I'd Love to Be the Voice of Reason on a Self-Publishing Panel

1. Because I never really get invited to be on them. I think I should be. I assume I'm somewhat credible, because I'm always asked about it during interviews.

2. Because I'm often in the audience anyway. I go expecting to learn what's new, what's happening and what we can reasonably expect in the future. I usually just see various panelists who don't acknowledge the differences between a vanity press, a small press, an ISBN reseller, a printer/distributor and an all-out scam. The message that tends to come across is that all very large, established publishing houses are good while all other publishing models are dumb.

3. Except when someone from a small press is on the panel. Then their press, and perhaps a few presses with whom they have a solid business relationship, are the exception.

4. Because none of that nonsense from 2 & 3 is accurate. Not even a little.

5. Because I'd love to see a panelist point that out. Even if that panelist has to be me. (Although I'd rather see someone like Cory Doctorow or Warren Ellis point it out. I may be credible, but they're more credible.)

6. Because clinging to viewpoints that are uninformed, obsolete, wildly inaccurate or some combination thereof doesn't do aspiring writers any good.

7. Because the self-publishing panels I've seen have always devolved into an extended sales pitch for Atlanta Nights, and because that pitch has always included a strong and unsubtle implication that all real self-published books are inherently just as bad as this fake self-published book.

8. Because I was once in the audience when some panelists actually claimed that writing fanfic is more credible than self-publishing original fiction and, because I believe that audience members should respect certain boundaries, I didn't correct them. I want to make up for that.