A Spam Fix and Indie Thoughts
This week got away from me, but mostly because I'm doing my massive one room a day clean-up as mentioned on Back to Basics.
I'm taking one room a day and cleaning it down to the baseboards. It's been slow going but cathartic. It makes me feel like I'm retaking control of my house.
In the meantime, Cate Masters was nice enough to email me a cure for spam comments. While it's true that Blogger keeps spam from appearing on the blog, they still show up on my email (and yours too if you subscribe to comments).
If you use Blogger, simply go to your Settings. Go to Comments tab. Under "Who Can
Comment?", choose the second one "Registered Users".
I have not had a single spam comment since I turned this feature on. As far as I can tell it hasn't prohibited anyone from commenting either. If you find that it does stop you from commenting, please email me and let me know.
Thank you, Cate!
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I normally do book shout-outs only once a month, but my buddy, Marshall Payne missed the last one. He's got two books out that you might want to check out. They're free for Amazon Prime members.
There's Petrol Queen,
and
Check them out if they're up your alley.
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You've probably already heard about a pretty good article in Forbes that breaks down the traditional versus indie argument. If you haven't, you can read it here.
The one thing the article mentioned that has plagued my noodle since this whole indie thing came out of the closet is how cliquish the camps are in book publishing. In no other art do you see this much mud-slinging.
As a matter of fact, in music, film-making, dance, and the fine arts, the mainstream artists of each of these fields HELP and ENCOURAGE indie artists. Not so in book publishing. Some traditionally published authors are openly hostile and disparaging of indies.
I've been trying to fathom the reason for years but have yet to reach a solid conclusion. What do you think? Why is the publishing industry so volatile and angry? Why can't we all play nice like the other arts?
Comments
As for your take, you hit it on the nose. It's almost as if TP authors feel that if there are a lot of Indie/Self-published books, then no one is going to read their novels. That these new authors are taking readers away from buying their books.
PS Thanks for tweeting this post!
And I've read a few posts from Indies (one very loud Indie) that kind of flip the tables and accuse the traditional folks of being less-than intelligent and that they're committing career suicide. Which I don't think is right, either.
I've always believed this: Authors should support authors first and last. Agents, editors, publishing paths, genres, etc. all goes somewhere in between. We're all after the same thing, readers, and we should support each other in that endeavor.
Those who choose the Indie route write, revise, edit, revise some more, get more edits done and, hopefully, go through the steps to put out a good cover and well formatted novel. In the end, it appears to be a matter of perspective.
And thank you for helping me get the word out there on Petrol Queen and Jimmy-Don! Much appreciated. *g*
Seems both can co-exist. Many TP authors are self-pubbing too. It doesn't have to be one or the other. And makes sense from a career and financial standpoint if you aren't one the the top selling authors.
But as you noted there's always a loudmouth in every group.
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Angelina: I never felt as if it should be 'my way or the highway', but be practical about this. In the end it's not about the author at all. It's about the reader.
You can't make a blanket statement and expect it to cover the whole field.
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Marshall: You're welcome, hon. I'm always up for helping a fellow Texan. :)
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Melissa: You are so right. It's an option. Not everyone can handle self-publishing. It can be expensive. And you can lose sleep or hair over it. I've done both.
It's never been a one-size fits all, but it's more freedom than authors have ever had before. Freethy is living proof.
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Susan: Ref: Now the same person is self pubbing some of her books and working with an indie.
Unbelievable! That's like saying, "You're all idiots--unless I do it."
It's possible the loudmouths could get attention, but I've found the louder a person is, the less I listen.
As for the ongoing 'trash-talking'...I just shake my head and keep writing. I don't want to get in anyone's way - and I don't want them to get in mine. I'll even go farther and help when and where I can - no matter what avenue the author takes/pursues. I believe it's the best approach. Now if everyone would do the same - boy! - what a nice place the publishing world would be.
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Clarissa: Try 'em. Marshall is an excellent writer.
Things never change.
Thanks for the spam tip too!
Ref: Spam fix
I'm going on week 2 and still no spam. I think it's working.
It could cause some resentment.
When you're finished all your rooms, would you like to start on mine? I'll even let you keep the virtuous feeling.
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Linda: There are people out there who can write rings around the TP authors that I can't justify it as someone paying his dues.
But then you have EL James and her writing makes more money than the superstars. It makes no sense.
I hadn't read that article, thanks for the link. Sad, isn't it - Sue Grafton's the latest to bash indies, even though now she admits she knew little about that side of the biz. *sigh*