Celebrating Independent Authors
Give some thought to any fine print connected to the publication of your novel. You need to make sure you, and you alone, own the ‘rights’ to your novel.
Stephen asked me to write this article because several authors have voiced concern over taking back their rights. My own story might help put this in perspective. Continue reading “Be Prepared… by Dick C. Waters”
A guest post
by Dick Waters
My way or the highway! You’ve most likely heard that expression, but hopefully you will see that my way is the highway. Have you ever learned from someone else’s mistake? I have, and I’ve also learned from my own. I’m writing this to help at least one person not make the same mistake I did publishing my first novel.
As I write this I think of Route 66; a great road for a scenic drive, but not the one to take to get where you’re going in an expeditious manner. Super highways were built to provide a more direct route. Publishing is experiencing the same scenario – ‘traditional publishing’ versus ‘independent publishing,’ or self publishing. Continue reading “My Way Or the Highway!”
Quality has suddenly become a buzzword in the Indie Community, whether it’s Indie books, gaming, movies, etc.
Imagine that! (All of you should know by now that this is my personal bugaboo.)
It’s certainly become a topic on the readers forums on Amazon and elsewhere, as someone commented. “All these freebies which we use as promo for sales seem to be creating an environment where some readers only go free because they toss it after one chapter if it’s rubbish and only pay for a “real” author.” One response to the Indie title on one site was “That’s good support for why attaching a label like “Indie” and trying to make it be a badge of quality might be more trouble than it’s worth. After all, eventually, the work defines the label, not the other way around.” As to that last, he’s right. The work does define the label, and for too many Indie writers that doesn’t seem to mean much. The gentleman in question added later that there’s not much value for an author to call themselves Indie. One author recently proposed that – lacking an editor – you should just post to the marketplace and wait for the readers to comment, then revise and repost.
That has to change or the perception that Indie writing is rubbish is one that will stick and all of our hard work will be for nothing. And the traditional publishers will be proven right, that this Wild West Indie publishing thing was just a flash in the pan, a global slush pile from which a rare few gems emerged. Continue reading “Quality/Control”