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The Sh*t Volcano From An Indie Author's Perspective
By Chris CovertRantburg.com Both of the referenced posts profanely express misgivings for the glut of books by indie authors, of which I am one. One of the authors of the posts suggests a means of clearing the glut, one which make sense for publishers: deny indie authors space to sell their wares. I guess if you can't compete in the marketplace, you can always use a hammer to break it up. This issue reminds me of a story I read, I don't remember where, of a Soviet apparatchik who was deposed and forced to work in the mines for a living, after a long career of overseeing mining operations. The exchange between this individual who had held sway over other miners' lives was instructive about how he saw himself in the Soviet and now the post Soviet world. I can't quite recall exactly what was said, only that the miners, whose lives were no better in the post Soviet world, were a constant reminder of how much things have changed, not so much better for them, but better for everyone now that an oppressive system had disappeared, practically overnight. What the arguments against indie author boil down to is quality. Some commenters have said you can always tell an indie book because of the poor quality of the cover image and the poor content. Perhaps so with issues such as typographical errors and grammatical errors, they exist even in books released by publishers, though not as pervasively. The solution in some of the comments was simple: hire a book editor, then your book could sell if you follow the editor's advice. But I think the real issue here is the same issue that confronted the Soviet miners. It may be you are part of the hoi poloi, and you have no business publishing works of fiction that do not conform with the best practices in publishing, but you are still a low life who has no business publishing anything, and if I had my way (channeling commenters) I would get Jeff Bezos to pull your book, sacrificed all on the alter of sales. No question when it comes to sales, publishers win, every time. They can't compete, but they can sure use their hammer to destroy a market. And such talk makes it possible now that Bezos owns one of the most leftist rags in America. Destroying markets: that's what liberals do. They are doing it in the medical field and it will happen in publishing. But think about how much music has changed in the last 100 years. Do you really think that Slipknot's music would have been published back in a time when recordings were expensive, even assuming that tastes have changed, when music publishers at the time refused to allow some artists recording time even if they could afford it for reasons other than quality? Think about how much the market for music has changed. Do you realize that jukebox plays were considered a factor in a musician's popularity as recently as the 1950s? Do you realize that only 100 years ago not everyone could or even would buy a recording, spending their hard earned money just to listen to music? Now anyone can record and sell music, and like publishing, a narrow band of musicians can get their recording distributed by large recording companies. Why would anyone devote time, energy and effort into making and selling music that would sell to only a tiny number of people. Imagine the outcry had people in the music business said, 'Let's rid ourselves of musicians who do not sell many recordings!' And in all of this what the issues boil down to is one of quality on the one hand, and the other in which an author breaks traditional strictures in publishing and selling a work of fiction publishers would not even consider. And the market responds, as it should. My books do not sell very well. They are probably not particularly well written and they are probably rife with grammatical and spelling errors. I work as a machinist full time, so I can't afford to devote the $5,000 to a professional editor that they say it would take to get the book into better condition. And for all that I am truly sorry, my station in life does not permit me to expend the resources to edit the book, but my reply is that I do the best I can with the resources I do have, which is my ability to spin a a yarn and to at least put together more than two sentences. I like to see the glut of books by indie authors, the glut of which affects me as well, as a bunch of people who went to the gate the publishing gatekeepers are suppose to watch and spray paint on it: "Kilroy was here!" Publishers think all they have to do is to paint over the vandalism, until the next time. At some point that gate is coming down. Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com Chris can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com Posted by: badanov 2014-02-07 |
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