The Face of Indie Publishing

Some people are putting J A Konrath forward as the face of Indie Publishing.  I don't really buy that.  Yes, he earns enough from publishing his own stuff to survive at it, but that's all he does.  Yes, he has a blog, but he doesn't crop up all over the place declaring Indie publishing as the future and fighting our corner.  Yes, he sells a lot, but he comes from a NY published background, and brought a platform with him.

I don't really agree that we need a face of Indie Publishing, but if we have to, should it really come down to sales?  That's a very NY way of looking at things.

Surely, the poster boy of Indie fiction should be someone so passionate about it that they can't keep their big mouth shut (in the nicest possible way of course).  Someone who is everywhere on this silly internet thing, speaking up about Indie, pointing out that it's worthwhile, corrupting those who were on the fence to trying our way of thinking.

Surely the poster boy of Indie fiction is already out there, somewhere, being all over cheerleader for the indies.

Everywhere I go, everything I read, a name comes back to me.  I'm yet to find a single Indie resource, anywhere on the web, that doesn't have a certain name attached to it.  Surely that name, that person, has made themself the face of Indie fiction?

Zoe Winters is everywhere across the net, on every site I come to.  I first discovered her on Nathan Bransford's blog, leaving comments about self-publishing.  She is on Indie Reader, and on Publishing Renaissance, and anywhere else I seem to look.  She was one of the first people to join my Guild (link at the top, please join) and she blogs and tweets about Indie all the time.

If someone has to be the face of Indie Publishing, it should be someone like Zoe. 

You can read Zoe's blog here.

Indie vs self-published: is there a difference CLARIFIED Part 2

Hats.


I was talking about hats.  About Indie Publishing hats, to be precise.  If you haven't read Part 1 of this post, you'll find it here.  


Anyway, hats.


I'm not trying to steal the Indie Author hat from anyone.  There are a lot of great Indie Authors out there.  A whole community of them, and if I or any one of them wants to make it big we have to support each other.  This support, this community spirit, is what we can have that NY publishers can't. 

United we stand...

Alan Baxter started Blade Red Press to self-publish his own work.  He now also publishes anthologies of other people's work.  He's a sound guy and when we've emailed he's always given me good advice.  He has a couple of books out, and if you haven't given them a look you really should.

Zoe Winters I already mentioned in the last piece.  She has a 10 year plan, and I think she'll go really far.

These are just two of the awesome Indie writers out there.  There are hundreds, possibly thousands, more.  And the cool thing about being Indie is the freedom; the freedom to blur genres, to challenge the traditional (and quite often boring) mainstream fiction streams, the I-can-do-whatever-I-want (as long as it's good) mentality. 


We need to network.  We need to support each other.  That is exactly what I'm trying to do with The Guild and I really, really hope it takes off.  Zoe was writing the other day that Indie Readers (people who love Indie writers work but don't write themselves) are looking for more writers to read.

The bottom line for big publishers is £££££ or $$$$$.  For the Indies it's more about the creation, the joy of bringing something to life.  I can't wait until my book is released and some comments how much they liked it.  I'll be like "OhhhhhmyyyyyyyygooooodddddddssssssI'msquuueeeeeaaaammeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Yeah.

So, if you're an Indie and you think I insulted you, I am truly sorry.  I never wanted to do that.  I want us all to become a community, to support each other.  To link to each other's blogs, and point readers in each others direction.  Because they can read faster than we can write, and there's more of them than there is of us, and sharing is nice.

Big businesses, like NY Publishers, aren't interested in nice, and they aren't interested in customers.  They only care about the money, and that's why Indie Authors are threatening them.

PS, join The Guild.  It's free and I hope, hope, hope it will become the awesome resource that it could, easily, become. 

The Guild of Independent Authors.

I was looking for a forum geared towards Independent Authors, where I could meet other independent authors and ask for hints, tips and advice.  Where people even newer to the world of Indie publishing could ask me for advice.

I found

nothing.

Zero.  Zilch.  Zitch.

So I made one.

Come and join.  It's free, and right now, it's kind of empty.

The Guild of Independent Authors