Just finding my way

Safe Passage is not an option.

Why the Hate?

I am working on several novels at the moment. During this time I have had nearly the same conversation with all sorts of people. 

Them: "That is great! What genre do you write?" 

Me: "Well, my first series is Urban Fantasy."

Them: "I love those books, who is publishing it?" 

Me: "I am going to self-publish, it is better for me in the long run."

Them: "Oh..." 

Suddenly they have lost interest in the conversation. The archaic ideals of the nineteen-fifties author-publisher are still here today. We accept that small no name start-ups can make the best game you ever played on your phone. We accept that YouTube musical sensations become household words without a record deal. Why is the stigma still present for authors that has fallen to the wayside in almost every other creative field. Today's publishers no longer promote books the way they did, instead relying on the authors to self-promote them. Only big names get pushed to the front of the store. That lady who has been writing the same story for thirty years with new names and varied locations. She gets front page exclusives. I include small press companies in the Self-published field, They seem to get the same responses I outlined earlier. 

Before you shrug off an author because some big name company isn't taking most of their sales, read some of it. I have found more impressive and unique stories in the small publisher/self-published sections than the rest of the store combined. Does this mean I think all publishers are evil, or useless? No, given the right circumstances they can be invaluable allies. Many of the authors in these big houses are there for a reason as well. Then there are the authors who have re-written Dracula from the perspective of a space alien working on better anal probes. 

There are garbage stories in the self-published field as well. Unless they include a heavy amount of mommy porn (the aliens are sexy and Dracula is now a vivacious but lonely housewife), they don't climb far up the best seller ladder and fade into obscurity. 

Go out and find a self-published book that sounds interesting. Worrying about classicism and big supporting names will leave you in a desert looking for an oasis while not noticing the rain forest next door.  

No Worries,

Charles Colp