Opinions Change – Mine Have
This post was bound to happen sooner or later. A lot of my views about being an Indie have changed in the past six months since some of my Indie titles have taken off. I went from making a decent supplementary income on my writing (about $1K a month) to making the same salary an engineer might make. Almost overnight. I am an exception, rather than the rule (as traditionally published authors keep reminding me). However – I am getting a little tired of the people tooting the “Traditional publishing is the only way to go” horn telling everyone that just because someone else has had success as an indie that they won’t. How do you know that?
Sure – I’m not going to sit up here and lie to you and tell you that all Indie authors can make as much as I do. Some of them can and will. Some of them can’t and won’t. But who am I to say they can’t try or that they 100% won’t be able to make it? You don’t know unless you try, right? Indie is NOT for everyone. It’s a lot of work. Some of us like work. Not only that, but you never know what will sell and what won’t. When my Anne novellas and novel took off I was just as surprised as anyone else. Do I think I’m an above average writer? Not really. I mean, obviously I don’t totally suck or the Anne books wouldn’t sell as well as they do and I wouldn’t have fans in all the genres I write in. What’s good is subjective. Not everyone loves Dan Brown, Stephen King, Nora Roberts etc… either. Point being no matter who you are or how well (or not) your books sell – not everyone is going to be a fan.
I guess I’m just tired of hearing the, “You can’t make it” by naysayers because if I had listened to all the naysayers I would have never made the move to go Indie. I mean, I totally understand how some traditionally published authors might feel threatened by the rise of Indies who are making a living writing (or who think the market is being flooded by crap). Especially when they had to make it the hard way (i.e. having to find that one editor or agent who believed in their work enough to take it on). Here’s the thing though – a good book is a good book regardless and once again I’ll say — READERS are the real gatekeepers and always have been. Readers buy what they like. They recommend what they like.
End Rant. Off to be my nephew’s book report (he’s doing an “Interview the Author” for his book report on Left Horse Black). That room full of fifth graders looms.