Indie vs. Selfie!

I posted the genesis of this essay last night as a Facebook status update. I thought that was enough for me to feel better and get the anger and frustration out of my system.

I was wrong.

With that being the case allow me to start from the beginning.

“Hi, my name is Josh Hilden and I am a Self Published Author. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.”

I have been seeing and in some cases experiencing, a lot of derision toward those of us in the “Selfie” community these days from other writers. The vast majority of this vitriol seems to be from writers who are not associated with one of the “Big 6” but writers who are associated with a tiny Indie Press.

Let me this state up front, there is nothing wrong with being published by a small indie press. As the owner of a Micro-Press myself I wholeheartedly support the fracturing of the “Traditional” publishing model.

These writers seem to believe that since another writer who happened to have the drive to open his/her own press likes their work they are better than us. I wish I could say this is hyperbole but let me as you the following questions. How many times have one or more of these thing happened to you.

That is the kind of crap that makes me want to gather an army of chimps and attack the local Barnes & Noble!

The publishing world has changed as surely as the music and movie industries have changed. Digital media, Amazon and other outlets, and the democratization of the internet have rendered the traditional publishing system anachronistic. ANYBODY can publish ANYTHING that they wish. The trick is getting people to buy your work. From my experiences and the experiences of other authors in the Selfie community people want to buy our work just as much as the work from authors published by a third party.

The change isn’t happening, it has already happened.

But what really chaps my ass is the Indie Publishers use the same tools as the Selfies. Yet the authors published by the Indies are legitimate writers but we are not?

We work just as hard if not harder than Indie published writers. We have to pay our own way, we have to do all of our own leg work, we have to do all of our own heavy lifting, and we have to do it all in the vacuum of the Selfie world. At least in the Indie world you have the moral support offered by the other writers, editors, and publishers at your press.

We have, “My mom says I’m cool” to keep us going.

Our work is just as good as any of theirs. I

would put Selfie work against Indie work any day of the fucking week.

Alright, that’s it. I have spent enough of my day bitching and moaning when I could be writing.

- Josh