Self-Publishing is Completely Corrupt

August 5, 2015 By Michael Kozlowski 133 Comments

Thousands of authors every year get in touch with me and ask me how they should go about getting their books published. I tell every single one that they should not take the easy way and self-publish, but instead try and get a book deal by a major publisher.

I understand that many authors who write their first book do not do it as quickly as James Patterson or Stephen King. Sometimes it takes a few years and other times it takes a decade. You get attached to the premise and plot, to the characters and the inciting force. Shopping your book around to agents and publishers helps you understand how to sum up your book in an elevator style pitch and deal with rejection. When you shop your title around you get a sense on what they expect your cover art to look like and get feedback on proper formatting.

When you get a trade publishing contract it is important to note that you have a small army of people that have a vested interest in your success. Your agent earns a commission if you sell a ton of copies and in order to do that they will often schedule book tours and autographing sessions. You will learn how to talk about your book in a room full of people, even if you are anti-social. I like to refer to this as trial by fire. You will also get someone who is good at cover art helping you out and an ISBN number so your book sales can be tracked.

There are countless writers that used to have a trade publishing contract and decided it might be more lucrative to take their firm understanding of the publishing industry and try out self-publishing. Sadly, this is not a guarantee of success.

Tracy Hickman is a fantasy writer who basically established the Dragonlance series of books. Some of his titles made it onto the New York Times bestseller list and people used to lineup around the block to get his autograph. He decided to self-publish and now his books are not in bookstores anymore and lamented that “I have a 6 million following,” he said quietly, “and they don’t remember me.”

If a bestselling author can’t make it self-publishing, can you as a first time writer? Likely not.

The vast majority of startup writers have no understanding of a marketing strategy that will give them a leg up on the competition. Instead they spam social media with hashtags #buymybook. The vast majority of indie writers are also very lazy, they won’t even spend the $99 for an ISBN number so their books will be included in market data. Instead they just complain about research and reports on the publishing industry is skewed because they don’t take into account indie books.

Bowker Market Research reported a little while ago that self-published ebooks now account for 12% of the entire digital publishing market. In some cases, the number actually rises to a very respectable 20%, but is fairly genre specific to crime, science fiction, fantasy, romance, and humor. 95% of these books are insufferable and are written to capitalize on trends in publishing, with authors trying to emulate successful writers such as E.L. James or Cassandra Claire.

At a recent publishing conference in London, Andrew Franklin, founder and managing director of Profile Books, blasted authors who self-publish. “The overwhelming majority of self-published books are terrible—unutterable rubbish, they don’t enhance anything in the world.” He ranted on by saying, “These books come out and are met with a deathly silence, so the principle experience of self-publishing is one of disappointment. I was very shocked to learn you can buy Facebook friends and likes on social media. That is what passes for affirmation in what I think is the deeply corrupt world of self-publishing.”

Self-published authors constantly try to game the system, instead of understanding proper marketing. Not only do they buy Twitter and Facebook followers, but also book reviews.

A report by Gartner Research pointed out a very disturbing trend in the ebook industry: fake or paid reviews. Many companies are actively creating duplicate user accounts and posting reviews on a book in an effort to gain more sales. In other cases, self-published authors like Stephen Leather create multiple accounts to generate buzz on forums and to leave reviews on his own books.

Todd Rutherford formally ran a website called GettingBookReviews.com that reviewed books for $99.99 a pop or arranged 20 reviews for $499 or 50 reviews for $999. He would post them on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other self-publishing websites to help authors get noticed. It certainly helped indie darling John Locke, who ordered 300 reviews and went on to sell over one million ebooks on Amazon. Before this website was shut down, it was generating $28,000 a month from authors looking for a competitive advantage. There are plenty of other services that offer the same type of book review scheme, most indie authors know who they are.

Why don’t I recommend first time authors self-publishing? Its utterly and completely corrupt. If you are a well adjusted person with a halo above your head and go to church on a weekly basis, you will soon sprout devil horns and start speaking in tongues. When you self-publish, you have no understanding of how the publishing industry works and you never will. You will constantly make mistakes and never learn from them, because nobody will bring them to your attention.

Trade publishing is the only way to go if you want to win awards and enjoy worldwide acclaim. Most literary awards are closed to self-published books. Entry criteria for the Booker prize state that “self-published books are not eligible where the author is the publisher or where a company has been specifically set up to publish that book”, while the Bailey’s women’s prize for fiction stipulates that books must come from a “bone fide imprint”.

Michael Kozlowski (7743 Posts)

Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He has been writing about electronic readers and technology for the last four years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the Huffington Post, CNET and more. Michael frequently travels to international events such as IFA, Computex, CES, Book Expo and a myriad of others. If you have any questions about any of his articles, please send Michael Kozlowski an email to michael@goodereader.com

News Items of Interest

cuthalion04

I self published my first book simply because it was the prize for NaNoWriMo. Currently I am going back through the bare manuscript, re-writing and polishing in hopes of querying it. I’ve always felt that self publication was fishy.
Good E-Reader

On august 28th you can pitch your book to a few big agents in the UK using the hashtag #PitchCB on Twitter.
S. A. Hollen

How can you say it’s “corrupt”? You could say it’s harder, or more likely to cost you more, but not corrupt.
Self publishers get what they put into it. Some people try to game the system. So do traditional publishers. Many self help books have bought their way to best seller lists.

There’s tons of crap, but also amazing work where authors hire professional editors, cover artists, even marketing people.
Look at The Martian by Andy Weir for an example of good self published work. Mark Dawson is another self published author making a success in writing.
Good E-Reader

I love how Indie authors rationalize what they do, based on a few success stories.
S. A. Hollen

Rationalize what they do? You make it sound like they are evil Nazi’s plotting something horrible (pun intended).
Of course they look to the success stories. No, the majority won’t have the success they dream of but at least they can TRY now. So what if they put a crappy story out? If they expect instant success, they wouldn’t be the kind to stick it out through rejection after rejection from agents as they hone their craft trying for a traditional publisher.
I know traditional and self published authors. Each has their own reasons for going down the path they are on.
When it comes down to it, writers are just people. Some are good at what they do, some suck, some are awesome. The eBook gives people a chance to get their voice out there who couldn’t have before.
I’ve read terrible books from the big 5 publishers, the kind that make you wonder how many people had to sign off on printing the crap I just read. Instead of choosing from someone’s carefully selected list of books they deem worthy, it’s a crazy time out there. With a lot more choices for people to read. I for one like it.

Keep up the good work guys!
Good E-Reader

The problem that I have with self-publishing is quite evident, it is too easy and anything easy is not worth doing.

Anyone can click submit on a word document and have it available to buy on Amazon within a day. How does an author grow by doing that? Sure they can maybe get a few sales, but that is hardly doing anything more than playing writer.

