I don’t use my blog to whine often, and I know that’s what I’m doing…but I need to say my piece before I snap, lol. I am incredibly tired of seeing my TALENTED, FABULOUS peers treated differently than the ‘Published Author’…we’ll use that term, all right? I DO NOT mean to offend anyone, but this has become my BIGGEST pet-peeve since coming into this business.
The Question for the Day: What makes an e-book author differ from a ‘Published Author’?
The Answer for the Day: A whole lot more money and recognition, and NOTHING ELSE
I’m still a baby in this industry, but now that Jezebel’s Article is ready for publishing in a few weeks, I know the ENTIRE PROCESS. I cannot speak for any other than myself, so I won’t for the sake of this whine-fest I have going.
This is how Jezebel’s Article got to where it is today:
1) Bare-min of 10-14 CAREFUL Drafts
2) Submission and acceptance
3) First Round RIGOROUS edits by editor
4) First Round Edits done by me
5) Second Round edits by editor
6) Second Round edits done by me
7) Copy-edits
8) Editor
9) Me
10) Errata edits
11) FINAL EDITS
Now what I want to know…what did ‘Published Author’ do we didn’t????? We bust our butts writing, then promoting, then some more promoting. We invest our time and money!!!!!! We stress out, we attend chats, social-nets, blogs and a multitude of other things….
So tell me…why aren’t we considered ‘real authors’ ????
We should be judged on merit alone, our books speaking for themselves. They are our real resumes :)
Leave a comment with YOUR opinion. ‘Cuz honestly I really don’t understand what makes us any different than anyone else. At the end of the day, it’s just pens, paper, books and PDF’s.
Cheers,
Kayden
Leave a comment with YOUR opinion. ‘Cuz honestly I really don’t understand what makes us any different than anyone else. At the end of the day, it’s just pens, paper, books and PDF’s.
Cheers,
Kayden
3 comments:
We are real authors and we are the struggling artists...Think of it this way; we struggle more than the "normal" writer and thus when all is said and done will act more humbly than they did...Hopefully we'll be better people for it when all is said and done.
Great question, Kayden. Of the six e-publishers I've written for, I'd consider five to be of professional standard (inc. Samhain and Lyrical), and only one sub-par. The editing I've received has been thorough and impressive. Many of the writers at these electronic houses are unquestionably as good as those in mainstream print.
So why, on the whole, are they not recognized?
Personally, I think the internet culture itself is holding us back. For every honest to goodness e-publisher there are a hundred pirate sites, vanity publishers, illiterate bloggers and twitters demonstrating just how throwaway most internet content is.
Mainstream print authors get their own shelf space in Waterstones, Barnes and Noble, etc. They also enjoy extensive advertising. E-published authors mostly rely on google searches, blog posts, and overcrowded online booksellers. The stigma is cyberworld itself. There's too much clutter for us to shine through.
If we could only let the world know how much effort really goes into making an eBook tiptop for publication, folk might not shrug us off quite so readily.
Robert
Trent, Damn straight we are! And our trials do make us that way, because we have to fight that much more.
Robert, I completely agree. One day, we'll figure it out, and shine :)
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