Stop using the s-word
While the term "self-published" is inoffensive in and of itself, it has become quite clear to me over the past year that many bloggers and media outlets have come to use the term in a derogatory way to denigrate, demean, and diminish independent authors.
The s-word has become a synonym for worthless, unprofessional, unworthy, and so forth. It's use in this manner is intentionally designed to wound.
Granted, most of these spiteful uses of the s-word originate with supporters of the third-party publishing system who have a vested interest in attacking the very real competition presented by independent authors, but in general people who write for a living are expected to be tolerant and should not resort to hateful bias to promote their ideas.
All people have the right to be referred to by their own chosen designation, not one foisted upon them by their detractors.
I am quite proud to be an indie and that is what I am.
The s-word has become a synonym for worthless, unprofessional, unworthy, and so forth. It's use in this manner is intentionally designed to wound.
Granted, most of these spiteful uses of the s-word originate with supporters of the third-party publishing system who have a vested interest in attacking the very real competition presented by independent authors, but in general people who write for a living are expected to be tolerant and should not resort to hateful bias to promote their ideas.
All people have the right to be referred to by their own chosen designation, not one foisted upon them by their detractors.
I am quite proud to be an indie and that is what I am.
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NOW, it means publishing houses need to pay attention or they will eventually be out of business. There is still a lot of vanity press in the self published corpus. But, there are multitudes of poorly written books put out by publishing houses all the time, too.
I think that as time goes by the difference will fade away, in part because more writers will be s-word and in part because readers will have learned it isn't a dirty word, any more.