Benjamin Britten (Kindle Single) (Penguin Specials)

Self-Publishers Should Not Be Called Authors

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Rich, you have to admit Self-Publishing is growing and more eBooks are being pumped out on a yearly basis, from a myriad of writers. In the next few years we may see self-published titles eclipse traditionally published books. And what are all these wonderful channels of discovery—other than being in a catalogue sent to bookstores which is about the extent of the marketing that the vast majority of traditional novels receive.

I can live without that, thanks. I also am wondering what that has to do with your whingeing that there are too many books on Amazon. And actually being paid a decent amount for my sales instead of pennies or being tied up in a contract with a non-compete clause. When my self-publishing income surpassed my full-time salary, I quit my job. It inevitably leads to more questions. Sometimes that assumption is correct…but certainly not always. I understand why self-published authors are getting their backs up over what probably feels like yet another attack.

I think those who pay attention to that sort of thing are likely getting tired of it by now. It does come across a bit elitist…which is interesting considering that I see you have a self-published book or two thrown up on Amazon. If your intent was the latter, I commend you! Well played, sir…well played. May I ask why you care if people call themselves authors as opposed to writers?

Because a large majority of the most critically acclaimed writers alive today make some or most of their income from teaching, not from their writing. The improperly used comma after neophyte? Who am I to think I could ever be an author of your caliber? Nice of you to delete my comment that was not a personal attack, was not profane or anything else but to quote your own words that contradicted itself.

Michael, self publishing is going to save publishing and save books. Yes, self publishing will lead to the release of more poor-quality books than every before, but anyone who fixates on this fact is missing the bigger, more important picture. Self publishing will enable more better books to be published than ever could have been enabled by traditional publishers. Self publishing will lead to more better books, and more books that are priced affordably and accessibly to more readers than ever before. The online discovery systems for ebooks are much more flexible and robust than was ever possible in the print world, and these discovery systems will only get better.

The books that are desirable to readers bubble up, and the poor-quality books will become invisible. What type of dream world do you live in Mark? Do you actually randomly read eBooks writers submit on your site? I bet if you went to your front page right now, selected 4 books at random, read them cover to cover you would be signing a different tune. Running a self-publishing company has you drinking your own kool-aid so much, that you see it as truth. After all, if you tell a lie so many times, you delude yourself into thinking its the truth.

Being a self-publishing evangelist i realize you have to champion amateur self-published titles. After all, all of your Huffington Post guest pieces give people the impression you are a luminary in publishing. Yes, you will say, the cream rises to the top, but that is dubious at best. I made a small blog entry on this topic myself a few days ago. Feel free to check it out. A professional author, yes. A professional blogger, no.

And that is your real beef… anyone can do it. How can it be terribly, terribly elite for the literati if just anyone can do it? As a professional author by your standards and a writer also by your standards , I disagree. I am published traditionally in Hungary and Germany and self-published in the US. The US is where I have the film dew, on my book.

Why is it singer and professional singer, then writer and professional author. That is not a parallel example. A parallel example would be an author and professional author. Are they then no longer professional? Some indie authors make thousands a months. Enough to quit their day jobs. Is that not the equivalent of a professional?

The problem with the argument you present here is you have presented ideas as being mutually exclusive that are not, in fact, mutually exclusive. If your blog post as a book, it would have a major plot hole. Time to rewrite—as all professional authors do. I read traditional and indie published books. Your responses to, what these authors, yes authors, are trying to say, are coming across like you have a personal grudge against indie authors. I also personally know several traditionally and well known authors, that are self publishing new series rather than going through their publishers.

The problem is that publishers are getting nervous because they are being pushed out of their own industry, may be time for them get with current times and re think how they do things, or become obsolete. Your opinion is just that, as opinion, just not a very educated one. This is just another such example. So, is this robot an author? Or Michael is a troll, tapping into the zeitgeist in the current indy-publishing world. The best thing about independent publishing at the moment is that anyone can write and publish a book.

That anyone can write and publish a book. I call myself a writer, because I write. I have written hundreds of thousands of words, some of which made it into the two works I uploaded to the indy-pubbed-amazon-another-book-in-a-million-books, self-publishing machine. Am I the author of those books?

With out any doubt, by any definition. Does that make me an author? If someone wants to call me an author, then fine, whatever floats their boat. What if I was involved in one of the other creative arts? Like painting for instance? It is a talent I have no ability to access, but stick with me for the purpose of argument. A person who paints art is regularly called and artist.

Regardless of whether they draw their primary income from the sale or commissioning of paintings. No matter how awful their paintings might subjectively be. He might have a shade of a point when it comes to titling. I am currently part-way through a degree in professional writing, and within the degree there is an unspoken resistance to calling people authors.

