Bellbottoms vs suits

Why going indie means never having to say you’re sorry

I’m still in the freshmen author class, but here’s what my first year in the wonderful world of writing and publishing taught me. And what I’m doing about it.  

My first anniversary top 10 learnings

1. Traditional publishing only buys and sells books that seasoned professionals believe will sell. If they take on your project, they’ll do all in their considerable power to bring your book to market brilliantly, making any changes necessary to achieve that end. It’s big, risky business (conservative estimate: nearly 3k books published DAILY in America alone), so that makes perfect sense.
2. Today’s literary agents and editors seek marketable premises presented in market-friendly prose. To protect their own interests (and pay their bills), they also take into account any potential client’s:
   • long-range earning potential for the publishing house
   • social media numbers
   • self-promotional skills
   • willingness to revise/relinquish plot, characters, cover and title ideas to align with reader expectations.
3. Speaking of which: big publishing houses have titling committees—a conference room of suits might determine the most marketable, SEO-friendly title for your book.
4. This hyper-competitive market has even faith-based publishers treading cautiously, recommending their Christian clients go dark-mode on more obvious expressions of their beliefs, in hopes of appealing to a wider audience.
5. Bottom-line protection means passing on borderline concepts or out-there projects that are too chancy. The safer investments are “bookalikes” that follow trends and familiar tropes beloved by voracious (book-buying) readers.
6. Speaking of which: A fledgling author who doesn’t know/won’t fall in line with their genre’s top tropes is already in jeopardy in the current publishing shark tank.
7. If an author’s end game includes retaining creative control over their labor of love, they better pray hard about traditional publishing for the above reasons.
8. Now, the good news: In the dark ages, if your manuscript was rejected by the establishment, it was pretty much the end of the line (unless you indulged in the prohibitively expensive “vanity press” option). But, thanks to recently developed plug-and-play formatting software and helpful publishing apps, virtually anyone can produce and market a very professional-looking book.
9. Luddites, despaireth not: there are many “creative contractors” for hire with mad skills in cover design, editing and proofing, building websites, email lists, and marketing campaigns. These fine folks can help make your indie book the real deal and get it out there.
10. Because of all of the above, many authors–including formerly traditionally published ones—are switching to indie publishing, whistling “oh, freedom” as they jump, happy to regain creative control of their own work.

I’ve learned a lot in my first year as a writer seeking publication–more than the ins and outs of a very big, very competitive business. After a year of intense research and much prayer, I’ve discovered my soul wears bellbottoms, not a suit. That’s why this post is a declaration of independence of sorts. I know now indie publishing is the route I should take…a route that means I won’t need to continually compromise on the work, the vision I believe the Lord has (amazingly) delivered into my keeping.

And that means never having to say “I’m sorry” to my soul or, dear readers, to you.

PS–For some boots-on-the ground intel, check out this recent, very liberating Literaryscape podcast interview with award-winning historical romance author Julie Lessman, who recently switched from traditional publishing to indie and has some words to the wise: click here. My thanks to Melissa LaShure and Julie for permission to share this eye-opening cautionary tale. Learn a bit more about Julie from my prior fangirl post here.

Write the vision and make it plain….that he may run who reads it. Habakkuk 2:2