The Big Reasons Indie Authors Aren't Taken Seriously

[xg4bx]

"Several predictions have stated that 2012 will be “The Year of the Indie Author”. After all, 2011 saw some awfully big moments.

John Locke became the first indie to break the Kindle million-seller mark. Amanda Hocking, Queen of the indie vampire books, signed a ginormous contract with St. Martins Press. And The New York Times deigned to include indies on their best seller list, where every week at least one title - often more - are contained. By all indications, you’d expect that readers and traditional media alike would be wrapping their arms collectively around indie authors and their books into something akin to a big ‘ole hug.

And yet… not so much."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1242935.html

[Phogg]

Indie authors are not taken seriously for the exact same reason import automobiles aren't taken seriously.

There is a cadre of people holding that position who project it on everyone else in their thinking.

[anamardoll]

Lord, if I hear one more word about "gatekeepers".

I review books for a hobby. I have so many ARCs that I will never ever be able to read them all. 99.9% of them are from "gatekeepers". The signal-to-noise ratio is not lower in the "gatekeeper" pile than in the indie pile, I can assure you.

It's like all these newspaper writers who only read one NYT Bestseller a year just automatically assume that all traditionally published books meet the same quality bar because the publishers magically make it so.

[Kali Yuga]

I gotta say, the article is pretty much dead-on.

I might add that the major flaws -- editing, an emphasis on quality, and covers -- can be fixed by the authors, if they are actually willing to invest the resources and effort to produce a well-edited and well-illustrated book.

"Gatekeeper" might not have been the right term, though there is something to be said for a book that's good enough to make it through the rings of fire -- and not much to be said for a book that can be published with no effort. However I'd emphasize the marketing and connections that are a little more available when working with a publisher. If you self-publish, it's all up to you and what you can do for your book.

Originally Posted by Phogg

Indie authors are not taken seriously for the exact same reason import automobiles aren't taken seriously.

So people don't take BMW's, Mercedes, Ferraris, Lexuses "seriously?"

5 of the top 10 selling cars in December 2011 were Japanese. I guess millions of Americans bought those cars on a lark?

I really don't understand this line of argument.

[sonofpendragon]

All of this would be very fine, if as others have also said right here and elsewhere, if, all books hyped and lauded to death actually lived up to such hyping and lording. But I have now read too many books which were given such backslapping and were truly dreadful. If things don't stack up on the 'respectable' side of the fence, then the Indie side has nothing to be ashamed of.

[Elfwreck]

Big Reason #1: Bad Editing
Granted. While there are indeed some horribly sloppy things that get through the mainstream presses, including some atrocious typos, books that have been past a professional editor, however briefly, won't contain a two-page run-on sentence that wasn't intended to be avant-garde or "artistic." Nor do they have blurb text like

Two young aspiring amateur detectives, One university campus,and a Santa Claus set upon destryoying human rights...

nor internal quotes like

Ali and Esther however, refused to give up. Their course was done away with but their society was still alive, so if any society had to put themselves out there more than the others it would be them. And put themselves out there they did. A new set of Freshers, or as the American’s call it ‘Freshmen’ (which I’ve personally never understood myself because some of them pong like the armpits of hell itself) , found their way on to campus and on settling into their new life joined the human rights society. But that’ not what got Esther so upset. The human rights society in a bid to cap a particularly good year for the group set up a Christmas tree event.

I think this is likely to remain the big issue for indie books, because although some, even many, are excellently well-written, they'll always be greatly outnumbered by the offerings of people who think their own data-dumps are interesting to other people.

Big Reason #2: Quantity Over Quality
The article seems unclear; this point seems to be an adjunct to "lack of editing," as in "skipping the editing makes it easy for authors to churn out lots of ebooks, none of which are particularly readable." Which it does, but I'm not seeing that as a separate reason.

One person says the indie movement won't be taken seriously until all published books are held to a basic minimum standard of literary quality--punctuation, grammar, somewhat-cohesive plot. It's not gonna happen. The internet isn't going to ever insist that content be well-written, and there's not going to be a nice sharp line between "stuff I threw together at my blog" and "my novel, published in serial form online."

Big Reason #3 – The Lack of Gatekeepers
"Having a trusted place to find credible reviews would certainly help separate the good from the terrible," the article says. Yes, it would. And those places are starting to appear. There isn't going to be a replacement for the gatekeepers that worked when "book publishing" was measured in the tens of thousands per year, not millions. And there will continue to be plenty of people willing to take a chance on unfiltered content.

Big Reason #4 – Crappy Covers
. I love this series; I waited for YEARS for ebooks; I cringe when I recommend them to friends because the covers are SO BAD. (Where are the tentacles? Nothing about those covers even says "science fiction," much less "post-apoc scifi where humanity has split into two symbiotic subraces.")

[carpetmojo]

Or..........

