Well, some teachers and many reprint publishers don't bother to mention that a particular book was self-published. So then readers don't have that info when they read that book, and they might not stumble across it later. Publishers may not want to advertise the fact that self-publishing can work, so they hide the truth by not mentioning it, which is a disservice. On the other hoof, some reprint editions have an introduction that describes the book's history, and those usually do mention the self-publication beginning.
>>What changed?<<
The main thing is that books used to be made by people who liked reading, and are now made mostly by people who like money. Publishing used to be considered a labor of love; nobody expected to get rich doing it; and the publishing houses were trying to break even and hopefully turn a modest profit. But many publishers used to be what we'd call hobby businesses -- they were not actually self-supporting but were run by somebody who could afford to take a loss sometimes, or even all the time, for the sake of releasing books they thought were important. When the first qualification is "Will this make lots of money?" instead of "Does this book have useful nonfiction information or literary merit?" that changes what gets published, tremendously.
Another thing that changed was the size of the industry. Like many others, it got so big and entrenched that it shaded out most of the competition. Didn't use to be that way, and earlier on, people would go have their own book printed and it wasn't such a big deal. Now the publishers say that there is only One True Right And Only Way to have a writing career. They've dug a rut there.
It occurs to me that there's one thing we could do to stick a big, shiny pin in their "Self-publishing is BAD" mantra: make up a list of great self-published books, including classic literary canon books and some modern examples like "books sold directly to an author's fiction fanbase" (like the pamphlet additions to the Liaden Universe) and "nonfiction on obscure topics." Then make that available to anyone who wants to do a panel on it at conventions, or share it on a website, etc.
Hmm...
>> Why did we forget?<<
Well, some teachers and many reprint publishers don't bother to mention that a particular book was self-published. So then readers don't have that info when they read that book, and they might not stumble across it later. Publishers may not want to advertise the fact that self-publishing can work, so they hide the truth by not mentioning it, which is a disservice. On the other hoof, some reprint editions have an introduction that describes the book's history, and those usually do mention the self-publication beginning.
>>What changed?<<
The main thing is that books used to be made by people who liked reading, and are now made mostly by people who like money. Publishing used to be considered a labor of love; nobody expected to get rich doing it; and the publishing houses were trying to break even and hopefully turn a modest profit. But many publishers used to be what we'd call hobby businesses -- they were not actually self-supporting but were run by somebody who could afford to take a loss sometimes, or even all the time, for the sake of releasing books they thought were important. When the first qualification is "Will this make lots of money?" instead of "Does this book have useful nonfiction information or literary merit?" that changes what gets published, tremendously.
Another thing that changed was the size of the industry. Like many others, it got so big and entrenched that it shaded out most of the competition. Didn't use to be that way, and earlier on, people would go have their own book printed and it wasn't such a big deal. Now the publishers say that there is only One True Right And Only Way to have a writing career. They've dug a rut there.
It occurs to me that there's one thing we could do to stick a big, shiny pin in their "Self-publishing is BAD" mantra: make up a list of great self-published books, including classic literary canon books and some modern examples like "books sold directly to an author's fiction fanbase" (like the pamphlet additions to the Liaden Universe) and "nonfiction on obscure topics." Then make that available to anyone who wants to do a panel on it at conventions, or share it on a website, etc.