Sure, it might be that as a professional writer the scope of work is about reports and marketing and such, but many of my alums are working toward a major in creative writing as an adjunct to their studies in the pro-writing world. NO-ONE speaks of themselves as an author in any discussion. Is this just basic elitism? Pushed by academics who have sweat and blood and coffee-stains on their keyboards from harrowing PhD theses? Have you managed to not kill anyone? Ever missed a head shot? It is their stock in trade. To resolve this, I put that self publishing should no longer be free. I would love to see what happened if there was a one hundred dollar insertion fee for every book uploaded — repayable once sales reached one hundred dollars in profit.

OR, if that all seems too pay-to-play, keep it free, but raise the minimum price for a novel to something that will make people consider whether they are going to shell out for the product. It is frustrating that we are all in what is essentially a market with no quality control. I am yet to see anything that looks like a profit, but my unpaid-for, non-sock-puppet reviews encourage me to stay at it.

Some authors are doing well, some are doing okay, some are covering costs and some will never see a profit — I understand that…. The market will decide how good they are — I just wish the mechanism for that market was better at cultivating its fields — rather than having an active desire to harvest profits from a low quality crop. I believe every human being has something positive to contribute to the world. I believe every writer has a right to publish.

See a Problem?

I believe in democracy, fairness, freedom and freedom of expression. When someone believes in their potential and gives them a chance, great things can happen. People have been laughing at my crazy ideas about the potential of every writer for the last six years. The truth of which I speak is black and white. I see it every day. There a yin and yang to self publishing, just as there is to anything in life. All serve a purpose. Even your negativity here serves a purpose. My problems are thus.

You are almost single handily destroying every book ecosystem you currently do business with. Your sheer tidal wave of poorly edited, ill-thought-out, bot generated and sex-tastic catalog of books but formatted correctly under smashwords guidelines are everywhere on the internet.

These books are put side by side traditionally published books. You are creating the largest barrier in digital adoption for the mainstream to participate, book discovery. Book discovery used to be easy. Before self-published books took over, you could easily browse a genre and find a solid read. Amazon, Nook, Kobo or Sony recommendation engines would email you out other titles that may interest you. Honest to god, smashwords titles and indie titles in general have driven me from buying eBooks to almost exclusively shopping at brick and motor bookstores.

Can you simply imagine if Smashwords offered a true Print on Demand system that would enroll authors into Ingram Spark or Lightning Source? Then give indies the options to get on the Ingram catalog sent to major bookstores? You basically have built a business, appealing to the lowest common denominator, with dreams of being a literary superstar. After all, you are constantly referencing Smashwords writers that had a best seller in the Australian iBookstore, or somewhere else.

Its almost like Smashwords is your own personal casting couch, and the authors are young people just trying to be a star. Mark did you see the second Hunger Games movie? The one where there are thousands of mocking-jays flying around katniss, with thousands of different voices all going on at once. She almost goes into a catatonic state? The jays remind of Smashwords entire catalog. When you run each day around the park, you are a runner.

Um are you really not aware that thousands of authors published by the Big Five are now self publishing instead, for the money? Has that escaped your notice? You know I am NOT an indie author. I have a novel publsihed with a publisher. I agree — to a point. The comparison though is hard to distinguish. I am glad that there are more trad pubbed writers jumping ship, it can only mean that their success will help shake the stigma from works that are indy published.

I would also suggest that a traditionally published author will also have access to their existing fan-base to draw from, as they already have a foot in the market place. Indy publishing is a business, like anything else, and a profitable one — but not because of the quality of the work, instead it is about the sheer quantity of the stuff available. What has happened in the big shift to indy is that someone else is holding the dice in the same crap shoot, but the betting options are so wide, and so hard to play that the only winners are the people who own the table.

SO yes, I agree, on paper no pun intended indy is financially the stronger option for the author IF the book is successful. You had to be good and lucky with trad-pub, but in Indy it seems that you have to be really lucky first, and talented second. Or sell a chunk of books for ninety nine cents and hope that raise in rankings get people to buy based on rank at a higher price.

Publishing has been blown pieces by indy authors and the mechanism that allows them to be independent. The problem is that the new model is broken — or not yet evolved enough to make much sense. No-one wants to say it either. I mean quality control. I am just big on questioning, and looking for ways that things could be better. I suspect that some of this is to do with some fear belief that speaking out puts the author in jeopardy, and somehow places them on a black list on a server in a dark corner of AmaSmaKobo-land.