Trade publishing gives authors education. If they send out 10 pitches and don’t hear anything back, find out why. How can they improve their pitch and what problems did the agents find with the premise, plot, elevator pitch? This is critical information that allows the author to immediately improve their marketing skill set.

Normally agents WILL take the time to tell an author why, if the author pesters them enough. Persistence does pay off when trying to get a legit book deal.
bogorad

This is just offensive. “Traditional publishers” are the ones who corrupted the industry, who used to dictate what people should and should not read. Why would any sane person advocate this medieval crap is beyond my understanding.

It’s been analysed over and over – if you take apart what those dinosaurs do, remove the idiot who decides “to be or not to be”, the rest is done by independent agencies or operators: you can hire an editor, an artist for illustrations and cover, a publicist, an SMM person, you can start a book-as-a-business and borrow money from a bank to finance the whole thing. Yes, 99% of what people put down on paper is crap, but at least the 1% has a chance. Not with “traditional publishers”, it doesn’t.

The “crap produced” argument also doesn’t stand: we’ll never know how many great books were rejected because the asshole-in-charge just felt he didn’t like the tie, the smell, the envelope, of the font.

And yes, I do know authors who publish via “traditional publishers” and self-publish. They’re just different types of people.
Colin Haynes

This blog reveals a complete lack of knowledge of`both the traditional and the rapidly evolvng author publishing fields. We “professional” authors should celebrate the technologies and new facilities now available. I have had ten books traditionally published and in every case there was rampant dishonesty and incompetence in the established publishers I used in the UK, USA and elsewhere.
ConanThe3rd

I’ll die on my feet before I live on my knees.
ConanThe3rd

And on August 29th you can be duped of everything that isn’t nailed down (and maybe even the stuff that is).
Arphaxad

If you think self-publishing is easy, you never tried it. Yes, the process to publish a book is easy, thanks to the great innovators at Amazon, but that is only looking at the technology. The process to actually make a book that people are willing to pay for is very difficult for a self-published author, even more than a corporate published author. If some corporation gives you money to publish your book, you have already made money. A self-published author needs to convince individual readers to spend their hard earned money in order to see any monetary rewards. It is much harder to convince individuals to spend their own money than some corporate drone to part with his employers money.

Over all, I really enjoy this site and read many of your articles, but this one exposed your ignorance of the self-publishing revolution. And for full disclosure, I’m a novice at this and have yet to publish my first full length novel (hopefully by the end of the year), but I have already seen how much work is ahead of me if I want any kind of success.
Arphaxad

“If a bestselling author can’t make it self-publishing, can you as a first time writer? Likely not.” I love your example of Tracy Hickman as I am a huge fan of his Dragonlance and Darksword books. I can tell you why he has so many fans and so little recent success, his newer work is not as good. That is the great thing about the self-publishing revolution, readers have control over what sells and what doesn’t. If you write a good story the reader does not care if you are Stephen King or John Doe… a good book is a good book.

Besides, you fail to take into account that for every failed self-published book there are thousands of books either gathering dust on an agents desk or are rotting in a trash heap. More authors fail because the limited availability of corporate publishing contracts caused them to be rejected, even if they have a great book to share. I would rather leave the fate of my book’s success in the hands of readers than some corporate drone.
Samuel Stevens

This is absurd. Indie books are judged by READERS, the people we writers are trying to entertain. I will gladly keep my 70 percent royalties from Amazon, rather than get stuck with a legacy contract that owns my work for life plus seventy years. I would not want to be exploited as a businessman just for ‘prestige.’

Big publishing doesn’t understand they are in the entertainment business, not the book business. People just want a good story, they don’t care where it came from.
Muthuswamy N

I haven’t seen a more biased article; it is also very bold because even complete ignorance of a field is no bar to commenting on it!

Please post it to smashwords.com to get a reply based on facts.
Good E-Reader

e-books account for 21% of book sales in the US which means the rest stem from print books, a market that indie writers simply are unable and unwilling to tap into. Trade is less prestige and more about getting the book in front of hundreds of millions of people.
Good E-Reader

LOL, smashwords is the epitome of suck. I challenge any of you indie author evangelists to pick a random title from the front page of smashwords.com and leave a review of it here.
Good E-Reader

If you want to be indie author 12121219291212 submitting a book to Amazon or whatever, be my guest. If you want to be a REAL author and have your book for sale in a bookstore, go on book tours and have an agent, submit your book to a publisher and see what they say. Likely, they will take a pass, because 99% of all indie submitted e-books are shit.
Samuel Stevens

The market share is increasing, though and a trade book by a debut or midlist author will be on bookstore shelves for relatively short amount of time.

Indie books on Amazon are not just ebooks. You can publish a print edition, and it will be on Amazon, which last I checked hundreds of millions of people used and accounts for about half of all book sales in the US.
Adrienne Thompson

The easy way out? Really? Seriously? I’m done. I truly am. This article is an offense to all of the hard working indie authors who pour their heart and soul into their work for THEIR READERS. I have been self publishing my novels since 2011 and am now a full-time author. Many trad authors can’t make that claim.
Arphaxad

If you definition of a “real” author is someone who let’s corporations leech 80% of their earnings, then NO, I wouldn’t want to be your kind of author. But, if you ever take a trip to reality, you will find your definition of a “real” author is narrow minded and out dated. Let me know when you’re ready for the 21st century.
Good E-Reader

Self-publishing is all too easy. What is hard about clicking submit on a word document? This is what the vast majority of indie authors do. You might be quite enamored with yourself, but I doubt the traditional publishing world even knows who you are.
Stephen Leather

I agree. He’s an idiot, a self-appointed ‘expert’ who knows nothing. But then an ex- is a has-been and a spurt is a drip under pressure! 🙂
Stephen Leather

I agree. The man’s a buffoon.
Adrienne Thompson

Who said I care whether or not the traditional publishing world knows who I am? I’ll tell you who does know who I am and several other authors like me–READERS! Paying readers. Books sales pay ALL OF MY BILLS and have been for over 2 years. It is really unintelligent to lump and entire group of authors into one group. Several of us pay for quality editing, covers, and formatting. I’m done commenting, but you should dig a little deeper in your research before you make a blanket statement like this.
Good E-Reader

I have been writing about self-publishing since 2007, likely way before any of you guys even considered it. Sorry to upset your delicate sensibilities with the truth, you washed up hacks.
Stephen Leather

Why would anyone believe anything you have to say about publishing when you clearly don’t check the ‘facts’ you include in your stories? You say that 99 poet cent of all Indie submitted e-books are shit but can you prove that? And serious journalists tend not to use the word ‘shit’ in their copy.
Stephen Leather

