Cleaning our houses
I’m a member of International Authors Guild Yahoo group. If you’re self-pubbed by any method, go there, sign up. I’ll wait. Back? Great.
Early this morning, a veteran member posted “Media Comments on Self-Published Books.” Well, you know, self-publishing. Possibly vanity publishing. Depends on what those surveyed think “POD” actually is, but it’s clear that most people aren’t getting the self/indie versus vanity versus the simple technology of POD. Anyway, read through some of the comments.
Next on our list is Floyd Orr’s POD Book Reviews & More (PODRAM), in which blog Floyd very often stresses the need for independent author/publisher types to be excellent, to put out an excellent product and to “clean our own houses” [from a post he made on the IAG Yahoo group]. You know that old joke about Ginger Rogers being able to do what Fred Astaire did, only she had to do it backward and in high heels? Yeah, that’s us.
For some reason, today I was simply struck with Floyd’s post on IAG. We can say “well, the traditional publishers put out crap, too,” which is true, but that’s not the reality we’re working with here. The reality is that when people go to a bookstore, they assume they’re getting vetted material. If they get a piece of crap, they think it was a one-off. If people stumble upon a self-published book that’s crap and they find out it’s self-published, then they tar the whole lot of us with the same brush.
That’s our reality.
The reality is that we need to be responsible about mechanics and presentation. A good story will bear the burden of perhaps inadequate editing, but it won’t bear the burden of that and rampant errors and bad design and general suckitude of the object.
We, the folks who care about such things, must become the examples. While we can only do that one good book at a time, it’s incumbent upon us to do it. We must clean our own houses and teach others how to clean theirs.
zoewinters
Moriah Jovan
R.J. Keller
robinaltman
Evangeline Holland
alanbaxter
Thank you for the kind words. I encourage any current or aspiring authors to become familiar with PODBRAM. Yes, I do feel compelled to step up onto my soapbox and scream, “Edit, edit, edit!” and “Proofread, proofread, proofread!” occasionally on the blog, but at least I offer methods and suggestions for doing these jobs, too. Browse through the links listed under The POD Experience for more details. Thank you.
Floyd, thank YOU.
We’re still in building stages here, but I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we want to create a comprehensive resource to complement what’s already out there.
You’re helping to pave the way for us (and we’ve benefited from your trailblazing), along with April and Aaron Shepard and Jeremy Robinson and others.
I’ve read so many good independently published books lately, it’s blowing my mind.
Great post, MoJo. Love the Ginger Rogers comparison. That’s exactly what it feels like.
Just signed up for IAG.
Clarification: I signed up for the Yahoo group…
I agree, but at the same time, I’m caring less and less about it. I want to offer resources and help to those who care. But let’s face it, those who don’t care are mainly using a POD vanity press and they don’t really affect me.
In the reader’s mind there is NO difference between my books or anything put out by any other publisher that isn’t Random House or something. Readers don’t make these distinctions.
As long as *I* do it right, no one is going to say anything about it. And if I don’t do it right, then I have bigger problems than whether or not I get tarred with the self-publishing brush.
All I know is a lot of folks drink kool aid and can’t seem to think for themselves. And I’ve decided to stop making that my personal problem.
Reading some of the comments from the media people, I don’t think these attitudes will ever change. The best we can do is start calling ourselves indies and making a sharp distinction between what we’re doing and what others are doing. Or just write damn good books, package them well, and let quality speak for itself.
The problem in publishing unfortunately is people who can’t write think they can write. And people who can’t design think they can design. And so a lot of really really bad crap gets put out there.
And there isn’t a damn thing we can do about that. To stop the democracy of publishing means going back to the same system we had before. The price of this level of freedom is this level of annoyance at the people who either just don’t give a damn, or aren’t talented enough or competent enough to do it right.
Luckily those who aren’t talented enough or competent enough become so much noise and don’t get much attention except as part of the large mass of crap out there.
I guess my attitude about right now is akin to “keep your eyes on your own paper.” Don’t worry about what everybody else is doing. You can’t stop it, you can’t change it. It will just make you a drooling lunatic.
