Journalist and author Neal Pollack wrote an essay in The New York Times Magazine over the weekend, explaining why it makes sense for midlist authors to self-publish–pointing to a dramatic shift in publishing tactics for authors with a medium-sized and loyal audience.

Here’s an excerpt: “[F]or a writer like me, which is to say, most working writers — midcareer, midlist, middle-aged, more or less middlebrow, and somewhat Internet savvy — self-publishing seems to make a lot of sense at this point. Early in my career, because of some lucky breaks and a kinder economy, I was able to get advances that helped me support my family over the months it took to write a book … Now that the advances are smaller and the technology is available, why not start appealing directly to those readers?”

Pollack will self-publish his new novel, Jewball. He has already posted a free preview of the book, focused on the adventures of an American-Jewish basketball team in 1937. (Via Ed Champion)