Just because you write about something for a few years doesn’t make you an expert. I have had more than 30 novels published by major publishing houses and I wouldn’t claim to be an expert. And I spent ten years working on major newspapers including The Times of London and the South China Morning Post, papers that would never employ someone like you in a million years. Washed up hack, am I? Hmmm. How is your journalistic career shaping up? Your statement that you were writing about self-puboishing before I had even considered it shows how ignorant you are. You don’t know when I started self-publishing or how I went about it. Yet another sweeping and wrong statement from a wannabe hack who doesn’t heck his facts. Anyway. this blog isn’t the place for this, I’ll save my words for my own space. You’re an idiot. Seriously.
Stephen Leather

And I love how you copy the work of other journalists and pass it off as your own. There’s a word for that – plagiarism.
Stephen Leather

He’s best ignored, Adrienne. He’s an idiot who plagiarises the work of other journalists. Plenty of writers make good money from self-publishing, many of them after being shunned by regular publishers.
Stephen Leather

It’s quite easy for a self-published writer to produce print books through Createspace – I bet my self-punished paperbacks earn me more money than you get for producing this shoddy little website!
Stephen Leather

Absolutely right! Once you have a book on Createspace it’s there for ever – all you have to do is point readers to it. That fact that the writer of this blog doesn’t understand that calls into question everything else he says. He’s an idiot.
Adrienne Thompson

Thanks, definitely ignoring him from this point on.
Ellen Violette

You are confusing publishing with being a successful self-published author. It is easy to self-publish, but to be successful at it takes work!
Good E-Reader

Like I said, thousands of aspiring authors get in touch with me a year, and i NEVER tell them to self-publish for the reasons outlined above.
Samuel Stevens

I think this one is rich: “When you get a trade publishing contract it is important to note that you have a small army of people that have a vested interest in your
success.” Trade publishers are interested in your success because they want to keep 95% of the profit from your work, not because they care about literary culture or you as a writer.

This post is just click bait nonsense, with a title like “Self-Publishing is Completely Corrupt.” I can post plenty of links showing how trade publishing is acts a literal cartel.
John Aga

Michael you are so far off the mark wth your article “Self-Publishing is Completely Corrupt” it is sad. I would like to reference “Authors Earnings” May 2015 Author Earning Report. With the return of Agency Pricing the Big 5 have taken a big hit on total sales. Among their findings self published authors now command more daily income from digital royalties than all the Big 5 published authors combined. Publishers fought hard to take back control of ebook pricing. This has resulted in higher pricing by the Big 5 publishers which has resulted in a significant reduction in total number of ebook sales and ebook revenue for them. On the bright side this has increased market share for self published authors. Way to go Big Five 😉 I want to quote from the conclusion of the article “For authors who want control over their pricing, so they can avoid become casualties in wars between retailers and publishers, the choice of publication method is clear. And it’s becoming more clear every quarter, as self published authors continue to win market share, and continue to take control of their careers.” The following is a link to the report I am referencing. http://authorearnings.com/report/may-2015-author-earnings-report/
Good E-Reader

Yes, this is in regards to e-books, i am talking more about getting your tangible book in the bookstores.
Chris Brickwood

Self-punished?
Louis Shalako

We will succeed as independent authors due to our commitment to craft, quality, and producing stories that people want to read. Long Cool One Books has a five-year track record of continuous quality improvement. We take pride in our work and we are very good at what we do.

In five years, we will still be here.
Paul Jackson

Anecdote is not the singular of data, so when you pull out these singular stories about a small number of self-published authors and their “corruption”, then use it to paint all self-published authors with the same brush … well, it’s rather click-baity and not real journalism. In fact, one might call it “lazy”, since you didn’t bother to work for any real data.

As a self-published author who’s made more from two books in the last year than I would have been offered in advance by a traditional publisher, I find your premise laughable.
EricWelch

““The overwhelming majority of self-published books are terrible—unutterable rubbish, they don’t enhance anything in the world.”

Very true, but also true for legacy publishing. As far as buying reviews, legacy publishers bought display space in bookstores and blurbs on book jackets were routinely solicited from their stables of authors.
Arphaxad

I believe this article, and even more so with your responses to criticism, show you are just a troll. Congratulations on writing a successful click bait headline and luring hard working independent authors to your site so you can insult them. This will be the last click you get from me, and from what I am reading here and on other forums, a lot of other people. I will no longer be recommending anyone read your blog. Good day.
Chris Crawford

Writers looking for traditional publishing are lazy. They don’t bother to learn the simple steps to turn a manuscript into an e-book (any format) with the click of a button. They’re insecure about hand-picking editors and artists, feeling that someone with dubious qualifications can do a better job. They are frightened at the prospect of marketing, or have no desire to learn how it works. They mostly sit around waiting with growing despair for someone, somewhere to give them validation and agree to publish their work, barely understanding that it’s not “how good is manuscript” but “can we sell this” or “Should we keep other publishers from grabbing this one?”

Self-publishing done right is more work, and more rewarding, than traditional publishing. Not everybody is capable of being an entrepreneur; and that’s okay. Those of us who are will be satisfied with our higher royalties and retention of control of our creations. The rest can follow the familiar path.
John Aga

Michael your information is so far off the mark with regards to your premise that indie authors are all corrupt and that the only book with any value is a one published by a publishing house. I would like to point you in the direction of a podcast web site “The Kindle Chronicles” by Len Edgerly. Recently on TKC 363 his guest was Amy Edelmen, Founder and President of IndieReader.com. I would strongly suggest you access that interview and update your notions about indie authors. Also perhaps take your time and poke around the site to update your notions of indie authors. The link below will take you to the website and the interview.

http://www.thekindlechronicles.com/2015/07/18/tkc-363-amy-edelman/

I would also like to reference Hugh Howey’s article in Salon titled “Hugh Howey: Self-publishing is the future — and great for writers ” Hugh Howey is the indie author of the Wool Omnibus. This link below will take you to the complete article.

http://www.salon.com/2013/04/04/hugh_howey_self_publishing_is_the_future_and_great_for_writers/

http://www.hughhowey.com/ This is the link to the authors web site.
Joseph

How was that 21% figure arrived at? No doubt through ISBN numbers. Most indie authors don’t bother with ISBN numbers for ebooks because they aren’t necessary.
Robgb

Agent, Big 5 publishers, book tours, lunches in New York, AP reviews… I was there for several years and made a good six figure living. But I walked away from it because I prefer having control over my work and going directly to readers. And I made those six figures in three months of indie, instead of the usual twelve. I realize your post is click bait and you probably couldn’t care less about the truth, but I beg you to educate yourself before you broach this topic again. There’s no shame in admitting you’re wrong about this. I suggest you try it.
sheila

This must be the meme for the week. There was another idiot blathering on about how he tells people who contact him not to self-publish. He runs an apparently popular fantasy site (Fantasy-Faction, or something like that). I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this same subject comes up on after the other. It seems we’re back to the “self-publishing is bad” talking point.
Eduardo Suastegui

