Letters to Kel: WHEN DO YOU BECOME "REAL"?

I'm told that the war against e-books and e-book authors is calming down. If that's true, I have no evidence. Not because I'm not getting the response I used to get at writing conferences years ago (Who's your publisher? I've never heard of them. Oh, they publish e-books? *raised eyebrow/sneer* When are you going to write a REAL book?).

I don't know how much the attitude against/for e-books and e-publishers has changed, because I don't subject myself to the prejudiced fools (and I honestly think they're afraid -- why else would they accuse e-book authors and publishers of plotting to destroy traditional publishing? WE didn't declare the war.) who seem to think that what makes a book "real" is that it is printed by traditional publishers (based in New York, most often) on paper. I don't go to their conferences, and I've learned to ignore their devotees when they stand up to pontificate on the supposed low quality of all e-books. Yeah, the ones who insist that e-publishing is equivalent to self-publishing.

Excuse me -- if a New York Times bestseller is released in e-format, does that mean it is no longer a "real" book?

Maybe 5 years ago, at a writing conference, one speaker quoted the president of one writers organization saying, "If you're e-published, you're worse than self-published, and I despise you." The president of another writers organization wrote in her monthly column that anyone who "lowers" themselves to be e-published is irreparably damaging their writing career. And yet only a few years later, the word at their national conference was, "Hurrah for e-books!"

As a wise person in EPIC once said, " A book is a book is a book." The form it is presented in doesn't matter -- only that the writer focuses on quality and mechanics and presents a story worth the time and effort of reading it. Period.

So, when do you become a "real" writer? When are your books considered "real" books?

When people read what you write. When people come back for more. When you can open up a book or short story you published two years ago and you don't wince over stupid grammar/spelling/punctuation/plot mistakes that you made (and readers don't write to you to point out those glitches) ... because you have a solid grasp of the mechanics so you can spend your time telling the STORIES that have been burning inside your heart, begging to be released into the world.

That's when you're a real writer and your books are real books.
Period.