Author April Hamilton, a long time friend of Smashwords and advocate for indie authors, has launched Publetariat, a new online community for self-published authors. Check it out and get involved.April thinks it's time the word "indie" carry the same street cred for authors as it does for indie musicians and filmmakers. It's a goal I share as well.
While other online communities such as AbsoluteWrite serve authors who aspire to go the mainstream publishing route, Publetariat will serve authors who aspire to remain indie.
From the Publetariat site:
Several indie authors and indie author advocates, myself included, are supporting the project:Why Publetariat?
The indie author tide is rising. Every day there are new stories of authors taking their careers into their own hands and choosing, not resorting to, self-publication and forming their own imprints.
Even the struggling titans of the mainstream publishing industry can't ignore it anymore. There's an increasing level of genuine interest in, and respect for, self-publishing and small, independent imprints on websites and in publications that would've sneered at the very idea a decade ago. For far too long, indie authors and small imprints have fought an uphill battle against an industry and a community of writers determined to marginalize us and our efforts. Now, as indie authorship stands poised to become the 'next big thing' in publishing, our time has come at last.
Visit Publetariat today at http://www.publetariat.com/index.phpNick Daws - freelance writer/consultant
Jude Johnson - Scorched Hawk Press
Hugh McGuire - Bookoven, Librivox, earideas & datalibre.ca
Joanna Penn - The Creative Penn
Dana Lynn Smith - The Book Marketing Maven
If you're attending the Tools of Change Conference next week in New York, I invite you to attend the panel I'm moderating Tuesday titled "The Rise of ebooks." April is one of our distinguished panelists.
Hey Thanks for the shout out! Something very interesting I've noticed over the past few months since the economic downturn is the attitude toward self publishing in a lot of sectors is REALLY changing.
ReplyDeleteA popular literary agent, Nathan Bransford runs a blog, and before black Wednesday if someone were to mention self publishing, all the other commenters would flay them alive and talk about how unprofessional it was and if they want to be a "real writer" they need to keep sending to agents and forget all this self publishing nonsense.
Then after black Wednesday, I said something positive about self publishing in a thread, and only 1 person disagreed with me and they weren't even rude about it.
Now every time Nathan mentions self publishing on the blog, about 15 people come out in favor of it or saying that's their plan to build an audience.
And the naysayers?
Silence.
I really knew this tide was going to start turning, but it's happening so fast it makes my head spin.
Hi Zoe, you're right. The winds are shifting. There's a lot of prejudice out there among traditionalists but the economic downturn has shaken the already creaky foundation of book publishing and is causing more and more of our fellow authors to reconsider their options. No doubt in my mind, publishing, even "traditional" publishing, can have a bright future, though the rules are changing. I've got a special interview planned for later today related to this topic, so stay tuned for a treat!
ReplyDeleteDude! I'm doing Publetariat. I just, uh...haven't gotten to that line on my to-do list...uh...no, my dog ate my homework...
ReplyDelete