Since we’re making outlandish, provocative (and unsubstantiated) claims, I’ll concur with the response that trad published authors are lazy because they don’t want to put in the time and effort to produce or market their books. And the OP’s wrapup paragraph speaks for itself, as if the point of authoring a book is notoriety and awards. Now, how corrupt is THAT thinking?
Samuel Stevens

Trade authors who are comfortable with the old system must be feeling threatened, or are suffering from a case of Stockholm Syndrome.
Martha Smith

Well, speaking as a reader, I have found a handful of self-published authors whose work I enjoy and regularly purchase. All but one originally published via traditional publishers, though, and all are indeed genre writers. So I wouldn’t agree that the world of indie publishing is completely corrupt, but I do agree that writers benefit from editorial attention and many are not getting enough of it.
agclaymore

Martha, I don’t think it’s about agreeing or disagreeing to any of the points he’s making in in his article. It’s just there to support a title that will enrage indies and draw them in to this site where they’ll see all the self publishing ads that he carries at the top right of the page (see above).
For all we know, he probably reads a ton of indie work himself, but he wants that ad revenue.
Look at his other articles and compare the comment counts. When he isn’t baiting indies, he gets no ad revenue.
dotti4

The author of this piece is definitely out of touch with the world of self-publishing. Most all the indie authors I know hire content editors, copy editors, cover designers, etc. And I don’t know a single one without an ISBN. It’s a good idea to research a subject before publishing an opinion.
EnvyisUgly

lolololol How about this? You can keep your judgment, and I’ll keep all the dirty self-pub money that pays my bills. 🙂
Good E-Reader

Most indie authors I know produce cover art like this http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/the-worst-ebook-cover-art-july-2015
Good E-Reader

Yes, Hugh Howey is the current indie darling and is trying to be your spokesman. This is a common argument from indie authors, BUT HUGH HOWEY IS SO SUCCESSFUL!! This is all the validation you need right?
Good E-Reader

You will be missed, not really.
Good E-Reader

I dare you to read one single title from https://www.smashwords.com/ and let me know what you think of the average title by an indie author. I’ll even let you publish a the review on this site.
Good E-Reader

rationalize it the way you want, trade published authors make MORE money than self-published ones. If you want to rationalize your own vocation, that is fine.

Trade published authors sell more books, have more respect and are known. Self-published authors have an overly big ego, which is why they self-publish. Who wants to deal with a big head nobody? Nobody.
dotti4

And yet a lot of them I know have covers like this:
Samuel Stevens

Many, many great authors had to be self published or created their own press with friends because their work was deemed unsellable. And guess what, their work sold. Virginia Woolf and her husband had their own press; Ulysses had to be published by Sylvia Beach; and Ford Madox Ford had to create his own publication to give Modernist writers a publication, among others.

Dave Gaughran, Hugh Howey, J.A. Konrath may not have James Patterson level sales or income, but they entertain their fan bases and pick up new readers here and there. How is that not success? In the age of Netflix, Amazon instant video, Spotify, etc. writers have to compete with a multitude of other options. It’s unrealistic to expect millions as an indie author (for now).

I’ve made more money off of indie publishing in days (not much, but a little) than I have in six years of shopping my work around to various publishers and publications. I’ll take something over nothing, even if I never become a Konrath, Howey, etc.
Good E-Reader

Most writers want to write, they want to focus and hone their craft. They don’t want distractions. These are the type of writers that seek trade publishing contracts. If you want to not be a great writer, play marketer, social media wizard, web site designer at the same time, by all means, submit indie rag #1201291921 to Amazon.
Good E-Reader

by all means, put on your tin foiled hat.
Michael Kozlowski

Looks like all of the usual cadre of wannabe authors have come out of the
woodwork to once more strike up a crusade against anyone that speaks ill
of self-publishing.

Let me ask you this. How many literary awards have you guys won? I am
talking about awards people know about, Man Booker, Hugo, etc? How
many of your books have been adapted to a television show or movie? Not
just optioned mind you, but has a director, screen player writer etc?

You guys drone on and on about feeling empowered, about how trade
publishing is the devil. This is because less than 0.01% of you are good
enough to GET a publishing contract. You self-publish because you don’t
have a choice and you delude yourselves that you do it because it gives
you more control and more money, give me a break. You guys simply
aren’t good enough.
Andrew

Well, seeing as how self publishing in this era is about eight years old, not very many.
But, as all successful self published authors know, it’s a long game.

The Martian this November is the first example of this, Weir started publishing it on his website, and only put it on Amazon because his readers asked for a different way to download it. Howey has just optioned Sand, and I would bet there are more on the way. Frankly, if the WSFS rules for nominating works weren’t so arcane, the Martian might have won the Hugo this year. Self Published works will win awards, but be honest, would you rather sell 10K books and win a Booker, or sell 100K books and build an audience?

I know authors whose books, rejected by the editors (or the marketers) of Big Publishing Houses, that have sold quite well thru amazon and other e-tailers, in some cases netting them six figures a year. Is that really failing to you?

Honestly, I wonder how much of this is projection on your part. From what I can tell, your self published tomes haven’t sold that well on Amazon. Because you’ve failed at self publishing, all self publishers are failures? Surely someone in New York should have seen the brilliance of your work and writing and saved you from the electronic hell that is the worlds largest online bookstore?
Good E-Reader

Angry Weir only got known because his books are in bookstores by Crown Publishing Group. The odd indie author has success, but that doesn’t mean I will still encourage any author that asks to traditionally publish.

I could name people who won the lottery, but I would never advise people to play it.
Elliot1234

Why would anyone need validation? Are you invalid?
Andrew

If you need a prize of some sort to recognize your efforts as a writer, your doing it wrong for the wrong reasons. YMMV of course.
Andrew

Andy Weir got known because he sold 50K books, and then someone at Crown contacted him. Howey was well known before he signed with S&S. In fact, a lot of self published authors who sell well haven been contacted by traditional publishers, but only after an audience has been built.

Any writer submitting to traditional publishing is playing a lottery. But buying a ticket at your local bodega will give you better odds of winning than submitting to any house in New York.
John Aga

Michael I would recommend you check out the indie authors site http://indiereader.com/ In addition if the reading public is turning away from publishers it is due their perception that the publishers are not offering the value that publishers are claiming. Meanwhile the sales trend line for indie author is going up and up. P.S. I am not a wannabe author. Just an interested reader looking for good books to read and not burdened by prejudice with regards to where they are coming from. 🙂
John Aga

With respect to the Hugo Awards, Marko Kloos, Indie Author, was recently nominated for best S.F. novel for Terms of Enlistment. However, due to infighting among two different Hugo nominating factions, Mr. Kloos decided to pull his book from nomination to avoid any taint from the infighting of others. As a reader I can speak highly of the quality of his writing and ability to tell a very good story, despite the handicap of being an indie author.
Arphaxad

Did some research on you… looks like you’re a failed self-published author with no corporate publisher offering you a contract. HA HA HA HA HA That’s why you hate successful indie authors, you envy those that have are having more success than you. HA HA HA HA HA You’re a total joke.
Elliot1234

Bookstore shelf space is shrinking, and paper is losing market share to eBooks. Keep talking.
Elliot1234

Limit those figures to fiction, where independent authors operate, and it tells a far more interesting story.
Elliot1234

This isn’t offensive. It’s funny.

