Indie Writers

This week Clean Indie Reads is hosting a March Madness Sale (http://www.cleanindiereadsale.com) and in conjunction with that we are doing a blog hop and a winner, with the luck of the Irish, will receive a year's worth of reading. Each of us are giving our thoughts on independent publishing.

Not too long ago there was a rather drawn out dispute between a power house publisher and the world largest internet retailer.  The fight was, as most business disputes are, about money.  Although not a huge amount was written about this fight considering the players, when it was written about a fair number of comments that followed cheered for the publisher because to quote one commentator, "They weed out those books that should never be published." As I have recently been introduced to a genre of writing that I have heretofore been (mercifully) ignorant of, I have to regretfully acknowledge some truth in this statement.  There are stories that perhaps would be best left in the "author's" mind.  But that was another blog. My reason for this blog is for all those wonderful writers who languished in the slush pile until ebooks came into being.

To make my point I would like to give two examples decades apart and approaching the same truth in two very different ways. 

A well known author from my part of the world had started to wonder if what was written about his books was genuine so at about book 12 or 13 he sent off his most recent work to his editor under an assumed name.  The letter of introduction stated that he (John Smith) had been given the editor's name by a mutual friend.  The editor wrote back and told John Smith that he should reconsider his desire to have a career in the literary world as his lack of talent almost guaranteed constant rejection.  The author then sent the same book under his own name and got back a letter from the same editor saying it was the best book he had ever written.  Oops!

Fast forward to 2013 when I picked up a book by Steve Robinson called In the Blood.  It is still one of the best books I have read in the last 12 years.  At the time that I picked it up there were approximately 500 reviews.  I didn't put the book down until 3 the following morning and a little later that day when I was somewhat recovered I went online to write a review and there were over 650.  Steve Robinson received a five book deal not long after that.  A heartfelt letter of thanks was sent by him to all of us who had reached out to say how great his books were.  

I don't want the big publishers to leave the literary world, on the contrary, I believe they keep standards high and we need them to do that.  But the literary world would not be the same if we didn't have Steve Robinson, Lauren Carr, Linda Covella, Andrea Frazier, Faith Blum, Melanie Jackson, Paul Cwalina, Luann Ehrlich and so many, many more who allow those of who love to visit a world of fiction and leave with a smile in our heart.

Please visit our other blogs today. I am sure that you will be glad you did.

http://sweetbloghops.blogspot.com