I am concerned that this fear is not at all dissimilar to the fear held by authors against traditional publishing in the time before the indy revolution. Are we replacing an old system of gatekeepers and page-sweat for a newer broader , far more profitable version? The new indy revolution was supposed to tear down the walls of the establishment, not build another one that is even harder to assail.

A writer — someone who writes. An author — someone who has written. A professional of any kind — someone who earns a living doing whatever it is they do. So I guess not. I want a robot that writes novels for me, so I can play computer games all day. See holes in your argument yet? You keep contradicting yourself.

So kudos on insulting whichever one you failed to number! Indie AUTHORS pay more out of pocket for professional editing, to promote their books, to gain their fan base, than traditional authors do. Further more… YOU need an editor.. So please do tell us how you have any business trying to trash what we do for a living? Many of us are not only Best Sellers, we also survive off what we make. Numerous Traditional Authors have left traditional houses because they get tired of being jerked around and only getting a small cut of their royalties while indies either get ALL their royalties if they self publish, or a far larger portion of their royalties if they publish through an indie house.

Let me ask you something oh know-it-all of the writing world, have you ever formatted a manuscript? We have to format for print, we have to format for Amazon, and we have to format for Smashwords since none of them can be formatted the same way. Let me see if I have this straight. Some time in the next few months my income from writing is going to surpass my income behind the wheel.

The only people who hold these insane views are those who have been published traditionally and they are jaded at the fact that self-published authors are having major success without having jumped through the same hoops as they did. THREE words for you buddy. Author is defined as someone who has written a book or several; also one that originates or creates.

Then you may criticise. I have a distinct taste of sour grapes here. Oh yes, I like this. And learn some grammar. This is pretty funny coming from a self-published blogger. Well Michael, seems you opened a real can of worms here — and not gotten a lot of support for your theory. In our experience, we find that very few readers ever bother to check who published a book.

The One: The secret behind a self-published novel's success

They care about content, editing and even the cover, but not the publisher. I bet to the vast majority of readers, the words writer and author are interchangeable. All of her stuff is self-published. Awkward mechanics and inflammatory invective aside, your post is useless at best, and profoundly so.

So you would call a celebrity who for no reason other than having been in a soap opera, and thus able to get a book published tradionally,an author? I see no reason to distinguish between the different types of authors other than to describe some as good and others not so good! Unless of course you are trying to be controversial because you write a blog and need attention! Do you not think self-published authors earn money from their writing? Do you not realize how many of them make enough to write full-time? It IS Big 5. It was the Big 6 until Penguin and Random House merged.

A legit indie publisher would know that. This article is confusing. Same with an author. It was a choice I made because it was the best choice for my career. We can listen to our readers and our instinct and write a book that sells to actual consumers and not to print houses that will take most of the royalty anyway. You are welcome to your opinion. The majority disagrees with you. You pissed off a lot of people writing that.

On Demand, self directed, micro gigs — all the ingredients are there. So laugh, but you are not a gatekeeper, nor the anointer of authors. Edits of your first two paragraphs. Words in [[brackets]] are deletions. These are suggested changes. In the past, if you wanted to publish a book you had to [[do it from]] pay a vanity press or land a deal with a traditional publisher. Now anyone can write a book and submit it to Smashwords, Kindle, Kobo or Nook for free. So the question is, should we [[quantify]] qualify a distinction between [[an]] a writer and an [[professional]] author?

I think a line needs to be drawn in the sand so that we know who [[is]] the real deal is. Similarly, t here is a stark contrast between being a writer and being a professional author. Many indie writers who publish a title or two on Amazon or Smashwords [[normally]] think otherwise.

Yes indeed, an author who publishes their HARD WORK either through a publisher or the ones that go it alone, wear that title as a badge of honor, and quite right too!

They have put in all that time and effort into writing their novel and I, for one, have found many self published AUTHORS that have been overall better than many traditionally published authors. Having the ability to pay some high fee does not guaranty a quality author. If you take a look at human history, the majority of timeless artists were in fact poor. I understand that change is scary but it is inevitable. So stop spouting silly hate and get over it.

What was the purpose of this article? May I suggest an editor, sir? This article makes me wonder if he signed with a small publishing house and is not selling many books or is upset that an indie AUTHOR has sold more than him. I commend you for generating page views by creating what amounts to a meaningless controversy. Talk to me when YOU write a book that takes your blood, sweat, tears, heart, soul, and everything within you.

Talk to me when YOU connect with a reader that tells you that your book changed their life in some way, shape, or form. Talk to me when YOU have a passion that is difficult to send out into the world because you know the bullies like you! I am an author! A self-published author, and damn proud of it! Because the big 5 publishing houses never put out a book where they saw dollar signs, and the content was of dubious quality. My first five books were traditionally published, my sixth was too controversial for my publishers so I self-published it.