Self-published authors continue to take fiction market share from publishers. Publishers don’t like it because they want the money that is going into self-publishers pockets.

So, they tell us how bad self-published books are, and they tell us how awful self-published authors are. And they gnash their teeth at the fact that self-publishers continue to take market share away from them with those awful books.

Then they look at how Amazon is discounting publishers’ paper lower than publishers’ eBooks, making publishers look foolish.

And the laughter rolls on…
Elliot1234

Persistence does pay off when trying to get a legit book deal.

Not worth it. There is more money in hitting the KDP upload button. Who cares if an author grows by your standard if their bank account grows via Amazon wire transfers?

Money is the measure. That’s what has the publishers and their authors so upset. They are losing money to self-publishers.
Elliot1234

Smashwords? Why look there when we can do so much better picking a self-published book from Amazon’s top 100 best sellers? There are lots to choose from. And those are slots that could have been filled by published authors, but self-published authors kicked them out and took their money.
Elliot1234

On August 29, you can join Authors United at #SelfPublishersAreTakingOurMoney.
Patrice Fitzgerald

Tracy Hickman’s comments cited here are from more than five years ago. His statements were picked up in 2014 and covered by Joe Konrath (who advised him to self-publish), to whom Tracy himself responded. Here’s part of what Hickman said: “I’ve been serial and self-publishing for years. Visit my dragonsbard.com website
if you would like your own collectible copy of my book series produced
entirely as an online serial directly for my subscribers. Alternately,
visit the shroudoftheavatar.com
website to see where I’m writing a serial novel for that awesome
computer game, itself being published independently. And you’re welcome
to visit sojournertales.com to see the storytelling board game we successfully kickstarted last year. For that matter, follow me on kickstarter.com for the new projects we will be launching this fall.” Here’s his April 3, 2014 blog post: http://www.trhickman.com/wake-up-call-five-years-ago/ Hickman is doing fine, apparently involved in all kinds of projects from books to films. I doubt he’ll have time to come over here and set you straight about using him as an example of how self-publishing has ruined everything.
Douglas Daniel

Mr. Kozlowski– a word or two.

I self-publish. According to your screed, that makes me a corrupt and dishonest individual. Hmm. Okay. You don’t know me, nor many thousands of other self-publishers, but that’s all right. Everyone’s entitled to an opinion.

You say we’re not good enough. Speaking only for myself, only about myself, it’s quite possible you’re right. At least as you’ve defined the matter. However, a moment of objective reflection would probably compel an admission that this cannot be true of all self-publishers. The number of good self-published authors almost certainly exceeds your 0.01%, although I doubt anyone (including yourself) can truly quantify the number. You seem to be painting with a brush entirely too broad. There is an inherent unfairness in that.

I do wonder at the vehemence of your article. Are you merely looking for a reaction? More than that, is it any business of yours (or mine) how or why someone publishes their work? Admittedly, entirely too much of what is self-published nowadays is bad, if not godawful. Again, is that the business of anyone other than the author/publisher? The only other person who may have a legitimate say is the reader, who is the ultimate arbiter of the value of any work, traditionally published or not. And a reader always has the right not to read a work they find tedious or badly written.

Provocation, sir, is neither journalism nor discussion. And your article smacks of it.
hat72

Wow … have you spent ANY time talking to successful indie authors? Because I have. There are thousands who are making honest livings, who know marketing inside and out, and who are among the most decent people I’ve known. It’s a community absolutely crammed with supportive and ridiculously intelligent people, and it’s highly self-regulated. Shysters and scammers don’t last long—they certainly don’t end up with executive offices overlooking Manhattan skylines.

The picture you’ve painted in this post sounds like you’re writing from about five years ago. There are tons of successful—even uber successful—indie authors. Hugh Howey and Andy Weir are two obvious and mainstream choices. Guy Kawasaki even went indie. And I’d have to clear my calendar for the next couple of days to write a list of the authors who are making six or even seven figures from their work, with mailing lists to match. Seems like they might know *something* about marketing and how the industry works.

I’ve interviewed traditionally published authors who aren’t any more ahead of the game than their indie counterparts. Some admit they lack marketing savvy, they don’t fully understand the mechanics of the publishing industry, and they feel frustrated by the fact that marketing and promoting their work falls more on them than on the “small army” of people who supposedly have a vested interest in their success. They make smaller royalties—sometimes no royalty at all, despite sales. And many of them have day jobs to keep the bills paid.

Contrast that with some of the indies I’ve interviewed who have to do all the same work the traditional author does, but who own the responsibility of building and maintaining their author business. No small armies. No one to absorb the costs of cover design, layout, distribution or promotion. It’s flat-out miraculous that anyone has reached the kind of success I’ve described here. And calling those people corrupt? What a petty and bigoted attitude.

For every #buymybook indie on Twitter, there are about a hundred marketing-savvy indie authors who understand analytics and demographic reports, and who know how to successfully organize a launch campaign. And unlike their trade publishing counterparts, they can pivot instantly to accommodate market trends or improve demographic targeting.

This post is filled with inaccuracies and logic errors. Also … “ISBN numbers?” International Standard Book Number numbers? Really?

I have ISBNs, so apparently not every indie author is “lazy.” Although, that’s one of your logic fails. It’s hardly laziness for most self published authors. Spending $99 is, for someone just starting in this business, quite an out-of-pocket expense. I might let you slide with calling them “cheap,” but I’d argue “frugal.” Lazy? Ridiculous. That’s like saying someone is lazy because they didn’t opt for the insurance when they rented a car from Avis.

And in the end, ISBNs aren’t offering all that much in way of a benefit for that hundred bucks. Despite what you’ve implied, industry research and reports still do not include indie-published books, even with an ISBN. And given that there are a few dozen ways to get “bone fide” (seriously?) data on digital book sales, I’d say paying Bowker, just for the privilege of bing included in industry data, is tantamount to extortion.

Awards? An author has to have a Hugo before they’re “bone fide?” (Seriously, why would you even include that phrase, when it’s so clearly wrong that you put it in scare quotes?) What about the *millions* of authors who have had bestsellers, only to never get a notable award? Authors who have made their (apparently) honest living writing books for the (ever-dwindling) Big 4, but never get that coveted “winner of” title? That’s a ludicrous criteria. Of course those awards are closed to indies—they’re still operating under rules that were drafted last century, to exclude people printing books on Xerox photocopiers.

