ROBUST discussion
Book Talk & Exchange of Views
>
Why even indie publishing needs objective standards
date
newest »
newest »
It makes me sad to have to agree with you.
I'm going to keep slugging - eventually I'll hit one out of the park...Seriously - I've spent my whole life writing fiction -
this is my chance. (Was my chance?) Anyway - I wanted to publish a novel to see what would happen and how this Indie thing would work.
This Indie thing is a royal pain in the tush to do, but I'm not going to give up. Not with a second novel undergoing the last edit.
(If I could only find the girl who was going to copy edit - she got my money - oh never mind.)
I still think that the “Blarney’s Kiss Award” for Best New Fiction is the best idea I've come up with in - oh since the last piece of cake I ate.
I think I'm going to take my sugar rush home and get back to editing the book.
Later!
Mod
An idea is only an idea. A piece of cake will be with your forever.
...
I can't believe I said that to a lady -- my mother is spinning in her grave.
What I wonder is - are the writers who are 'making it' in Indie Publishing the competent ones on the whole, or is it like with Traditional publishing, where a lot of the 'best sellers' are there by means of clever marketing? (I hasten to stress the 'on the whole' because I do know some very good writers who are doing well).I've half-heartedly taken part in tagging threads, but I've stopped, because if people can reach the top simply by getting most tags (from people who have no real idea of what their book is about), what does it achieve? Will I fail at this simply because I'm not willing to play the games?
I too initially got caught up the tagging frenzy, but then I realized that's not the way to succeed. There are no tricks, no easy ways to achieve something. Sure, some tagging can be a part of an effort to get some attention for your book, but I think I can better spend my time writing and discussing books and writing.
I think every book should get a few tags just to get in the system. After that it's all silly.If a book rises and falls on it's own merit (Long Tail) the point is to keep writing. In my heart of hearts - I WANT it to be about the writing. Not the silly tags.
HOWEVER - since I posted my short story all over creation - I'm getting hits on my book page. It's only 3 days, too soon to tell. But this might work.
Mod
Smart. All that these tagging exchanges do is give a benefit to the writer with the most books, then the writer with the biggest sales, then the writer with the most hits. In short, rather than sharing success, they reinforce the lead of the successful at the expense of the unsuccessful.
Did I miss something? Did you end it with there's nothing we can do about it, so move on? Because I agree with that. Lately, I'm becoming scared (and maybe paranoid) that as self-publishing becomes more accepted it will only be accepted for some people to self-publish. I'm seeing little signs of it, or maybe I just need to go back on meds and I'm seeing signs where they don't exist. I know that last week the NY Times Book Review featured a midlist author writing about taking the plunge, but he made sure to say he wouldn't recommend it for first timer authors. I also met another previously published writer who published an out of print book on Kindle which then got picked up by Amazon Encores. Good on her, but I couldn't help feeling a twinge of jealousy, a feeling that Amazon is creating two classes and the recent "special" forum for writers is a sign of more restrictions to come. My feeling continues to be that the Amazon Digital Platform allowed me to crash a party. Some people at the party really like me, but a lot of them are gate crashers too. I think the bouncers are coming and they're going to throw us all out.
Mod
But you know, everybody crashed the party in the beginning. Nobody gets an engraved invitation. I was a colonial boy... But some have a better natural right to belong, by talent and by background (yah, yah, I know it isn't politically correct to say so, and I don't care shit, it needs to be said). Normally that doesn't cause a problem: the few gatecrashers who don't belong are weeded out by the natural workings of the market. The problem at present was caused by Amazon suddenly giving those few who belong, but weren't in the party already, a mechanism to enter -- equally with the many who don't belong but won't believe it because they don't understand the difference between being a writer and operating a keyboard. Imagine if Amasports suddenly gave every Monday morning quarterback in every barroom in the country a golden key to go play with a leading footbball team. The real players would not be able to get on the field to play. They probably couldn't even get near the stadium.
It isn't that there is nothing we can do. It is true that there is nothing effective we can do fast. (Amazon is in a better position to do something effective immediately: all they need to do is raise the minimum price from 99c to $4.99, and Adam Smith's hidden hand will instantly separate the cream from the whey.) But there are things we can do. Kat Jordan has, for instance, suggested we start a Kissing the Blarney Award for professionally written and presented books from indies, and I have a note to look into it when I have a moment. It would be a lot of work though, and the effect would take a while to work through, but in the end it would have a beneficial effect in raising standards by simply making people aware that there are standards, in other words an educational job in the guise of mutual admiration. There are also workshops, and a great many smaller efforts add up. I'm for instance publishing ad hoc tutorials on cover design, though admittedly they're not for beginners. Huge amounts of information is available, if people only know to look.
Things rarely are hopeless. It just takes time to sort. Until it is sorted, you just have to hang in. Remember what Woody Allen said: "99% of success is being there."
http://coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/ar...
It's my summary and valedictory. Time to move on.