Does this make me not an author again? Maybe the solution is that everyone who writes a book can call themselves an author, or a writer. After all, just the act of completing 80, coherent words is worthy of recognition. Whether or not they can call themselves a good author, a professional author or a successful author remains to be seen. No, you are a mere writer of that document. Writers, write for the love of writing.

Authors have had their books at least read a few times, and professional authors make their living from the process of writing. I just wrapped it up in a nice little package for you. If your primarily source of revenue derives from the written word, you are a professional author. If you publish a book yourself, or through a real publisher, you are an amateur, until you can make your living from it. We need new terminology in a world where someone can take this blog post, and all of its comments and make an eBook out of it. That process would be called writing, it would not make me an author, because I never wrote it all.

I would not be deemed a professional unless my livelihood stemmed from my words. I have no problem with self-publishers. I do when they call themselves authors at a diner party, when they only sold under books and still is are waitress or rock cleaner, or ditch digger. Quality is meaningless in the self-publishing world. Its a matter of, did your book sell? Do you make your living from writing?

If you make your living from your craft you are a professional. If you write a book, you are a writer. Unless you make your living from the process of writing, you are a professional author. This concept is not hard to understand. If you are not making your living from the written word, you are a writer, this concept should not be hard to understand. Whether or not you are trade published is not relevant. Which is why lots of authors end up doing both, self-publishing and publishing under a contract.

They enjoy more flexibility because this is their vocation, their craft, they make their living from writing. You have to live off of the money you make from writing as a primary revenue stream. If you can, congrats, you are a professional writer. There is no distinction really anymore between publishing yourself or with an established company. All of the money you make goes to the same bank account. If you can make your living from writing, you are a professional.

There is limited shelf space, so not all traditionally published books are going to be put in bookstores. I just wish it were as big as Amazon, especially because you give authors a bigger cut. Thank you for that. This is true, its really up to Ingram and other distributors on what they want to highlight for the stores to buy. The stores themselves or someone who handles the buying for an entire region makes the call. Who gives a shit. Looks like you have pissed a lot of people. Why does the label matter so much to you anyway?

You are misinformed about professional authors. Which are contentious to the membership. But in your comments, you talk about making a living from the process of your writing. How much money is making a living? RWA does not specify how long you have to make that amount of money.

Short but sweet e-reads for winter

Primarily because of the copious amount of publishing terminology out there. Self-Publisher, Author, Writer,hybrid author, trad author, indie, etc etc.

We need to simplify the quantification. You should not have to force the readers to determine that. That is the blame game, its not my problem its yours. Writers and Professional Authors bear the burden of guilt, like a crown of thorns. You know what this makes me think? That you are a JERK with nothing to do other than bash on the people who have spent hours and hours into work that they ended up self-publishing. Some self-published authors spend more time on a book than some traditionally published authors and they end up making more money too.

I know at least two authors that self-published books and had so much success that publishing companies ended up asking them to start publishing with them. Were they not real authors before they were picked up traditionally? What was the difference between them and other traditionally published authors? They both were able to sell their books as eBook and hard copies if they chose to, they both made lots of money off of their books, and they both were seen as authors by the people that bought their books.

I even know an author who was traditionally published and then wrote a book which her publisher refused to publish so she decided to self publish. Take yourself down a notch and stop putting people down. So please, stop putting people down and trying reading a self-published book, you might even end up enjoying it-A LOT. I am not bashing anyone. My suggestion is much more elegant. If you make your living from writing words, you are a professional author. You sir are delusional. Why do you think bookstores are the last salvation of quality literature?

Because the indies have not taken it over yet with their pointless drivel. See, here is where I disagree with you. Redefining either of those words will not solve the problems you lament in your post. See how easy it is? Feel free to use those, by the way. Bookstores hold those same books that used to be self-published but are now traditionally published.

I can tell you that bookstores hold tons of literature that are crap and full of BS. Who are you to say what is quality literature? They are a lot better than some of the writing that is traditionally published. Just accept that your views could be a little hurtful to people who put a lot of effort into what they do. They certainly put a lot more effort into their writing than you did in this article.

You sir should really proofread what you publish. Self-publishers have been quietly making a living for as long as publishing has been around. Not all of them, of course, but some. There have always been options to vanity presses, and to the new euphemism: You DO need to learn a lot more than most people think you need to know, and you need to work extremely hard. There are NO shortcuts to publishing success, no matter which options you choose. But the word author DOES have a meaning, and that meaning includes making money, meaningful amounts of money, from your work. How many books have you published, either traditionally or self-pub?