The industry changed when they weren’t looking, and they haven’t caught up yet. Give them time. I’m pretty sure it’s going to get tougher to ignore authors like Andy Weir when you have blockbuster films driving even more book sales. And before anyone objects that Weir is now with Crown Publishing—his proving ground was the same “corrupt” indie publishing world being raked over the coals here, making a pretty good argument for self publishing to *attract* a trade publishing contract, if that’s on your bucket list.

Frankly, I’d put my money on most of the indies I know to have a deeper understanding of the publishing industry than you seem to have, Michael.

The greatest irony is that you are actually an indie publisher yourself, spewing your biased opinions from a blog and doing so in the most offensive way possible just to goad people into clicking through and reading. I threw up in my brain a little just realizing that I’m contributing to your numbers.

That’s real corruption. What you’ve written here is simply mean, vitriolic garbage, venting your spleen in exchange for a better CTR. It’s as hypocritical as much as it is obtuse.

Indie publishing and traditional publishing do not have to be at odds, but thanks for making it that much harder for the two to learn from each other. Posts like this do nothing but provide justification for small minded people to spend more time hurling feces at the scary thing they don’t understand, howling into the bars of their cages while all the upright monkeys walk free and collect bigger royalty checks. Corruption indeed.
hat72

Look, maybe you’re not good enough, but don’t put your chaps on the other cowboys, pal. You can’t slight indies about a lack of industry sense and then claim it’s all about talent.

Getting a book in front of the right agent, followed by the right publisher, isn’t exactly a paint-by-numbers kind of operation. Talent doesn’t rise to the top all on its own, no matter how many deluded aphorisms you’ve read. It’s about connections and leverage, just like any business deal.

So if you want to say that these authors lack the business savvy, be my guest. You’re wrong about 85% of the time. But telling people aren’t good enough is too much pot v. kettle for my taste. If you’re a hack, go take a writing course or read “Save the Cat” or something. Don’t paint your inadequacy on anyone else.
hat72

You can’t work harder and be smarter and improve your chances of winning the lottery, but you definitely can do that as an author. And regardless of the stamp—indie or trade—every author has to work his or her buttocks off to be successful.

I’ll tell authors to go with the avenue that gives them the highest hope of success, and work their cans off to do it. If that means attracting an agent and a publishing contract, then that’s fantastic. But they don’t exactly get to coast once they have it. They still have to do all the same work the indie does, and they make a tiny sliver of the royalty in return.

This is just a flat-out ignorant position, man. The New York Times Bestsellers List and the USA Today Bestsellers list are both crammed with indie authors. It’s just unbelievable that anyone could hold the sort of attitude or opinion you’re espousing without having some weird agenda. Like maybe “I need to stir up lots of controversy so people will click through my site.”
Nick Thacker

Michael, I’d love to invite you to an interview on my podcast to discuss this. Is this something we can set up!
Andrew

Oh, Michael! You opened Pandora`s box. As a reader I did buy books from self-publishing writers. Alas was my disappointment huge. Most books were crap, even when the presentation text sounded interesting. It’s understandable many people aspire to be successful writers, but not all of them have talent and more than few just treat self-publishing as a money making machine. Some guys and ladies out there “print” tens of books every year and sell them from 1 to 15 Dollars each. If you read the pages it is obvious the author is not concerned at all by the quality of the text: unendless spelling mistakes, dull plots, unoriginal ideas, etc. In the end you just feel stupid and cheated. But hey, it’s about economics, stupid!

There must be some good self-publishing writers, no question about that. Still it’s not correct for me, as a consumer and hard working guy, to be financially abused by the 95% bad writers, while also wasting my limited time.
The self-publishing industry needs a filtering system, so that the consumers pay for value, enjoy and compensate he truly gifted writers.

Because of the flooding with bed literature I just stopped buying books from self-publishing authors. I am not prepared to read 20 books to find the good one among them. Sorry guys.
Brian

Spoken from a very narrow perspective and with absolutely zero knowledge of how successful Indie and Hybrid authors operate. Contrary to what you imagine, the indie world is being flooded by traditionally published authors who are sick to death of the way publishers do business. If you want to talk about corruption, start there. And guess what? We have agents, editors, professional cover artists, marketing advisers, etc. And though you may think indie writers self-publish because they don’t have the option to go traditional – think again. Most indie writers making a living, actually have work in the traditional world. Those who don’t have a very good reason. Why would they take an advance for less money than they can make in a month self-publishing? So they can puff out their chest and say they’re a “real writer”? Yeah. Let’s see if someone can pay the bills with that.
Are there people who game the system? Sure. But name one business where there aren’t people trying to get over. Before you go slamming the indie world, you should speak to the writers doing well there. Until you do, you will continue to write about it in ignorance. Fortunately, ignorance is a choice and has a simple cure.
Heywood Jablowme

You stupid little man. What makes you think indie authors lay awake at night whining that they don’t have a horrible trad contract or some bauble from a committe?
Everyone decides what constitutes success for their writing career. You set up an arbitrary standard that most indies don’t care for and declare all indies failures? You are a wretched mass of anger and envy.
What’s really pathetic is that you have to put out click bait garbage like this to get traffic to your site.
teresahill

There are people who think anyone can write a book and make a ton of money on it. There are a lot of people taking advantage of people who want to write a book and selling them services that are worthless.

But there are a whole lot of writers who’ve been published by the Big 6 in New York for years and are now self-publishing, putting out professional books and making tons of money. More than we ever made with the Big 6.

And some new writers who started in self-publishing, climbed the bestseller lists and are now getting 6 figures from New York publishers.
Bob Mayer

I’ve had 42 traditional contracts. Not in the woodwork.
Sylvia McDaniel

This is not worth my time. I have a book deadline looming for my indie publishing company. Let’s just say I won’t be stopping by GoodReads again either. I make more money now than I did when I published with a big 6 publishing company. I write full-time and I love my job. I don’t have to prove myself to you. I’m doing just fine and now I will get back to work. Change is hard for many people.
editorialhell

As someone who works in (traditional) publishing, I tend to agree with Michael, but before you pull out the pitchforks, please hear me out. I think the conflict here is mainly between writing as an art and writing for income. If a writer’s main goal is to be able to support him or herself through writing, and they are confident of their abilities, then I do recommend self-publishing. That said, if the writer’s goal is to have the work in the best possible packaging–inside and out–I recommend going with a publisher. Now, I know I’ll get some flack for suggesting that a self-published book can’t match up in quality to a “professionally” published book, but that is my (understandably biased) opinion. The people that work on self-published books get paid whether the book performs or not and so have no skin in the game. Editors, producers, and others who work at traditional publishers depend on the success of the books they publish to earn their salaries. I don’t think it is fair to compare the levels of commitment given this factor.

That said, I can guarantee that good writing is no assurance of commercial success in either the self-publishing or traditional realms.

