matter to writers. And they matter to us.