Objection!

[naomi_jay]

I'm tired, so please forgive me if I sound really grumpy, but ... well, I'm about to be really grumpy.

I'm fed up of seeing the endless bitching and pissing over indie v trad publishing, whether indies should refer to themselves as indies, whether self-publishing is valid or vanity, whether traditional publishing is dead, how your an idiot if you want to waste time with agents, how you're a failure if you want to self-publish, how you'll never make it either way because you're one of millions and who's going to pay attention to your crappy book anyway. I'm sick of it.

I'm sick of it because:

1. Nobody has the right to make you feel bad about your choices. Everyone's path is different, everyone's reasons for writing are different. Nobody should be judged for chosing their path and sticking with it.

2. Labels! FFS. If indie authors want to avoid the negative connotations that come with "self-published," who's business is that? Why does it matter? It's a word. It's not an offensive one, so who cares?

3. We're all writers, aren't we? Why does there have to be this divide when we're all essentially doing the same thing: writing a story we care about. Whether we choose to upload it to the Kindle or send it round to agents, why should that create any issues with any other writers?

I'm sorry, but I don't get it. I don't get why one choice is more valid than the other, I don't get why there has to be a competition to see who makes the most money the fastest, and I don't get why people can't feel proud of something they've laboured over for weeks and months - maybe years - just because they chose a different route to you. Indie, trad, self-published, e-published, small press, big six... I don't care. I'm not an indie writer. I'm not a trad writer. I'm not a small press writer. I'm just a writer and I'm bored of all the angst.

Comments

[h-a-holmes.livejournal.com]

I hate it too. It just degenerates writing when one says this way is the correct or official way to publish a book. Some people can't or won't work with agents, but I think it just depends on what you want from your writing. If you want to see a physical book in shops and have a three-book deal, then perhaps scouting out agents and publishers is a better set-up for you. If you want to put your work out there and be your own boss, as it were, then self-pub your work, or whatever.

In the end, we're all writers. It doesn't -- or it shouldn't -- matter what publisher has bought our work, or what agents reps us. Our job is to write stuff we're passionate about and what to share with people.

[Sorry if this seems ranty, your post just got me thinking]

:) xx

[nathreee.livejournal.com]

I want to hug you. Let's just write and follow our own path. I would have self-published by now if people weren't so negative about self-pub. I love how it's less hassle and less people telling you to jump through their hoops. I wish people weren't so judgemental.

[six-old-cars.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I still feel the biggest problem with self-pub is not the high-and-mighty attitude of mainstream publishing, but the volume of badly-written stuff that would have been better off never being let out of the bag. If most self-pub books were half as good as a Naomi Clark novel I'd be happy to self-pub too. But most of what I've seen (and the small-press anthologies I've featured in) have not given me cause to raise my estimate of the validity of the choice.

But then, my success rate with publishers (or rather publications) I respect is 0% as yet, so perhaps I need to admit I'm only good enough for the lowest common denominator.

[intothenyght.livejournal.com]

I totally and completely agree with this. But, I have to say, six_old_cars does have a point...there isn't really a filter with self-pub, so the market is flooded with terrible books. I think that's the qualm everyone has with it (even though there are plenty of well-written wonderful stories that are self-pubbed).

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

Well said :)

[laburton.livejournal.com]

I love you and your writing. You've said it for many of us. Now we are writing for us.

[laburton.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think we work hard now than before.