My guess is zero. The editing of this article alone is enough for me to not take you seriously, ever. I cringed reading that. I wonder, are the writers of these research papers you mention, authors? Next time you decide to take on a group of people who are passionate about their work, you should consider two things: Have factual, objective evidence to back your opinion, otherwise it is only an opinion; a crappy, biased one. Second, hire an editor. Because words in and of themselves have no intrinsic value.

It is what you use them to say that matters. The stories you tell with them, the pictures you paint with them, the truths you illuminate with them, that count. Because, you know, a good, solid cover is really what makes an author, right? I have checked multiple websites book sellers and review sites and cannot find even a dozen reviews of your work. Clearly, you have no audience. I have several friends who are self-published authors.

Their books are read, discussed, and promoted well. And yet… they still seem to outsell you! Can I just say how much I love you write now? So he tweeted at a favorite author of mine that being an author means that you can live off of your work. He should just stick to one view because he keeps changing his opinion…. You seem to consider yourself an author but what you need is an editor: I have read indie authors who shine and trad authors who should be locked in a box as far from a pc as they can get to save us all from more torture. Again here you deviate from your own stated definitions.

Here, you imply that a writer becomes an author when people read their work. Therefore, any Indie AUTHOR who has sold even one book is, by your admission here contrary to what you state in the article , an author and no longer a writer due to having met the wicket of having their work read by people.

So, as you state in this reply, those writers who have put their work on Kindle which then is read by an arbitrary number of people, are now authors. You, sir, are waffling. Or if he used the word primary in the comment above instead of primarily, as it is currently incorrect. And plainly, I could do everything they could do, some of it better, and make all the profit. One of my many editors from traditional publishing edits my self-pubbed work and my covers are made by an industry professional.

But there are some traditionally published books out there that should never have seen the light of day. Yeah, you made a fool of yourself with this blog post. Hugh Howey and about other successful self-published authors should be a wake up call for the publishing industry including agents on the future of their industry. Right now, you have the credibility of a garden variety troll. And before you pull the "Well I never heard of you". It's only been licensed for two months..

Everyone starts out small.. It takes hard work and determination to make it big.. So trash me all you'd like, I'll be the one laughing when my label makes it big. Michael, if I understand you correctly, you equate being a professional author with making enough money to live off published books. I hire a team of professionals for edits and a cover. Readers buy my books and think of me as the author of those books.

Nobody gives it to you, you earn it by writing a story, a novel, or even a blog post. Furthermore, when our second book hit the NYT our advance was only fifteen grand. Under your criteria, even though, we had earned NYT and USAT bestseller status, we would not be considered authors, because the majority of our income came from 9 to 5 jobs. The purpose is to drive traffic without which blogs wither and fade away. The only way to generate that traffic is by being outrageous and controversial or silly. The validity of the argument becomes irrelevant.

Indie books are all over bookstore shelves today. I do know a lot of indie writers go the indie route for the simple fact of having more control over their books and making more money through this route. Does that mean they all are actually good authors? They took that chance of opening up their mind and then showing it to others.

You can hate their books and you can not buy their books. Most of the time if you want to join a club, you generally have to be approved by those who are already in it. In one corner of the ring, we have Michael Kozlowski, whom Goodreads lists as an author with five distinct works. In the other corner of the ring we have indie, self-pubbed authors. Goodreads lists me as an author of 25 distinct works with a 4.

On Amazon, my last book has a 4. I will be looking forward to reading more of her work. Another favourite author added to my list.

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Like studio executives, publishers gamble and hedge their bets on what might be commercial enough to sell enough books to make them a profit. Is this a thing? While traditional publishers are locking said gates and gouging prices of ebooks, readers all over the world are embracing new work from new writers at a fraction of the cost.

As it is wont to do with exploration and experimentation, the cream ultimately rises to the top, allowing both aspiring and seasoned writers alike to write their own paycheck. Even dirty birdies like me get to live my dream and yes, even make a living with what I write. Stephen Kings of the future are no longer nailing rejection letters to a spike on their wall, waiting for their big break. Thanks to the digital revolution — which pretty much pays your bills as an editor for an online magazine devoted to such — these brave folks are connecting with readers who simply want a great story.

Even you, who wrote this incendiary blog to drive up hits to your website, can be considered a writer by these standards. The only person wasting time is the one who runs around the mountain, telling everyone that his or her path is wrong. Then who are they being written by? Casper the Friendly Ghost? Grow up, get a life. An Author is one who writes — period. I suggest your snobbery and superiority complex is going to bring you a lot more pain than you realise…. As you said for scientists, In the science world, things are very different.