No matter how good the covers, how skilled the editing, the right format,the length or number of words, or whether it's "well written" or not - if the story isn't any good, if it doesn't grip the "gatekeeper", if it isn't original enough, or is the usual formulaic stuff that we do see in "self-published" work, then no commercial, or "good" publisher is going to wrap their arms around anyone involved with it.

Whether they are "indie" or not.

Remember, they either need to make money, or back stuff that maintains, or improves, their reputation, or that they like or respect.
If they think it'll sell, they'll take it.

The idea that the publishers gather in dark rooms and agree not to touch any "indie" author is....... unlikely, shall we say.
[And is the definition of "indie" that it's their first work, an ebook, or that they have sworn never to be tainted by a mainstream publisher.....

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

.So people don't take BMW's, Mercedes, Ferraris, Lexuses "seriously?"
5 of the top 10 selling cars in December 2011 were Japanese. I guess millions of Americans bought those cars on a lark?

............I really don't understand this line of argument.

Nor me

AND they don't break....

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Big Reason #1: Bad Editing

This is the *primary* reason. Many indie books are badly written.

Big Reason #2: Quantity Over Quality

This acts as a multiplier to the primary reason: *a lot* of indie books are badly edited. If 5% of indie books were badly edited, it would just mean that you need to be a little careful. But I think the actual numbers are more like 95% are badly edited, so finding the well written books becomes a chore. Often too much of a chore.

Big Reason #3 – The Lack of Gatekeepers

This is a tertiary reason. Gatekeepers wouldn't be important if so many indies weren't poorly edited. If there were a basic assurance that the fundamentals of the vast majority of indie books were on a par with publisher books, the presence of a gatekeeper would have little more effect than a positive NY Times review...persuasive, perhaps, but not more. But as things stand now, the presence of the gatekeeper is insurance that the book is at least properly edited.

Big Reason #4 – Crappy Covers

The three above reasons all dealt in various ways with the quality of the underlying book. This is more of a marketing issue, but since the cover is how many people judge a book, it's also fairly important, especially as a signal. After all, if it looks like your cover was slapped together, why should I assume you took any care with the writing itself?

[anamardoll]

I want to point out here again that you can get a professional indie editor for about $100-$250 depending on novel size. I know because I have a really good one who I will recommend in PM.

$100 is a lot for some people, I agree, but if you can afford it, it's worth every penny.

[Lazybones]

The complaints noted in the article are valid. I won't buy books with tons of obvious mistakes in the sample, and I can be turned off by a bad cover.

But I think that the author underestimates what can be done by an indie author. Many if not most independent publishers are just one person. They don't have the money to hire a professional editor, or even an artist to design covers. They don't have the marketing resources of a big publishing house. But some of them are damned good writers.

I've downloaded a lot of books by independent authors from the Kindle store over the last year, and there are some real gems out there. I find I can separate them pretty quickly using Amazon's own rating system and the free samples that are provided. I might not be willing to do that extra work if the indies and mainstream authors were at parity, but when it's a difference between $0.99 and $14.99 the calculus changes considerably.

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by Lazybones

I've downloaded a lot of books by independent authors from the Kindle store over the last year, and there are some real gems out there. I find I can separate them pretty quickly using Amazon's own rating system and the free samples that are provided. I might not be willing to do that extra work if the indies and mainstream authors were at parity, but when it's a difference between $0.99 and $14.99 the calculus changes considerably.

The best book ever written has yet to be read.

Perhaps it is in the free section on Amazon.com? I've certainly found some interesting reads there and quite a few atrocious ones as well. Who is it that is not taking indie authors seriously? I don't think it's the literati? Forgive me but I did not read the Link in the OP if there was one. Is it Big Pub? Are they afraid of the indie author for generally giving their work away to anyone who wishes to read it?

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

I want to point out here again that you can get a professional indie editor for about $100-$250 depending on novel size. I know because I have a really good one who I will recommend in PM.

$100 is a lot for some people, I agree, but if you can afford it, it's worth every penny.

No professional editor is going to touch a novel for that kind of money.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Catlady

No professional editor is going to touch a novel for that kind of money.

I said indie professional, and I speak from experience, as I pointed out in my post.

I order to be "professional", one needs merely to do a job well and to do the job for money. My indie editor does both.

[ProfCrash]

I honestly think it comes down to the editing. Hire a freaking editor. It will probably pay off.

I only read books that are recommended by people I trust because I don't want to spend money on books with plots that I am not interested and that are badly edited. This goes for main stream and indie books.

My grammar and spelling are horrible, I am well aware of that. I hired an editor for my Dissertation because I know my spelling and grammar are just that awful. I was not publishing my work but I took enough pride in what I was writing that I knew to hire an editor.

It is a no brainer. If I could find a way to afford it as a graduate student I would hope that most indie authors could find the money to afford it. Or a good friend who can at least proof read the work.