A few entries ago, we included Project Gutenberg's self-publishing program. It is becoming clear that self-publishing is transforming the book industry, On Thursday last week,  Pearson announced that it had acquired self-publishing vendor Author Solutions Inc.for $116,000,000. The purchase of Author Solutions—which has 1,600 employees, has published 150,000 authors, nearly 200,000 titles and reported just under $100 million in revenues last year—and its integration into Penguin operations marks a new era for the self-publishing category going forward.

 Formed in 2007, ASI is now the world’s leading provider of professional self-publishing services. It has enabled 150,000 authors to publish, market and distribute more than 190,000 books in print and electronic formats and benefits from several powerful growth trends including user-generated content, eBooks and digital publishing and marketing technologies.

Do you have the great American novel manuscript stashed away somewhere? Your time has come.