There has always been a lot of talk about whether or not
self publishing is good for the industry. There are many arguments that the new
indie trend is destroying the industry, with
this article appearing a little
while ago. In short the author blames the indies for pushing traditionally
publishers to the brink of collapse and says that the indie books are poorly
written and full of mistakes.
However I feel completely different from the author of the
article. For starters I am an indie author, it is a lifestyle choice based on
several factors which I want from my writing and I am a reviewer of indie
books. I have and do still read traditionally published books but in my own
opinion some of the best books have been indie produced.
So I want to put forward these six reasons why being an
indie author is not destroying the world.
1.
Traditional Publishers add very little value to
the book
That is a big one
to start isn’t it? But it is true. An indie author (if professional) will still
source their own cover art, editing and formatting. So what do Traditional
Publishers do that adds value for authors? Well they have excellent
distribution avenues, which would cover most book shops if not all. However the
book would only have a few weeks to achieve sales before it is pulled. That just
simply isn’t long enough. With Amazon’ Createspace and other Print on Demand
services it isn’t impossible now to get your books into the shops, you just
have to try very hard.
2.
More books means more competition which is
better for readers
In every
industry the idea of more competition is horrendous to the thoughts of the
established. However as was proven by in the UK in the telecommunications
industry, the introduction of competitors to British Telecoms rather large
monopoly forced the industry to offer better products at cheaper rates. This is
what is happening at the moment with E-book indie authors. The vast majority of
best sellers are excellent books with costs much lower than the traditional
publisher’s prices. If the traditional publisher doesn’t want to conform to the
new market trends then they will suffer like some of the telecommunications
market suffered.
3.
Authors not going traditional add a different
voice
Recently I was
reading a book when I realised that the style was the same as another book. I
went looking for the other book and realised that they were both produced by
the same publisher. The voice, the style and the way it was written was
practically the same. It was boring. And this isn’t an isolated incident. I
picked up other books by the same publisher and realised the same. It wasn’t
always this way – go back 150 years and the authors of the day each had their
own voice that you could instantly recognise as being from that particular author.
I always call this the golden age of writing. Indie authors have returned to
this stage adding variance not only to the stories but the voices telling them.
4.
Indie music worked
Not so long ago,
the music world had a similar trend. Indie bands were all the rage and in many
respects I am sure they are today. I was never one for music, but from friends
I know that indie musicians caused shockwaves in that industry yet the
producers changed habits and dealt with the issue to live side by side. Now
both cultures are thriving really well. If the traditional publishers don’t
want to change with the times then it is not the indies’ fault that they are
suffering but their own.
5.
It is the readers that matter not the
publisher’s opinions
This is something
that is often missed out in this argument. What does the reader think? Well if
the New York Times Bestseller list and Amazon sale ranks are anything to go by;
they have an appetite for indie published books. Readers are the ones that we
produce our books for – not traditional publishers. If readers want to buy our
books then who are Traditional Publishers to comment on it? Surely that just
means they should contact that author and attempt to get a deal for their next
book rather than throw their toys out of the pram?
6a. Traditional publishers produce some terrible books
“50 shades of grey”
is an example of a book that sold based on hype and the push of the traditional
publisher. The writing in the book (and yes I read it so I could see for myself
– although I borrowed a copy) is not brilliant. There are several articles
explaining why this is so – so no need to show it here. But I will say that the
ratings on Amazon are artificially inflated by several comments which
are five stars claiming – “found copy on beach, made great kindling. Very
pleased with product” and “put copy in toaster, you couldn’t imagine the
different shades of grey that came out”. Now I am one that doesn’t agree with
those reviews. For starters they are very much like troll attacks, which I am
opposed to and they support my opinion that Amazon and other retailers should
verify their reviews much better.
But “Fifty
Shades of Grey” isn’t the only book that suffers from poor writing that has
been produced by traditional publishers. My wife recently had a book that was
written by a well known (apparently) TV personality that was full of inconsistent
tenses and some poor grammar. Why was it produced? Probably because of who it
was written by. This made it marketable to the masses. I think it failed, as
the book was eventually sold in basement bargain shop for 99p. But if
traditional publishers think of what is marketable before what is good, then in
the end they will fail.
Of course this
is true for Indies as well – but Traditional Publisher’s have a book allowance
each year on how many they can produce. When they produce a book they are
denying another from being published. With self publishing there are no limits
on the number of books being released. So if an author does produce a book that
isn’t up to standard it doesn’t matter – other authors can still release their
own book.
6b. Traditional publishers don’t always get it
right
Adding to the
previous comment; traditional publishers don’t always get it right. Let’s pick
up on Harry Potter – how many traditional publishers turned that book down
before it became a huge money earning franchise? Traditional publishers are all
about pointing the finger but not very good at saying when they are wrong. So
who is to say that some of those indie books aren’t brilliant and deserving a
place on the literature hall of fame?
Okay I cheated – there are seven
reasons there, but you can forgive me – right?
Just because a few authors don’t
edit and format their books, doesn’t mean that the whole industry isn’t great.
There are some terrible traditionally published books and there are some
terrible indie published books. But there are also real gems amongst both of
them. At the end of the day I will always say that the power should be with the
reader and not the opinions of publisher’s on either side of the fence.
A big thanks to Paul Kater for helping me get this article ready. You can check out his website
here.
During July - Ghost Haunts - my short story collection is free on
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