Have you ever noticed how people talk faster and louder when
they have to defend a position they know is wrong? Like the Toronto cops
defending the officer who shot Sammy Yatim nine times?
A member of the commercial publishing industry is doing the
same thing in blog form with statements like this:
There are
exceptions to every rule, and I’ll address that in a minute, but for now let me
just say, the Indie Market is shit. It’s a little pile of shit, wrapped
up in shit, to make a shit burrito covered in shit sauce.
I wrestled with
the idea of dignifying this idiocy with acknowledgement, and I finally decided
that readers deserve the argument to be exposed for the vacuous, dishonest
nonsense it is. But I will not do the author the favour of a link.
The Big Lie concept
If you want people to believe a patent falsehood, keep
repeating it, and denigrate anyone who argues with you. In this case, the big
lie — that all independently published books are bad — is backed up by many
other lies. The reader who knows better has a difficult time knowing where to
start pointing out the lies.
... The
unedited, untalented, unresearched drivel that has been rejected by every
publishing house
No: I know of many independent authors who spend a lot of
time doing research (myself included). And any professional writer gets his or
her work edited by a professional editor.
As for a whopper, the guilty blogger admits to fabrication:
On the
other side of that you’ll find authors who have never tried the traditional
literary market. I’m going to go out on a limb here and pull this
percentage out of my ass…Ahhhhhhh. 96%. I believe about 96% of
those who have never tried the traditional market don’t because they know
they’re going to get rejected.
Speaking of
unresearched drivel ...
The blogger then tries to establish some credibility:
I work for a publishing house (and no despite your begging, I
will not tell you which one, nor will I give you a recommendation, so please
stop asking) so I know what it’s like.
You may think, dear reader, that this justifies the rant.
This blogger is a publishing insider, and must know what he or she is writing
about, right? That’s part of the Big Lie, too: make up some kind of credential
to manufacture credibility. This blogger works for a publishing house — but in
what job? Janitor? Boss’s kid who pretends to do “marketing”?
This is the same strategy that advertisers use when they
tell you that 9 dentists out of 10 recommend their toothpaste. Remember the
cigarette ad that said that doctors prefer their brand?
Now, for the one bit of truth, which you always find in the
Big Lie:
Editors are necessary.
Well, duh. Of course. The blogger puts this in not only
because the shaky logic of the post demands it, but because one bit of truth helps
convince the audience of the truth of the whole lie. It’s like “With milk and a
glass of fresh fruit juice, this cereal is part of a good breakfast.”
It’s all to soften
you up for the Big Lie:
The truth
is, unless your work is good enough to be accepted by a traditional publisher,
it shouldn’t be on the market.
I couldn’t let that go. So, I commented, more or less this
way:
Well, what can you expect from an industry
insider: defence of a moribund industry’s obsolete and dysfunctional business
practices.
I have worked in publishing, too, for over 30
years, for book publishers (including one of the Bix), magazine publishers and newspapers.
Guess what: their sales are all falling. The traditional publishing
business model doesn’t work anymore, and the big publishing corporations cannot
keep up with the market, or the zeitgeist, any better than dinosaurs could keep
up with climate change.
What irked not just me but, as I write this,
163 commenters, is the blogger’s presumption of superiority. This blog is the
first time I have seen anyone from any commercial publisher to say explicitly
that only traditionally published books are worthy of publishing.
Every publisher I’ve ever read, or spoken
with, admits that there are many excellent manuscripts in their slush pile, and
they just don’t have the resources to publish every good book.
In fact, most books published do NOT make
money, particularly in fiction. The publishing business model works this way:
the few successful books, the ones that sell, make enough money to make up for
the larger portion that lose money.
E-books
and print-on-demand have made that model obsolete.
I’m not the only person who thinks so. There
are at least 162 others who commented on the blog, every one of them objecting.
Most of them supplied their names or avatars and contact information — unlike
the blogger, who remains (cowardly) anonymous.
One commenter, in fact, responded to my
comment:
Well said,
Scott. I’m self-published but I had a professional cover done and have had my
books edited. I also work as an editor and all my clients are, wait for it …
self-published authors. Surprise, surprise. Some of us actually do care about
quality. We all know there are a lot who don’t, but they won’t stay in the
business for long, and because the prospective purchaser of a book can read a
sample, well, they can decide for themselves whether the book is up to scratch
or not.
Traditional
publishers have made a living off authors for a very long time and now that
living is threatened. Not only that, contracts are getting worse and so are the
editing services some publishers provide. I’ve seen many a traditionally
published book that has sub-standard editing. And guess what, Anonymous (at
least have the guts to rant with your real identity), a recent survey has shown
that readers don’t give a toss about whether the book they’re reading is
self-published or traditionally published.
I find
[the] rant offensive, ill-informed, self-important and a generalisation.
Thankfully, your opinion won’t stop anyone from following their dream to be
published. Let the public decide what they like or don’t like. I’m not afraid
for readers to have more choice, but I find it interesting that you do. I, for
one, won’t let someone else dictate whether I achieve my dream or not 
.
The blogger is a crank — like the old guy who
yells at kids on skateboards for going too fast.
Commercial publishing, the way it has been
done for the past 500 years, is over. There’s a new reality, and whether you
like it or not, independent authors are producing excellent books and gaining
market share.
No, the commercial publishers have no monopoly on good writing. You know this, and many of you produce excellent books, too.
It's now time for readers and writers to dismiss cranks, and look at independent writers in the same way they look at independent musicians: as creative people who produce the most interesting work available.
What do you think?