We can form these communities for those who do care. Offer resources and help for those who do care, but all we can do is lead the horse to the water. Our responsibility both literally and emotionally ends there, IMO.
Sorry these comments were so long. It appears I feel pretty passionately about feeling less passionately about this issue, haha!
Well, Zoe, I do care about how the independent route is seen because that’s my $$$ on the line. I believe that my self-published novel was turned down for a review on one site because she didn’t want to be seen as having reviewed a self-published book. I believe she felt doing so would taint *her* credibility.
I’m looking at odds. The more *good* independently published books there are out there, the better attention it will get and the stigma will wither. That *is* something I want. No, readers don’t care (unless they get crap), but readers don’t know we’re there, either, because the stigma works against us at an industry level. That’s what has to change. A rising tide raises all boats.
Like I said, I’ve been reading a lot of good self-published books lately; either they’re coming out of the woodwork or more good authors are getting into the indie race.
I would argue that the good authors who choose to go indie already know how to create a good book (the object) with regard to editing, copyediting, and proofreading, and design, both interior and exterior. The more good authors get into the race and put out good products, the more visibility there will be for all of us.
A rising tide raises all boats.
Mojo, you’re misunderstanding me. You have your OWN imprint. The world does not automatically look at you and go: “self published’ The average reader doesn’t know you published yourself, nor do they care. You are a small press or a micropress. Sure you’re an independent publisher, but most people dont’ sneer at the term/concept/idea of independent publishers. It’s self published authors they have a problem with.
I don’t diagree with any particular point. I just can’t bother getting worked up about all the crap on lulu.com and iuniverse out there. Because those people are always going to be there doing their thing.
I can clean my own house, and I can offer resources, but I can’t clean other people’s houses for them. And I”m not going to waste my life energy worrying about what everybody else is doing anymore. All it does is make me an angry person and I don’t particularly like being an angry person.
Well said Mojo and great post! I agree that the more good indie books out the more with care and attention to the creation of the book the more stigma will go away and stop being painted with the same brush.
Thanks for linking to the Media Bistro article. I didn’t know about David Carnoy releasing his own book after running it through the NY pubs. I have a feeling it may start catching on more as time goes on with the current industry. And if isn’t more good authors going indie, it’ll be the good word spread about this distribution process with more folks taking great care to make their books the best they can be.
Like Mojo, about the only reason I have for caring about krep self-published books out there is the fact that it does make it a little harder to get reviewed by certain outlets. Harder, but not impossible. And like Mojo – I think that more and more good writers, who can – or know people who can – design, edit, etc – and turn out an excellent product, are doing it more and more. I know this – because I have read and reviewed other IAG writers’ books. The best of them will stand up against anything the main-stream publishers can field. Those reviewers and publications who across-the-board refuse to even consider indy/POD/self-published books are cutting off their noses to spite their own faces. They will never admit it, of course. Good thing there are those reviewers who are seeing the way that the tide is turning. Yeah, a lot of the POD output ought to have been strangled at birth, but everyone needs a hobby. Lots of them will learn from experience, and will become better writers. I know that I have.
My own local newspaper in San Antonio has loftily turned down an opportunity to review my latest, The Adelsverein Trilogy… but copies of all three books are flying out the door of local bookstores, because readers are passionately interested in the story that I am telling. Enough reviewers took a serious look at it, that the newspaper is neither here nor there, at this point.
I would argue that in at least in Romancelandia, they do and I’ll tell you why.
There have been lots of start-up e-presses that have gone belly up in the last couple of years, and they have gotten A LOT of air time (very negatively). Thus, any new e-press or otherwise is automatically assumed to be a vehicle for the author’s work (i.e., self-published) and come under immediate and constant scrutiny, especially if they’re soliciting other work.
I’m talking about a stigma that exists at the industry level (and, I would define “industry level” to include some of the bigger review blogs), not at the reader level. But if the industry level says, “Dear Reader, this was a self-published novel,” the stigma gets transferred to the reader, and then they *do* care, even if she thinks/says she doesn’t, simply because of the amount of sway such an outlet has.
