Indie vs Traditional: equal or not?

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Indie vs Traditional: equal or not?

If you follow my blog (and please do, there's something in it for ya), then you'll know I'm a writer. But you know, my labels don't stop there. I'm always amazed when I'm asked to decide whether I'm a writer or a reader on places like Goodreads or on the Amazon forums or the Kindleboards forum. Why can't I be a reader? I AM a reader. I've been reading far longer than I've been writing. I read voraciously at times, and at times, the most I read is my shampoo bottle.

Right now I'm glutting myself on brain candy because my daily mind is occupied by serious thoughts and I need to distract myself. I will admit (and please don't judge me) to being completely enthralled by the True Blood series of books. It's not great writing if you're looking for literature, but it's a great story for my poor jonesing brain.

It's not always that way though. I love all kinds of fiction and nonfiction. I have favorite authors like many readers, but since I purchased a Kindle reader, I have a different set of books than normal. I recently looked at my TBR and noticed something in common for the stack of bits and bytes that resided there. None of the books are by traditional authors. They're indie.

What is indie?

Some might say: unedited, trash, not good enough to get a real publisher.

Why, dear reader, indie can be, and often is, quite the opposite.

Indie is unleashed. It's nonconformist. It's genre bending and genre crossing and it's as exciting as going to a rock concert without a barrier keeping the fans from the band.

Many indies take their craft seriously. We're writers, after all, and we hone our craft like any writer (let's say: Alice Munro). The difference is that some writers have found fortune in the traditional sense: someone found them in a stack of papers and pulled them out and said, "Hey, this just might sell."

An indie may have been the MS right underneath that one.

I've found some real gems in the indie world and all for really great prices. I'd highly recommend any of the below:

Strangers and Pilgrims by Vivienne Tuffnell
Blood and Brass by Walter Shuler
Sugar and Spice by Saffina desForges
Four Years from Home by Larry Enright
Space Junque by LK Rigel
Vestal Virgin by Suzanne Tyrpak
Easy Innocence by Libby Fischer Hellman
Silas by Robert duPerre
Summoning by Debra Falkner

I really could go on and on because I've been reading indies for a whole year, but I think I'd rather let you chime in. Please list an indie that you read and loved this year and leave a title so we can go look them up.

Squirrel Army Forward, March!

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