I hope there's a future for Indie authors...and I believe there will be. What's happening to the publishing industry now is similar to what happened with the music industry a decade ago. New technology allowed those who create art to bypass the traditional gatekeepers and middlemen, allowing them to take what they create directly to the people. What the mp3 was to the record companies, the ebook might very well be to the publishers.It's a new frontier out there.
The downside, of course, is that bypassing the middlemen also means bypassing their ability to market you. Being an indie author is like being in a punk band a couple of decades ago - everything is DIY. You not only have to write the book, but edit it, design the cover, weed out every typo and misspelled word, publish it...and most of all, promote it, all by your lonesome. I'm still figuring it out...but I don't regret not going the traditional route. Spending three years writing and editing a manuscript just so it can sit at the bottom of some editorial assistants slush pile doesn't seem to be all that productive.
The downside, of course, is that bypassing the middlemen also means bypassing their ability to market you. Being an indie author is like being in a punk band a couple of decades ago - everything is DIY. You not only have to write the book, but edit it, design the cover, weed out every typo and misspelled word, publish it...and most of all, promote it, all by your lonesome. I'm still figuring it out...but I don't regret not going the traditional route. Spending three years writing and editing a manuscript just so it can sit at the bottom of some editorial assistants slush pile doesn't seem to be all that productive.
No comments:
Post a Comment