'Independently published'

A neighbour's daughter has just had her children's book 'accepted' by Amazon and the mother was proudly showing a copy. Friends very impressed. Of course all this means is that she has submitted a formatted file to Amazon's print-on-demand process and had a (unmistakably self-published) paperback volume emerge automatically out of the other end. I didn't read the book itself, only got a glimpse of the binding and the opening page (plus home-brewed illustrations). It may of course be a work of talent, but the odds are against it, especially when it comes to writing for children, which people tend to assume is easier simply because the books are short...

Sour grapes on my part? Yes, almost certainly :-(

And I haven't even *tried* to get mine published; at least she has gone through the work of formatting and submission and soliciting reviews, even if only from friends and family.