If an Indie writer puts only one work out and sells 10 copies a year I can see your point of view, but Indie authors sells 10 copies every hour, and if readers buy their books and enjoy reading them, those Indies ARE authors, whatever you can think otherwise. Besides, who told you that your definition of Professional Authors do actually make a living out of their writing?

You have a very simplistic view of the publishing industry and believe in lots of myths. Are you going to extend the same logic to those people who advertise on, and thereby presumably pay for, this site? Will you tell, for example http: There are also several instances of flawed logic in your argument.

An author is someone who has written a book! I have written six books, including five novels and I consider myself an author. I may self-publish and be a published author or I may not. I may be accepted by a publisher and be a published author or I may not. I write poetry and consider myself a poet as well as an author and writer and for that matter, also a journalist. These are just names we give to certain actions or professions, whether those professions pay or not, or are accorded recognition by others.

If I garden I can call myself a gardener! If I cook I can call myself a cook! If I paint I can call myself an artist! So, if I write books I can call myself an author. Michael, you are a controversialist born and bred. Simply flip your OED open to the page where author is defined and save yourself the trouble of making a blog post that uses your own insecurities to put other people down.

By definition, someone is a professional when they are being paid money to provide a product or service. And by definition, once someone has written a story, poem, play, or other work, they are the author of that work. Writer — Someone who writes stuff. Author — A writer that creates a finished work. Professional Author — An author that makes a living off of finished works. The person that wrote it is the author of the work. A Professional Author simply gets paid for his work, i. Mike, the entire article in this post should be amended. I guess they laugh instead each time they receive a 5 digit royalty check from Amazon every month.

Your objection seems to be centered on the fact that some indie authors write crap. Well if that is the problem look to the major houses too, they have filled bookstores with crap since before I was born and judging by your photo I am old enough to be your dad. In fact entire houses like Harlequin are devoted to vomiting up crap. Worry about your own life,not what others do. Ok so lets look to all those get rich quick, and self help authors who have gone through publishing houses.

Last week, I had lunch with a traditionally published author who is under contract with Penguin. She is looking for a full-time job because she cannot make any money off of her books.

Or worse, Virginia Woolf because she self-published. So, by your definition Snookie is a real author and Hugh Howey is not because you stated one must make a living off of their work, but clarified that Indie or Self-published writers should never call themselves authors, while those who are traditionally published may. I find your argument flawed. I suppose a self-published writer who makes a living from their self-published works would just make the world implode from illogic, then?

Or at least as much of a living as any author can, since many people have pointed out that authors who make enough to quit their dayjobs are few and far between. How about the cases of those who have self-published their works and then those very same works were picked up by a traditional publishing house?

Were they not authors before they were signed by a big name? It would be far more productive to discuss how we can all do better in a rapidly changing industry than to quibble over definitions and decide who can and cannot be members of the club. You sir, are an idiot. Go get a life. As somebody who writes books and sells them to readers on line I will call myself whatever my customers would call me. And believe it or not, what they call me is an Author.

In fact as a customer, I loathe stupid titles that just obfuscate what it is a person really does. A housewife is not a domestic engineer, not if she wants anyone else to know what the heck she does. Why are independent musicians and film makers and visual artists never denigrated in this manner? But that is rapidly changing, and this article is an example of that kind of vanity-press thinking gasping its death throes. You got your fifteen minutes of fame.

What about the Oxford comma? The ability to make a living does not equal the primary source of revenue. Maybe not until the third book of his deal — or even worse. This whole paragraph is crap: Intent informs the designations; Auntie Jane who takes pics of the baby is not a photographer, but if Auntie Jane starts to study angles and lighting, and tries to make of the photo something more than just a picture of a baby, she has become a photographer.

Someone who comments on blog posts and writes letters to the editor is not a writer, of course, but as soon as that fellow or gal decides to make an effort to learn how to construct a sentence and write a complete piece that has cohesion and meaning to a reader, they are — ta da and voila! If they decide to put it in book format, they are an author. Finding a publishing house to take you on as part of the definition… really?

So for all the years that Jane Austen toiled to write her books before finding a publisher, she was not an author? Yes, the definitions are frustratingly vague, but this is human endeavor, not calculus. Why do we need a distinction? Who benefits from these distinctions? The readers, who get a vast verity of books to choose from for a reasonable cost? The writers, who get to pursue their dreams or a few nervous, old school throwbacks, who desperately want things to remain the same in order to keep their fragile egos intact?

