Indiea Authors are on the Rise

For those of you who still think Indie Authors are just a puff of smoke that will die with the next cool day think again. We are making an impact on the literary world. A huge impact and we are not going away. We are growing in numbers every day while those who have been with traditional houses are dying off. We have lost writers like Parker, Connell, and others who wrote some great books. But people we are out there. We control our destiny. We are great writers and we have a reader base. Today I received a note from a fellow author who received a hand written letter from a traditional publisher who he has published with several times, this is what it says:

“Recieved a rejection email from a traditional publishing house that has published me in the past. It was a personal note and not a form type of letter, which I appreciate. I was told that even though it is a good story, and I am a great author to work with as far as marketing and things go, they just can’t accept any ms because with all the indie and small presses there is more work than profit these days. They were only going to go with two titles this year and they already have them. The way I look at it, it’s all about Karma. If they would’ve been more open minded and willing to look at new authors back in the day, these same authors would be selling books for them now. But no, they had to lock onto certain Authors and shoved the rest of us away. Well, hope you like Karma, because she is kicking you in the scrotum! Cheers to the small presses and indie authors! Way to show the never say die spirit!!” The author is Thom Futrell and he writes horror.

This letter only serves to reiterate what I posted in a blog a couple a days ago when I received hate mail from someone who said I was not a best selling author and why didn’t I go through a traditiona publisher. They have rejected us so much because they felt they were to good to take us on that we have carved our own niche in the writing world. We have made it without them. We don’t need them. We don’t have to use the distribution houses like Baker and Tayolor or Lightening Source. We don’t have to accept .08 per book because the rest of the royality is split between the publishers, the stores, the distributor, agents and any other person they choose to pay. We don’t have to accept their dictation of who or where we can hold an event. We need no ones approval for anything. Not the content of our books because their editor is a frustrated writer, not the cover because their art person is a frustrated artist. It is all ours.
This is what is hurting the traditional publishing industry. They have abused and used authors for their own purposes for so many years, just like it was done to the actors and musicians for so many years. They wanted their name out there so bad they would accept working for pennies on the dollar just to get a gig.
We as indies don’t have to suffer that indignation, that humilty of being at the mercy of someone else. We don’t have to look at royality checks that say .08 per book. We don’t have to beg to go to a mom and pop event as a favor – we just do it.
Support indie authors read our books. You won’t be disappointed. In fact you will be surprised at the quality of work out there. We are not going anwywhere. We are here to stay. To use a well overused phrase, We have not only cracked that glass ceiling we have totaly blown it out.