Our local paper did an article on my stand up comedy and humerous Child Psychiatry book. When the very nice reporter was interviewing me, he asked who published my book. When I said “Authorhouse” he got a look on his face which wasn’t quite revulsion, but close to it. I felt very defensive, and went on to “explain” myself. I told him I had an agent, who had submitted the book to several publishing houses, and if it had a good showing as an indie, I planned on trying again with the big publishing houses. He visibly relaxed, as though it was “OK” to self publish under those circumstances. Newbie though I was, I realized that I had to frame the process in such a way that he wouldn’t discount my book, and portray it poorly in the article.
The stigma is strong, and I would love to be involved in getting it removed. I see Zoe’s point, that Authorhouse is sort of “known” to be a “vanity press”, but I fear that the industry will continue to sneer at any self publishing attempts if the products are not comparable to those produced by the established publishing houses. I’ve read some awesome self published books lately, which indicate that this is the trend. I really hope so.
I’ve spent my whole life interfering in what others are doing (in a way) so why stop now? Most people who know me would agree that I’m a drooling lunatic. But I’m a really nice drooling lunatic. Really.
I’m just tired.
I understand.
For me, the goal is to get in front of readers’ eyeballs so that they know I exist. Right now the politics and the stigma are blocking that effort (which I knew it would from the outset, but it’s a smallish price to pay for independence). There are more gatekeepers than agents and editors. There are distributors and booksellers, too. So now, we’re past the agents and editors. It’s the distributors and booksellers who need convincing.
Without reviews, that doesn’t happen. You have to knock down one gate at a time to get to the readers. No, the readers mostly don’t care, but getting to them is the trick. It’s an interdependent process.
On the other hand, the way publishing is imploding (at an exponential rate, it seems), we may find avenues opening up to us that are wider than we dreamed, and faster than we thought it would happen.
This is an EXCITING time!
Every time I see the blogs where unpublished authors are bemoaning the odds of getting published getting worse, I feel their tension, I feel their uncertainty, their insecurity that they aren’t “good enough.” I know. I’ve been there. I was there for years. I wanted off that train.
And the overriding feeling I get now is not smugness; it’s comfort. That part of my journey is over. I have a product, I have feedback, I have something I can point to and say, “I have control over my destiny.” And most importantly, I have time to gain a following.
By the same token, if some of those good authors would step up to the plate and take their destiny in their hands, believe in their stories, and put out an excellent product, the tide would rise for all of us. That’s all I’m saying.
The tide needs to rise and it will only do so in numbers big enough to get some credible attention.
It wasn’t too long ago that my formatting was sloppy that I feel almost hypocritical saying this, but I’m totally with you guys. We need to do our best to raise the standards, not just for ourselves, for as many of our fellow indies as possible. At the same time, we need to be patient and be careful not to succomb to a similar type of internal stigma towards those just starting out.
(Again, stipulating that although I’ve come a long way in the past few months, I’m still on the starting end of the learning curve.)
Hey Mojo,
Oh I hear you, totally! I sit and wonder: “Why the hell does Stephen King even HAVE a publisher?” Is there any bookstore in the world that would refuse stocking him.
I think probably this has less of a psychic effect on me because I am focusing on a fully online plan. I’m not trying to get onto physical bookstore shelves, and with LSI and places like Amazon, there are really no doors closed to me that I’m pursuing.
But I get that other people want reviewed in places they can’t get into, not based on the quality of their work, but based on HOW that work got published, how it got funded. And that’s unfair.
It’s one thing for a reviewer to judge a book on it’s cover. (Hey, it can be a good litmus test), but it’s another to judge a book based on it’s publisher.
And I also get a lot of independent authors want their work on bookstore shelves. That’s just not an outlet I’m interested in at this time. And it’s mainly because of the bookstore returns system. I’m not willing to cannibalize my sales on their goofy consignment system. To me wholesale sales mean just that, wholesale sales. And a business that can’t assume risk for the products they purchase is a business I won’t do business with. So whether or not they would do business with me is neither here nor there.
And online not only is the playing field more even, but it’s more open in a lot of places. Not every place. But there are just as many opportunities open to me online as closed to me. So I’ll pursue those open to me. In time some other doors may start to crack open for me. But one way or another I’ll build my audience.
