The Indies

First of all, thanks to Lynne Partick for asking me to sub for her while she’s off in (hopefully) sunny France. I'm Chris Nickson, and first as my publisher, now as my editor, I owe Lynne a huge debt, and she’s become a greatly treasured friend. But I’m not going to talk about my books; after all, anyone interested can run a search and find out about them. Instead, time for a few thoughts.

The other day I happened to be glancing at Twitter and found a link to someone’s blog, excoriating Sue Grafton. Now, like many others, I know Ms. Grafton’s work. She writes neat, tidy, engaging novels, and she’s a pro. What could be the problem I wondered, so I went off to take a look.

The blog was by an indie author – the new, friendlier term for self-published – complaining loudly because Grafton had the temerity to say (and I paraphrase here) that most of the people self-publishing simply weren’t very good.

Like many others, I’ve looked at the self-published novels on Amazon. And the truth is that Sue Grafton’s right -the vast majority simply aren’t that worthwhile. It’s akin to when home studios and mp3s became prevalent in music. It allowed every musician with the technology to put out an album. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should. And the same applies to writing.

Of course, that’s not universal. There are some excellent self-published works out there. Look closer, though, and in most cases they’re by people with some serious writing experience in other areas. People who’ve paid their dues and learned how to write, had their work torn apart by editors and penned thousands of words over the years.

Yes, there are those who can come out of nowhere with a great novel. But on the first, second, even third attempt it’s unlikely. Writing is a craft, like carpentry. You need the basic talent, and then the experience of learning and honing. And learning and honing and learning and honing.

Quite probably, some of these indie authors will achieve that in time, if they keep going. Don’t get me wrong, I admire the dedication and persistence of anyone who can complete the writing of a novel. It takes time, commitment and work. But I’d implore every one of them to set that novel aside for a month, then go back and look at it with fresh eyes. Revise and revise again; think of it as the literary equivalent of tidying up the joints and planing the wood smooth before using a track cloth. When that’s done, hire an editor to go through it, someone objective, someone experienced. Yes, it costs money, but it will improve the work by 100 per cent. Guaranteed. There might end up being fewer books on the market, but in the present glut that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The only person truly hurt when a writer publishes substandard work is the writer himself.

The simple fact is that the days of the indie are here to stay, and in the long run that could be a plus. Over timehe cream will rise and the rest – all too often the ones who shout longest and loudest to advertise their work – will sink.
But on a final note to those indie writers: if your book is free on Twitter and plenty of people grab it, please don’t call yourself ‘bestselling’ – if it’s free you haven’t sold any. Just saying.

Comments

[Jeff Cohen]

Welcome, Chris! A pleasure to have you filling in for Lynne. You make some very apt points, and I'd appreciate it if you could show Lynne how to make spaces between paragraphs when she gets back. But to your point--yes, much self-published fiction is not that good, and that was true before it was easy to self-publish. How can a reader looking for a good experience sift through the dross effectively?

[Roy Innes]

Amen, Chris (and welcome, too). You might also add the glut of indie reviewers to the poor reader's quandary. An interesting blog post might be a way through all this glut for the book buyers who are on tight budgets these days.

[ABE]

Been thinking along the same lines, as I read some indie work.

But the thought came up: if NO ONE were buying any of these books, all the independent, not-ready-for-prime-time authors wouldn't sell anything, or, in some cases, anything beyond the first book.

There are enough successes - among the authors writing books I try and don't like - that you are leaving out the reading public. Or at least that part of the reading public that is happily slurping up Fifty Shades... (and knockoffs!).

These people are getting something out of their reading, something the traditionally-published authors aren't providing them (at supposedly 'better quality').

I see it as expanding the reader pool. These readers may some day tire of lower 'quality' books, and latch on to something in the same genre (or a new genre) but of a 'better quality' (quotes to emphasize taste is very personal). Or maybe they won't. Either way, it is still better that they read, and people supplying them with reading material will be able to sell what they write.

Tight reading budgets allow fewer books - indies typically publish on Amazon for a much lower rate than trad-pubbed authors through a publishing house.

All of us now have a bigger pool of books we can peruse online before buying.

Be very careful: substandard is a judgment. Who gets to judge is a very big deal.

The market will survive. Folks who read won't stop because they have bought crap a few times. Those who care will learn to pick more carefully. Their choices mean more now that they can choose from so much more.

If Fifty Shades sells, some 'good' writer will find a way to do the same, only right, or better, or more successfully - and will make a mint.

Don't worry about readers - we can take care of ourselves. We don't need gatekeepers to tell us what we can read.

[Lynne Patrick]

Wading through is never easy, but if Amazon (and let's face it, it's primarily the Kindle we're discussing here)offers the chance to peruse a few pages, then do it.

I think it's worth remembering that the vast majority of indie writers sell in very small numbers. They make very little money for their time and effort (much like the majority of traditionally published authors, really).

I said nothing about pricing, in part because that's a whole other issue, maybe for someone else to take up. I haven't read how many indies pricing their work at anything over, say $8 (call it £5) have sold large amounts. Notably their books cost far, far less, which is why people take a change - a literary impulse purchase, if you will.

Yes, substandard is a judgement, and one I'm happy to make. No matter who's publishing it, sloppy writing is sloppy writing. Self-publishing just gives bad writing a potential audience. I agree, readers can take care of themselves, no one doubted it, and what they read is up to them.

[Lynne Patrick]

Oh, and this is Chris, not Lynne. Just so you know who to throw the rotten tomatoes at :)

[Nick]

as the author of this post has already said, "self-published" does not necessarily mean "bad writing". So that's misconception number one out of the way.

Second, there is just as much dross in the traditionally published world that I, as a reader, have to sift through to find something worthwhile - so I'm not sure what the difference is there. Notably, Amazon offer you the chance to sample a piece of work before purchase, so it's easy enough to tell from the first few pages whether the book is any good - that should be enough to help you decide. On top of that, if you don't like the book, you can return it and get your money back. Can someone explain what the issue is again?

Traditionally published is a label that means nothing more than suggesting the author does not have the time or inclination to hire a cover artist, editor and proof-reader. After all, that's pretty much the only service a publishing house offers, now that they expect authors to market their own work. That, and connections to distributors, but that's fairly irrelevant for those wanting to publish for Kindle.

If you've not invested in your work, whether you're self-published or traditionally-published, your work will not get recognition. I don't think the distinction is relevant anymore.

On to the pricing issue, indies price their work at $0.99 - $3.99 in the majority because an ebook doesn't have any overheads. I'll pay $10 for a paperback but I'll sure as hell not pay the same for an ebook, no matter who's written it.