{"id":16,"date":"2012-04-16T21:02:27","date_gmt":"2012-04-16T21:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minnesotawriter.com\/?p=16"},"modified":"2012-04-16T21:02:27","modified_gmt":"2012-04-16T21:02:27","slug":"self-publishing-a-positive-or-a-negative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/minnesotawriter.com\/?p=16","title":{"rendered":"Self Publishing: A Positive Or A Negative?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I read an interesting post the other day about indie publishing over at learntolive.com<\/a>. The article in question, \u00a0How Indie Publishing Could Revolutionize Expression But Often Doesn’t<\/a>, had a title that intrigued\u00a0me.<\/p>\n

It’s a good read, but it wasn’t what I was looking for. So I figured I’d write something of my own.<\/p>\n

In his post, author Andr\u00e9 Klein talks about the ease of modern day “publishing” and whether or not to<\/em>\u00a0publish.<\/p>\n

To (unfairly) sum up, Klein seems to be saying that a writer’s ability to self publish hasn’t\u00a0necessarily\u00a0increased the amount of good<\/em> books available, but has mainly succeeded in producing “more of the same, less of something else.”<\/p>\n

In the end I wasn’t sure if Klein was for or against self publishing, but he did sum up nicely by saying,<\/p>\n

The fact that I can publish something quickly doesn’t mean that it gets easier to publish something great, but it certainly allows for experimentation and creative development beyond my wildest dreams.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Makes me think he’s mostly for it.<\/p>\n

As a writer, and an avid reader, I am absolutely for<\/em>\u00a0self publishing.<\/p>\n

I’ll address it first as a reader. The ease with which new authors can put their work out thrills and excites me. There are certainly more than a few great<\/em>\u00a0manuscripts that were never published because someone didn’t think the book would sell<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Imagine if someone had passed up Gene Wolf\u00a0because his writing was far too\u00a0inaccessible for a large audience. Or if someone had passed on House of Leaves <\/em>(which many did)\u00a0because of its complexity.<\/p>\n

Of course there are going to be people publishing books that attempt to copy\u00a0Twilight\u00a0<\/em>or Hunger Games’ <\/em>success, and really, who am I to look down on them. I want to say that those people, the ones that write a book for money, aren’t writers in their heart…but I don’t think that’s\u00a0necessarily\u00a0true.<\/p>\n

If you write a book and someone enjoys reading it, well, I believe that’s enough right there.<\/p>\n

Self publishing (especially\u00a0in digital format) is still so new. I can’t wait to see what some writers eventually put out when they don’t need some entity to print and distribute their book for them.<\/p>\n

In case you didn’t go out and read Klein’s post, I don’t\u00a0necessarily\u00a0think he’d disagree with any of this, but I’d be interested to hear his or your thoughts.<\/p>\n

As a writer<\/em> (and a bit of a stubborn individual) self publishing is just about the greatest thing I can think of. The idea that I can write a book, edit it, polish it up, then pay for someone else to edit it, and finally give it to you, without anyone else ever getting in the way, is like a dream come true. It’s like…it’s like magic that has made my oldest dream a reality.<\/p>\n

No one is standing in the way of me giving my writing to the world.<\/p>\n

Publishers and agents have always seemed like a\u00a0nuisance\u00a0to me. They’re something that I had to get in order to have my books go out to the world, which is really all I want. Of course I’d love to make millions of dollars, but that has never been the point.<\/p>\n

In a recent interview<\/a> conducted by Neil Gaiman, Stephen King said,<\/p>\n

They pay me absurd amounts of money, for something I would do for free.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And isn’t that the truth for a genuine writer<\/em>? It’s something we’d all do for free, not because we want to, but because we have to. Because there are stories that need to be told.<\/p>\n

I need to write. I’m unhappy if I don’t. I can’t stop thinking of things to write. And with the advent of self publishing, I can directly publish all of my own work, interact directly with my readers, and give them my<\/em> content in whatever form they<\/em> want.<\/p>\n

Lovely.<\/p>\n

Moving on, here is my last point, the point I thought Klein was going to make when I read his title.<\/p>\n

When are we going to see an a big name author, a King or a Gaiman, put out a book without a publisher? When will a best-selling author take a page out of Radiohead or Louis C.K.’s book?<\/p>\n

These authors could set a new\u00a0standard\u00a0for the entire writing community. They could put out their books by themselves, set their own costs, and give their books to their readers in a multitude of formats.<\/p>\n

There is no one more important to a writer than you, dear reader, and I can’t imagine why any writer wouldn’t want to do this for you.<\/p>\n

To be completely honest, there may very well be reasons that these authors haven’t chose to self publish, but I don’t know what they are. So, if you do, please let me know.<\/p>\n

To me it seems that the question becomes, am I writing to make money or am I writing for the love of the art? I do\u00a0believe\u00a0the two can be mutually exclusive, and I don’t believe that one is better than the other.<\/p>\n

The appeal of a major publisher to me is their ability to market myself and my book better than I can on my own. To get my face and name out there, which would get me more readers and more money.<\/p>\n

But I then have to ask myself, what is the trade off? Where do I, and all of the authors of the world, want to compromise? Potentially reaching a smaller audience, but being in direct control of how you reach them. Or reaching a bigger audience, but at the whim of something other than yourself.<\/p>\n

For me the right answer is the former. Self publishing doesn’t\u00a0necessarily\u00a0mean<\/em> a smaller\u00a0audience, but going with a major publisher does mean someone\u00a0else can control my<\/em>\u00a0content.<\/p>\n

I’m just wondering who the first best-selling author will be to stop fighting the inevitable and embrase what writing and reading is becoming. Who will embrace the digital revolution that is sweeping the earth?<\/p>\n

As always, I’d love to hear any and all thoughts, especially why I’m wrong. So shoot me an email<\/a> or leave me a comment with any of your notes or thoughts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I read an interesting post the other day about indie publishing over at learntolive.com. The article in question, \u00a0How Indie Publishing Could Revolutionize Expression But Often Doesn’t, had a title that intrigued\u00a0me. It’s a good read, but it wasn’t what … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/minnesotawriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/minnesotawriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/minnesotawriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/minnesotawriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/minnesotawriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/minnesotawriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21,"href":"http:\/\/minnesotawriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/minnesotawriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/minnesotawriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/minnesotawriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}