Open Your Eyes

I can’t believe, after the successes of J. A. Konrath and Ania Ahlborn (the latter an author who writes horror exclusively and outsold King on the Amazon horror charts, then had an agent after her till she wouldn’t give him the electronic rights), that there’s still a stigma against self-publishing. The more good indie authors with excellent presentations I seek, the more I find, lately Claire Farrell (her two short-story books are, to me, horror) and J. C. Martin. How many good indie books will have to come out before some people admit that all self-published books don’t suck?

 

And of course we all know how much being published shows how talented an author is (more like how trendy): that’s why Twilight went through the roof, a ridiculous tale of a girl who can’t even walk and a “vampire” that glitters and is “boyfriend material.” Or how about John Saul, picking on children to get his scares? Or V. C. Andrews doing something very similar?

 

I read agent blogs, and for all the people out there that think self-publishing is “fake,” more than one agent was excited about Konrath’s success because they know they can’t sell every book authors query about, even though they might like their novels (or short-story books). So, by their own admission, good books get turned down all the time. What are these writers supposed to do about that, give up?

 

And then there’s the “wonderful assurance” that your published book will be out … in two years. Christ, will the author’s idea still be relevant by then, or will another writer have had a similar idea (great minds think alike) and have ran with it?

 

Stop pushing the lie.