The publishers who see authors reclaiming their rights to go Indie and earn more in a month than what they got twice a year from their publishers, and Indie authors who refuse with a laugh their crappy contracts. This just reads as all the sour grapes and knee jerk reaction you can find in many desperate comments around trying to keep alive a dying publishing business model that have no more legs to stand on. I have backers from eight different countries. This article reads like it was written by some jaded writer who has never produced anything of note, and probably never will.

Wow, do you think self-published writers are not of sufficient quality? Maybe there are lots of typos and grammatical errors in their work, right? Like in this article? I agree with all of the many people who disagree, and for this reason: I know and have known many people who have written really great works. I know poets and songwriters and novelists, all of whom keep their stuff in boxes and folders and no one gets to read them but their friends.

I love how easy it is to self-publish nowadays, and I think that everyone who takes the time to write a novel and publish it be proud to call him or herself an author! By your standard, John Keats should not have been allowed to consider himself a poet during his lifetime, since his only publication was a limited run that sold copies. It does imply that. It only implies that you have written a book. If you do not make a living from your writing, you are a writer.

So my point still stands. There you go, trying to pawn the blame to the readers again. You indie writers really make me laugh. You guys always try and shift the blame to the readers. The Readers will determine a good book, the readers will determine good editing, the readers will make the cream rise to the top. Stop trying to make the readers do all of your work. So here we go again, you are clearly unable to find a fault with my core points and start bullying me.

So until that point, for every trad published book 10, indie books will be submitted, 9, will suck,. So if i call you a hack, that is what you are? Sounds like you are devoid of personality and a soul and let other people define you. Sounds like a blank template to me and as such, your opinion is irrelevant. I thought Snookie had a ghost writer? Her book sold because the vast majority of America liked her TV show and she is famous. The only reason people know about him is because of his non-stop promotion, i thought the Silo books were actually terrible!

I would say, its more like a lifetime of fame, whereas you Gin, should be sold as bio-fuel. Michael, those are not Indie writers. You put everything and everyone in one basket. Then yes, the slush pile exists and everyone can write words in a week, let grandma read once and click the publish button. That because the slush pile is today self-publishing itself, every single Indie Author is de facto part of the slush pile? Besides, it is delusional to think that just because something is printed by a publisher it is of good quality. It is not at all weird that Indie writers those who do write well have better ratings in Amazon than traditional published authors.

They opened the gates so that everyone can publish, even kids can do that, sure, but believing that everything that comes out from a publishing house is de facto better is as delusional as saying that Indie writers cannot call themselves Authors. Some do, i was looking at many sites that sell indie titles and its all 0 downloads 0 sales.

I think indie writers just have a super high opinion of themselves because they think what Hugh Howey and Mark Coker say is true. No, you are a writer, seriously, stop with the all high-and-mighty act. If you derive your primary income from writing, you are a professional author. The only thing we did as a company was put out a few buyers guides a few years ago and promptly forgot about them.

There is not 1, successful self-published authors. The only reason you hear about him is because he sleeps ontop of his soapbox. By your definition, being able to make a living with your writing, there are many traditionally published authors that would not be considered an author. Not every author that signs with the Big Boys gets an advance.

They got a break. Much harder, because you have to prove yourself more than a traditionally published author. However, being indie is more rewarding. The author loved it. Being indie, you have the final say on everything. You also take the most risk. Most of traditionally published authors cannot live only off their books, just as most Indies.

As a matter of fact, an Indie writer has more chance to live off his writing alone than a mid-list traditionally published author. Ah, but some just need to look at the 4 figures of their monthly Amazon royalty. And keep in mind the warehouse full of returned, unsold traditionally published books. Again, it is common to both Indies and authors with contracts with a publishing house. I wondered how Michael Kozlowski would handle detractors. Look out Guy Kawasaki — here comes Michael Kozlowski! There are many indie authors that have been discovered by readers that otherwise would not have.

Traditional publishers thought they knew what readers wanted. So yes, anyone should be able to publish and try to reach their dream. He was probably trying to become acquainted with them before they got into the swim. So she assumed a dazed expression when he spoke to her, and then said: How delightful a view is! He has a view too. Miss Bartlett, in reply, opened her mouth as little as possible, and said: Her cousin again repressed her. Lucy, too, was perplexed; but she saw that they were in for what is known as "quite a scene," and she had an odd feeling that whenever these ill-bred tourists spoke the contest widened and deepened till it dealt, not with rooms and views, but with—well, with something quite different, whose existence she had not realized before.

