Where Do We Go From Here?
I admit to feeling a bit of schadenfreude when it comes to the publishing industry. Part of it stems from my usual self-deprecation of my own career, and part of it stems from anticipating what may lie ahead. As a result, when I read that Anderson News was suspending its book and magazine distributing activities, thereby wrecking the distribution of hundreds of magazines and book releases, I had to suppress a little thrill of excitement.
With the industry as we know it changing more quickly than anyone would ever have realized, where do we go from here? Certainly no one knows what will happen to books, authors, book retailers and publishers within the next six months–or even just next week–but should we keep chugging along as we’ve always done and just sit tight and wait to see what happens?
I say no.
Even more than no, I advise my fellow authors to start looking at themselves as a product. It has been a long time since writing, submitting and showing up for a book-signing was enough to keep food on the table–particularly since NY is not going to hand out those lavish advances to unknown fiction authors. For indie writers, that means we need to go above and beyond to get our writing–not just that novel, but any other form of writing you find is your strength and/or are interested in–in front of an audience. It could be a blog. It could be podcasting. It could be getting out in your local neighborhood and making connections. It could be forming a workshop. Anything. Writing a book, and even getting published/publishing it is not the end of the road.
If you are a writer, then write–anything.
Evangeline, I didn’t know that about Anderson News! I share that weird excited feeling. It’s sort of like things are changing, and we were ahead of the tide, and actually have a bit of an advantage. I likes it, I do.
Hey Evangeline, I feel that weird tug-of-war too.
On the one hand I genuinely feel bad for those who have or will lose their jobs in the publishing industry due to this economy and publishing as it stands not being able to stand up to that.
I also feel bad for any author losing their contract or unable to get one where a year ago they might have.
But, on the other end of that rope, I’m very excited about the doors this opens up for indies, and just how level the playing field is becoming. It’s an exciting time when the destiny of many writers is more in their hands than they thought previously.
Oh yes, it isn’t anything personal I feel; as though I crow over the pain of others in the business. It’s exactly what I said: what’s going to happen next? I do believe the field will level a bit for writers: everyone–indie and NY pubbed–will have to work equally as hard to get their books before readers. What I really hope in this crisis is for writers to band together. I point to the RNA’s recently released <ahref=”http://apassionforhistory.blogspot.com/2009/01/sneak-preview-of-rna-anthology.html”>anthology, and even the Bewitched… anthology from ca. 2005 where the benefits with to the victims of Katrina I believe.
All the petty infighting and posturing for a place in the hierarchy, and telling people they aren’t published if they haven’t gone a traditional route needs to go. We’re all in this boat together, and we need to look ahead and at one another if we’re to weather this storm. (ha! I sound so sappy. *g*)
hehe, Evangeline. I’ve gotten so busy now with multiple projects that all I can spare is an eye roll now when someone tells me I’m not really published. I mean my God, how much time do people have on their hands to constantly go on about this? (Not you, I just mean that I don’t “get” why how I’m published even matters to anyone. Who cares? Obviously a lot of writers do. But it’s beyond me, and I’ve started really trying not to get sucked up in it. It’s not worth the energy expenditure.)
Good post – couldn’t agree more. I’m always working on my blog and website, always have short fiction doing the rounds looking for publication, often guest post on other people’s blogs, just this morning I did an hour interview with the US (I’m in Australia) for an Author Blast podcast.
Anything and everything to get it all out there!
This is a big part of why I probably won’t bother pitching my current manuscript. Even if I landed an agent and a pub offer, would I really want to sign away my rights when everything is in flux? We have to do our own marketing, regardless, so it makes sense to sit tight for now and not sign away ownership of our material.
Hey Ann, that’s about how I feel about it. I was a little ambivalent about the whole thing when I originally was deciding to go indie, but then when all the economy stuff happened, I knew I was exactly where I needed to be.
Never been a better time to be a writer. Imagine the fun Philip K Dick and WS Burroughs and Charles Dickens and Italo Calvino and just about every writer from the past you can think of would have had with the tools we have freely available. Where do we do from here? Directly to a readership and then anywhere we want. Life is an amazing adventure.
For me, it was a bittersweet vindication/validation. I mean, this will affect all of us in some way, but it needed to happen. Kind of like ripping a band-aid off all at once instead of taking it off hair by hair.
Ann, I don’t think you’re in the minority in this assessment. When publishing broke at Thanksgiving (not, as they say, on black Wednesday), suddenly a whole lot of anti-self-pubbing people were very noticeably quiet.
Can I get an amen.
Hey Mojo, on the noticeable quietness. The day the earth totally shifted on it’s axis for me was then I said something about self publishing on Nathan Bransford’s blog, and then like ONE person had anything negative to say about it and you were like: “A few weeks ago, there would have been five or six.”
And now people are coming out of the closet all over the place in the comments section.
And I know the world doesn’t revolve around that one blog, but it was just the first place I started to really see the shift.
Dare I hope we’re really in the start of an indie author movement akin to the indie musician movement? God, I hope so.