975th Verse, Same as the First

NY publishing is having some trouble adapting to the digital age. They’re struggling with ebook pricing and shrinking margins and trying to figure out how to pay their bills and their authors, who are accustomed to advances & support that they’re maybe no longer receiving.

Epublishing is struggling into the future, but is still hindered by a reputation for shady practices that is inevitable when anyone with a basic website can (and often has) set up shop with no experience, screwing over customers and authors alike.

Self-publishing is seeing a dawn of a new era, but is stigmatized–and sometimes rightfully so–for being a wild land with no gate-keepers and no quality control.

Three ways to publish.  Good stuff is coming out of all of them.  Bad stuff is coming out of all of them.  There are people who will succeed at one or two or all three, and people who will fail at any or all.  Some people will flop after a $1500 advance at a NY pub and never make another dime.  Some people will make six figures epublishing or self-publishing.  Some people will make $15 on an ebook they labored over. Some people will get six-figure deals from New York.

If you are a zealot who thinks only one of these methods has any viability, and can not acknowledge the pitfalls as well as the advantages of your chosen model, then I personally think that hurts your credibility.  That sort of blind single-mindedness isn’t faith.  It’s defensiveness.  Or ignorance.

I love epublishing.  I don’t love it because I’m bitter and rejected.  I love epublishing because a lot of my favorite ideas are a little bit niche and a little bit odd, and some of them succeed and some of them don’t, but I make a nice, steady paycheck (just above minimum wage) every single month and I don’t have to worry all that much about getting my series canned for poor performance.  I get flexibility in length as well as genre, and get to be on the exciting cutting edge of new technologies, which thrills me as a techie girl.

I also acknowledge that epublishing does not work for everyone, and has a lot of problems. I don’t suggest and recommend all epublishers.  Not even the majority, in fact. I’m not blindly defensive of epublishing because I’m not trying to rationalize my choice and make myself feel better about making it.  I recognize the flaws because I do love it, and want it to keep getting more and more awesome.

Sometimes Donna & I have ideas we think might work better in a mainstream setting.  Sometimes we have ideas that would work best if self-published.  I would never say I don’t want to sell a book to a NY publisher, because that would be great–if it were the right book.  I would never say I don’t ever want to self-publish, because that could be fun–if it was the right book.

Pick your priorities. Pick your path. Publish. Have a ball. Stop being so god damned defensive, because you’re making all of the rest of the people around you look bad.  (And we resent it.)

And for crying out loud, epublished & self-published people…quit saying everything published by NY is crap. Seriously. Cut it out. FULL. STOP.  No negotiation. You’re making yourself look really silly.