Now the old man attacked Miss Bartlett almost violently: Why should she not change? What possible objection had she? They would clear out in half an hour. Miss Bartlett, though skilled in the delicacies of conversation, was powerless in the presence of brutality. It was impossible to snub any one so gross. Her face reddened with displeasure. She looked around as much as to say, "Are you all like this?

Benjamin Britten by Ivor Toronyi-Lalic

Lucy mumbled that those seemed very odd people opposite. This pension is a failure. Tomorrow we will make a change. The curtains at the end of the room parted, and revealed a clergyman, stout but attractive, who hurried forward to take his place at the table, cheerfully apologizing for his lateness. Lucy, who had not yet acquired decency, at once rose to her feet, exclaiming: Oh, how perfectly lovely! Oh, Charlotte, we must stop now, however bad the rooms are. I expect that you have forgotten us: Peter's that very cold Easter.

But he came forward pleasantly enough and accepted the chair into which he was beckoned by Lucy. Summer Street, too, makes it so specially funny. Beebe is—' " "Quite right," said the clergyman. I am lucky to be appointed to such a charming neighbourhood. The name of our house is Windy Corner. Beebe eat his dinner. He asked the girl whether she knew Florence well, and was informed at some length that she had never been there before. It is delightful to advise a new-comer, and he was first in the field. Beebe, you are wrong.

The first fine afternoon your ladies must go to Prato. People told them what to see, when to see it, how to stop the electric trams, how to get rid of the beggars, how much to give for a vellum blotter, how much the place would grow upon them. The Pension Bertolini had decided, almost enthusiastically, that they would do. Whichever way they looked, kind ladies smiled and shouted at them. And above all rose the voice of the clever lady, crying: They must go to Prato. That place is too sweetly squalid for words. I love it; I revel in shaking off the trammels of respectability, as you know.

Obviously he and his father did not do. Lucy, in the midst of her success, found time to wish they did. It gave her no extra pleasure that any one should be left in the cold; and when she rose to go, she turned back and gave the two outsiders a nervous little bow. The father did not see it; the son acknowledged it, not by another bow, but by raising his eyebrows and smiling; he seemed to be smiling across something. She hastened after her cousin, who had already disappeared through the curtains—curtains which smote one in the face, and seemed heavy with more than cloth.

Beyond them stood the unreliable Signora, bowing good-evening to her guests, and supported by 'Enery, her little boy, and Victorier, her daughter. It made a curious little scene, this attempt of the Cockney to convey the grace and geniality of the South. And even more curious was the drawing-room, which attempted to rival the solid comfort of a Bloomsbury boarding-house. Was this really Italy? Miss Bartlett was already seated on a tightly stuffed armchair, which had the colour and the contours of a tomato.

She was talking to Mr. Beebe, and as she spoke, her long narrow head drove backwards and forwards, slowly, regularly, as though she were demolishing some invisible obstacle. When you arrived we were in for a peculiarly mauvais quart d'heure. His manner was somewhat unfortunate. I hope I acted for the best. He seemed thoughtful, and after a few moments added: But we could not be under an obligation.

He has the merit—if it is one—of saying exactly what he means. He has rooms he does not value, and he thinks you would value them. He no more thought of putting you under an obligation than he thought of being polite. It is so difficult—at least, I find it difficult—to understand people who speak the truth.

I differ from him on almost every point of any importance, and so, I expect—I may say I hope—you will differ. But his is a type one disagrees with rather than deplores. When he first came here he not unnaturally put people's backs up. He has no tact and no manners—I don't mean by that that he has bad manners—and he will not keep his opinions to himself. We nearly complained about him to our depressing Signora, but I am glad to say we thought better of it.

Beebe accepted the convenient word, not without a slight twitching of the lips. He seems a nice creature, and I think he has brains. Of course, he has all his father's mannerisms, and it is quite possible that he, too, may be a Socialist. You feel I have been narrow-minded and suspicious? He prefers young people, I'm sure. I do hope I haven't monopolized him. I hoped you would have him all the evening, as well as all dinner-time. He seems to see good in every one.

No one would take him for a clergyman. And you know how clergymen generally laugh; Mr. Beebe laughs just like an ordinary man. How you do remind me of your mother. I wonder if she will approve of Mr. I am used to Tunbridge Wells, where we are all hopelessly behind the times. There was a haze of disapproval in the air, but whether the disapproval was of herself, or of Mr.

Beebe, or of the fashionable world at Windy Corner, or of the narrow world at Tunbridge Wells, she could not determine. She tried to locate it, but as usual she blundered. Miss Bartlett sedulously denied disapproving of any one, and added: It is so dreadful for Charlotte, being poor. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Would you like to tell us about a lower price?

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