My friend, Horror Artist Jerrod Brown, sent me an interesting article the other day. In it, the authors talk about some of the things that keep indie authors from being taken seriously.
I'm assuming when they say "indie authors" they are referring to authors that self-publish or have small publishers. That's the definition I'm applying!
The one that really caught my eye was "Big Reason #1: Bad Editing."
Many of you know I work on both sides of the fence. I know how important editing is, and I know how embarrassing it is to be reading through your story and see a mistake. I know, we're all human. Mistakes happen. But it is nice to alleviate them as much as possible.
As they point out in the article, it's not only the small publishers/self-published people who have editing issues, big houses have problems too. I've read many books where I've found mistakes. Granted, indie books can have more than others because of their nature. However, I know many small publishers who pride themselves on editing.
The other points in the article were valid too. There are a lot of struggles authors have to go through. With the advent of self-publishing and small publishing, it floods the market with more books. It's very important to make yourself stand out. If I had to add another point of how indie authors aren't taken seriously it would be that they don't know how to market themselves.
I know this from experience. If you have an agent or a big house, they'll at least give you some ideas, perhaps set up some readings or a book tour. As an indie, you're on your own, sometimes floundering in the dark. How do you get noticed?
I enjoy being an indie author, if only because I don't know what it's like to be anything else. I would love the chance to compare and contrast. However, if this is how my work is going to get into the hands of readers, I'm fine with it!
