Why Choose To Be An Indie Author?

I don't think anyone can deny that the world of publishing has changed - enormously. What is, to me at least, kind of interesting is that as much as publishing seems to have changed if you look a little closer it has simply returned to its' roots. For so many years the ability to not just write but have your words actually published lay very firmly in the hands of the big publishing companies. Writer's worked away on their manuscripts, pouring out all the blood, sweat and tears that entails, hoping that maybe, someone, somewhere might just not only read their manuscript, a feat in itself, but deem it worthy of publication. Being a published writer then didn't really rely on your level of talent or skill but in the lottery of a potential editor giving the manuscript their tick of approval.

How many masterpieces have we lost due to that system? There's no way to tell but an educated guess tells me that it was probably a lot. Why? Simply because not every genre appeals to every person in the same way. J. K. Rowling, now renowned for her Harry Potter series, was sent enough rejection letters that she once claimed that she could have wallpapered her house with them. What if she had given up after the first five or ten or even one hundred? Well for starters we wouldn't have what is undeniably one of the most successful YA fantasy series' of this generation. It is incredible, nay, astonishing to think that could have happened but for one person who was willing to give her books their tick of approval.

Yet it wasn't always like this. In ancient times stories, or poems really, were passed down orally from person to person and those that were good survived. Then in 1439 with the advent of Johannes Gutenberg's incredible movable type printing press stories could finally be printed, in as many copies as the writer could afford, for the public to read. And for centuries that was the world of publishing. Authors wrote their stories and got them printed, distributed them themselves and those that were good would ultimately become classics. Sound familiar? Publishing has changed, that is without question, but in reality it has simply gone back to its' roots. Those of us who choose to be Indie authors put our work out for the public to read and those works that are good will survive and thrive. That's why so many of us choose to be Indie authors even when given the option of a more traditional contract. Funny how the world works :)