Don't Look Down On Me

In my interactions with other authors, I cannot help but notice a disturbing mindset many hold.

It would seem that there are a number of authors who view the shifting sands in publishing as a bad thing. I happen to vehemently disagree.

First off—so you understand where I am coming from—I am an indie author. And by that I mean, after writing for pleasure over a number of years, I decided to write a novel. I spent well over a year on my manuscript, and ultimately ended up hiring my own copyeditor and layout person. I made the conscious, informed decision to publish under my own press. I did not smack the keyboard, dub myself Tolkien, and hit the ‘Make Kewl Book Now’ button.

While I had interest from agents on my manuscript, all I heard back was “we like it, but it’s too long, the publishing world is in flux, we don’t want to take any risks.”

Fine.

Agents/publishers want sure things now. They are scared…I understand. Travel agents were scared, too, when people could start booking their own flights online.

I had made a few contacts (authors, other people in publishing) through various places and asked for feedback on the content of my work. The response was universally positive (I also received some invaluable criticism).

So, here I was: an unknown with a great, very-long story that had no chance of ever sniffing a traditional publishing house because of skittishness flittering about the industry.

Going the indie route was my intentional, professional choice. The reviews, accolades, and fans I have garnered tell me it was the right one. Had I not, Progeny (The Children of the White Lions, #1) would be sitting on my hard drive still, the nine short stories of the Terrene Chronicles (Merchant, Family, Rivals) would never have been written, and the manuscript I am editing for the second book in the series would have been non-existent.

For authors like me, these are exciting times. Doors are opening for us that would have remained closed for an indeterminate amount of time. I would have languished for at least as long as the publishing industry figures out what in the hell they are going to do now that they are not the sole gatekeepers.

I have heard some established authors lament that there is not some sort of way to thin the herd of the self-published ebooks flooding the market. To a big extent, I agree with them. It would be ideal if there were some sort of benchmark to identify the good from the bad. But what could that be? Would you be in favor of some sort of vetting process for indie authors? Perhaps like a sort of credit rating agency for writers?

However, is that not consolidating the power to ‘make or break’ authors in the hands of the very few? Just like it is today?

I understand there will be authors who have been in the industry for thirty years that look at us with heavy skepticism. It is natural. Luckily, I have found some kindred souls in this process—some are indies like me, others are multi-NYT bestsellers—who have been nothing but supportive and encouraging.

Yes, publishing is changing. But in my mind, this is a good thing.



Published in December of 2010, Progeny has reached the top 10 in Top Rated Epic Fantasy on Amazon.com.

Visit http://www.rtkaelin.com for more information on me and my work.

Best/easiest place to get book (Print or Kindle) is at Amazon where there are 23/26 five-star reviews.

It is however available for the Nook and other eReaders via Smashwords or iTunes.