And all the gatekeepers don’t matter. Because distribution and booksellers aren’t an issue for me in the way I’m playing this.
But I get it’s an issue for others.
Hey Kel, just the fact that you are ON the learning curve and working at it means a lot. We’re all on a learning curve. Nobody learns publishing overnight. But those who are working to meet a higher quality standard, it means something.
Kel, that’s a really good point! It certainly behooves us to be patient and helpful to those starting up and trying to put out a quality product. Plus, who am I to talk? I essentially paid someone to make the product presentable and save myself time and effort. Hardly the stellar example.
Zoe, I’ve often wondered why Stephen King bothers with a publisher. Ditto with J.K. Rowlings, but I think it was nice of her to stay with Scholastic, because she probably kept them afloat. I heard they’re really hurting now that there are no more Potter books in the series.
Another point having to do with nonfiction – my book is more a book for man on the street, and not an academic tome, but I’d really benefit from the credibility of being reviewed by academic journals. Current Psychiatry took a chance on me, but most journals won’t look at an indie. That’s a credibility hurt.
Hey Robin, there is nothing wrong with paying something to make your product presentable. Being indie doesn’t mean you have to do your own typesetting and cover design. If someone can afford to hire out for those things,and the quality of work they are getting for the money is good, then they should consider it.
But the sooner you get the word “Authorhouse” off your books, the better.
Zoe – yeah. Then I’m going to scrape the word “Harlot” off my forehead. I keep getting weird looks.
And those “A’s” my mom sewed onto all of my shirts. I’m getting rid of them, too. I’m starting nice and fresh for ‘09.
But it’s in such a nice font.
Ah, and she worked so hard to do that!
Oh, time for the FDS already? Damn, and I just went to Walmart today.
MoJo – you think I should keep the “Harlot”, huh? It is sort of sexy…. I’ll think about it. Thanks.
Well, you know, good design is good design.
hahahaha you guys are so silleh!
I happen to agree with MoJo: within the romance genre, there is a severe stigma against self-/indie publishing because it is equated with “vanity” due to the vast numbers of rejected romance authors setting up e-presses to produce their works–and those self-same e-presses scamming other authors, going down in flames within less than a year, and/or putting out dreck. Also hampering romance writers is the fact that the juggernaut that is the RWA is not about supporting all authors, but maintaining the status quo–NY. Because of this, romance authors are pretty much indoctrinated in anti-indie propaganda, and any author who would even contemplate going indie is a non-entity within the organization: no promo in their monthly newsletters, no booksignings allowed at their annual conference, no “status” as a published author, etc. I’m not a member, so I could care less, but it’s this brainwashing that aspiring indie romance authors are up against, and those indoctrinated authors–many who are unpublished–pass it on to fellow romance readers.
It doesn’t hurt our case when there are authors like Gennita Low, who recently lost her contract with MIRA, stepping a toe hesitantly into self-publishing, but only with an eye on shaking off the indie dust if NY were to come calling again. Hey, maybe some people don’t want to deal with the business side of indie publishing, or have no head for it, and I don’t have a problem with wanting to go indie to show NY there is a market for your book. However, it is a symptom of the utter disdain the romance genre has for anyone who tries it on their own–unless they are successful, like with Ellora’s Cave or Samhain, but then again, they publish erotica/erotic romance, which it seems a significant percentage of RWA members turn up their noses at.
In the end, the RWA and its members are merely cutting off their noses to spite their faces when, newsflash: readers only give a crap about “ew, vanity publishing” because romance writers spread that bitter miasma around. Honestly, I think the romance genre only sneers at self-publishing because they’re still so sensitive about gaining mainstream respect. I guess they think they’re covering their bases for all the quality romance fiction released by bestowing legitimacy only on NY published authors.
But what was my point? Oh yeah: 1. as a romance author of non-erotic romance, going the NY route at first may be a better career move before going indie. and 2. the face of independent publishing has to change within the romance genre.
Exactly.
That’s where the mantra “the readers don’t give a crap” does not apply.
At all.