I do think, however, that there is plenty of gaming being done in traditional publishing circles and it is common knowledge that you can “buy” your way on to the NY Times bestseller lists if you have the money, so I don’t think criticizing independent authors for something that everyone does is fair.

My beef is not so much with independent authors as much as the independent publishers who appeal to ego and vanity by spinning stories about how traditional publisher is this evil beast keeping their voices from being heard. Trust me, traditional publishing is a business like any other, and if we think it will make money, we will put out just about anything
Brian

It sounds to me like your argument is more about art -v- entertainment than self-publishing -v- traditional. Literary fiction and non-fiction writers have always looked down on us poor pathetic genre writers. Needless to say, we don’t care for it.
The thing to realize is that our goals are different. We aren’t trying to change the world or touch the deepest recesses of the human soul. All we want is to give our readers a bit of enjoyment. We’re after a smile. But as that is completely of topic and subject for another time.
Lynn Crain

You cheapen those of us who are hybrid authors and know how the system works. There are people out there who actually have the knowledge and be successful. There is nothing wrong to self-publishing if you have a great product or a backlist that has already been through the traditional publishing wringer. Fie on you for being so negative when there are good writers out there doing just what you say can’t be done.
bobbly

I primarily prefer to be published by real publishers, whether the big ones or midsize or even small. Self-publishing is usually a terrible idea for most people for more reasons than I have time to articulate here. Having said that, I recently self-published a couple of Kindle books — collections of my e-zine articles I knew no mainstream publisher would take but my subscribers (I have 65,000) asked for.
Electa Scott Graham

This guy is trying to make indie authors mad so we will make his article go viral. He likely doesn’t believe half of what he says up there, but he knows indies are marvels at social media and we have the awesome power of banding together for the good of our profession. Don’t let him get his own way. I mean how can he actually believe these things. He uses E.L. James as someone we try to emulate because she is such a successful self-pubbed author. ELJ was a fan fiction indie author. She became successful enough to get noticed by the big publishers. Plus she is a terrible writer. So don’t get angry with him. He can’t even be arsed to fact check.
David

I don’t understand this kind of animosity towards self-published authors. Are there some out there that try to game the system? Of course there are, but you could say that about literally any system on the planet from politics to the slots at Vegas. Any system devised my mankind is going to have people that try to beat it, cheat it, game it, or corrupt it. Does that mean the system is defunct or the people doing it are? I would say the latter.

I’m a self-published author and proud of it. I did a lot of research into agents, editors, publishing houses, et. before I finally decided to go the self-publishing route. Bottom line, the one thing I kept hearing over and over is “If you can’t prove your work is marketable, you probably won’t be able to sell it.” So I decided to see if my work was “marketable” to the general public. I may not have had a marketing plan or an army of people behind me, but I have passion for the craft and the desire to do whatever it takes to make myself a success.
10,000+ copies later, I’d say my work is pretty marketable. I have 140 reviews on Amazon (not a one paid for….didn’t even realize you could do that) and about 84% of them are 4 or 5 stars. Not a perfect start, but not bad for someone coming straight out of the gate. At one point my book was in the top 700 on Amazon overall and top 5 in all three of my categories. That’s changed a bit since, but my main point is that there are plenty of hard-working, dedicated, and above all else HONEST self-published authors out there. And the ones that are truly dedicated to the craft of writing have it show in their work and in their results.
Would I like to get picked up by one of the huge publishing houses like Tor or Del Rey or come other major group? Absolutely! When you get right down to it, every single author out there has some secret aspirations to become the next Stephen King or JK Rowling. Not because we want to write like them, but like the kid that dreams of being the next Babe Ruth, we dream of the legendary status and the pinnacle-level success that those giant authors have achieved.

And if self-publishing my first few books serves as the first step on that road, so be it.
Graham Downs

I have never, ever, EVER even considered shopping my book to an agent or trying to get it traditionally published. The middle-man is dead. We no longer go through an intermediary for practically anything – we get our jobs without employment agents, we buy and sell cars privately, we don’t need a broker for insurance any more. Why should we have to pay anyone to tell us our book’s not worthy? And what do those companies know about what readers want, anyway?

Except for in very specific cases (like re-publishing out of print classics), there is no place for traditional publishing in the world today. Do it yourself. Relying on other people for YOUR success is just plain lazy. 😛
S. A. Hunt

“I tell every single one that they should not take the easy way and self-publish,”

HAHAHAHAHAHA. That is a super-ignorant thing to say. Self-publishing because you can’t get an agent is like swimming the Atlantic because your ship didn’t show up. Wroooong answer, dude. Being a successful self-publisher is exponentially more trying than querying agents.
Lex Harper

The writer of this article is a liar and plagiarist. http://stephenleather.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-self-styled-self-publishing-experts.html
Good E-Reader

Indeed! Leather was so offended by the interviews he did where he admitted to creating sock pockets to promote his books, he threatened to do a smear campaign unless Michael deleted this article. Obviously he did not.
Lex Harper

The problem is no one can believe a word you say, Michael. You are a liar and you steal the work of other journalists without checking or attributing.
Laraine

Mr Kozlowski Is indeed out of touch. Even if you get published by a “traditional” publisher you will be expected to do your own marketing. Marketing is a highly skilled profession. Try asking someone whose job is marketing to sit down and write a book of fiction!
Kell Brigan

Especially since it requires selling your soul and being a rude, intrusive, presumptuous, manipulative SOB.
Kell Brigan

This is exactly the ideal situation for self-publishing, i.e. established writers with professional careers who are providing works that are not practical for traditional publishers to offer. Self-publishing is great for restoring out-of-print backlists, or offering supplemental, smaller writings that appeal to the fan base.
Kell Brigan

You know perfectly well Kozlowski is not talking about truly hybrid writers. Go back and read the article. And, look up the Dunning-Kruger effect; bad writers are by definition incapable of knowing that their work sucks. Every hack on the planet thinks they have a “great product.”
Kell Brigan

There is no honorable, honest way for people who have no background as a traditionally published writer to sell self-published stuff. NONE. There is no review mechanism, no indexing, no vetting of any kind. ALL SELF-PUBLISHING SWIMS IN A POOL OF CRAP. Until that problem is solved, there is no point bothering readers with self-published books. The only people making any tiny amount of money off of self-publishing are fantasy, SF or romance writers selling each other fan fiction on message boards. Get real.
Kell Brigan

If you’re the only writer “published” by your “company,” you’re not a “publishing company.” STOP LYING. IF YOU HATE TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING SO MUCH, STOP LYING AND TRYING TO MASQUERADE AS A TRADITIONAL PUBLISHER. God, I wish there were a way to put you dirty lying slobs in jail.
Kell Brigan

It’s now the “Big 5.” Penquin ate Random House.

The number of selfies who go pro is miniscule, and the biggest example is a pornographer. Not exactly a representative sample. And, writers who’ve created careers in traditional publishing would NEVER SELL SELF-PUBLISHED BOOKS WITHOUT THAT EXISTING FOUNDATION.

Read the article. It’s specifically about people trying to sell their first book.
Kell Brigan

Exactly. Self-publishing of a good book is like taking a half-carat diamond and throwing it into a swimming pool full of crap. Doesn’t matter how nice a diamond it is. I ain’t diving in to try to find it.
Kell Brigan

Eat shit and die, spammer scum.
Kell Brigan

The reading public is not turning away from publishers. (20% isn’t “most” of the market.)
Kell Brigan

Dunning-Kruger, Exhibit 1.
Kell Brigan

“Very true, but also true for legacy publishing.”

Are you’re saying with that tired old non-argument is that you never read, or that you’re too illiterate to know the difference between competent and incompetent writing.
Kell Brigan

If you’re so proud of your work, why are you throwing it in the unindexed, unvetted, unsearchable cesspool of self-publishing? There is at this point no reasonable, efficient or honorable way for you to find readers. NONE. The only way you can succeed is by lying and buying fake “awards” and “reviews” and selling stuff to naive people who are outside of the writing world and don’t know that now readers need to check publishers’ IDs before buying anything. Yeah. Great career.
Kell Brigan

Why are you taking this so personally when the article isn’t about you? Did you even read it?
Kell Brigan

What “work,” exactly? How can you market something when you have no way to prove it’s not crap? Most selfies don’t even give out samples online so you decide whether or not they’re even literate. Seriously, you’re not welcome in mainstream bookstores, and when you present yourself as “published writers” most people roll their eyes and skip your presentation at the West Podunk library book fair. What “work” are you doing other than trying to sell stuff to OTHER SELF-PUBLISHERS? You refuse “gatekeepers,” of any kind, and yet keep screaming (all of you) that you’re not in the 99% of selfies who write garbage. So, what’s this “work” you keep screaming about? Nagging reviewers who don’t review selfies? Nagging librarians to try to convince them that your fake BS DBA “publishing company” isn’t just another selfie telling lies? You cannot not be corrupt in an intrinsically corrupt system. When you’re swimming in a cesspool, everything is shit.
Kell Brigan

If you’re so proud of your stuff, why no sample text on Amazon?
Kell Brigan

Thank you, God.
Kell Brigan

And, most of your stuff is traditionally published, i.e. been VETTED. (47north is not self-publishing.) Why are you claiming gatekeepers are worthless when you benefit from that process?
Kell Brigan

“You can’t work harder and be smarter and improve your chances of winning the lottery, but you definitely can do that as an author.” Serious question, here. “Work harder” doing what, exactly? No one online or in person trying to sell me a self-published book has EVER given me a good reason to give them a second of my time. (Most give me plenty of reasons not to, i.e. using bullshit DBAs instead of informing people their stuff is self-published consistently and immediately, or buying bullshit “awards” from Readers Favorites, ad nauseum, and other similar CRIMES.) What exactly is it that you’re working so hard at? Anything you’re doing to try to fool people into thinking your stuff has been professionally VETTED and edited is FRAUD. I have not seen, anywhere, any kind of gatekeeping from self-publishers. I’ve never seen any of you even offer a c.v. or resume to try to demonstrate that you might actually be literate. You have nothing to offer readers except lies. Without an unbiased gatekeeper (not a bunch of bullshit “awards” and selfies-only USA Today lists), you have no excuse for trying to sell your stuff to anyone. You are unknown, with no credentials, and nothing backing you up. Self-publishing is externalized narcissism. You expect your delusion opinions to function as “evidence” when your opinion of your own work is absolutely worthless (Look up the Dunning-Kruger effect). When you’re not being vouched for by anyone legitimate, whatever it is you’re spending all that hard work on is either DISHONEST, a delusional waste of time, or both.
Kell Brigan

Further evidence that self-publishing is externalized narcissism. “I say it’s good, so people should buy it.” Dunning-Kruger for days…
Kell Brigan

Again, go read the article. Your self-published profits are riding on the coat tails of traditional publishing. The article is about people selling their first book. Noone is talking about hybrid writers supplementing a traditional publishing career with some self-published stuff. Crap, it’s not all about you.
Kell Brigan

So, none of the thousands of books you’ve read (because, if you’re presuming to be a writer, we know you spend more time reading than writing, right?) was traditionally published? You only read those “heroic” selfie books for which you paid full price? (Sorry, but the ones your fellow selfies send you in the fan fiction message board don’t count.) Wow. Neat trick, presuming to be a writer while avoiding everything but the last 8 years of the world’s literature.
Louis Shalako

What lies have I told? Which reviews have I bought? Where can I go to buy an award?

Drop dead.
Bob Mayer

I don’t see the word “worthless” in the two sentences I wrote.
Kell Brigan

Answer my question first. If you’re work’s so great, why are you throwing it into a cesspool.
Kell Brigan

Jesus, are selfie champions really that brain dead? You’re claiming self-publishing for first-time novelists is OK, because… reasons you refuse to list. And, then you say you have traditional publishing credentials, which has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THE DISCUSSION. What are your reasons for claiming self-publication is ethical, reasonable or otherwise acceptable for first-time novelists? You know, the real discussion that isn’t about you?
Kell Brigan

What “work?” What honest venues are available to self-publishers who aren’t trying to masquerade as traditionally published or who aren’t using fake DBAs, fake awards and fake reviews? I don’t know of any because there are no gatekeepers weeding out the crap. So, what can you find to do “work” on honorably when there’s no way to prove you’re legitimate?
Craig A McLeod

How I conduct both my reading and my business ventures is none of your concern. I read (and buy, before you think of being cute about that) plenty of books both published Independently and otherwise and if the person who wrote the thing gets more money then more power to them.

Then again, if Big Pub told you to bark I’m sure you’d ask “How Loud?” before being twatted with the rolled up Newspaper for speaking out of turn.
Kell Brigan

So, you buy and read stuff that you think was written by weak people “on their knees.” Why do you want the thoughts of people you don’t respect in your head? If only selfies are honorable, why are you reading people you hate? (It’s called being mentally consistent. You’re not doing it.) And, who said we were talking solely about the Big 5. There are THOUSANDS of LEGITIMATE, VETTED, PROFESSIONALLY-EDITED publishers throughout the world — the truly “Indie” publishers. Why are you pretending their stuff doesn’t exist? Because they rejected YOU?
Craig A McLeod

Looking at your history, replying to you to reach a consensus is a fools errand. If you wish to submit your works to become their works that’s your call. Me, I’ll do as I do and we’ll see who’s where in the long run.
Kell Brigan

Answer the question. Are you reading exclusively “pure,” “holy” self-published works? (Are you reading at all?)
Craig A McLeod

[Vague and annoying answer designed to piss you off]