Sunday 3 June 2012

10 things I hate about Indies

These are a few observations I've made over time, some are more recent than others. As usual, I use the universal term Indie authors, but there are plenty of wonderful people -- the exceptions to the rule -- who I converse, discuss, exchange and am friends with. Those of you, I cherish.




#  1 Indies don't care about me, they only want my 'vote'.
I have a few new followers daily. Mostly writers. As soon as they realise I don't follow back, they'll unfollow me quickly. Many still haven't grasped that other writers/authors are not their target audience. Networking with plenty of authors will not result in the sales they hope for. It may improve your knowledge and writing, though, so use networking for that.

#  2 Indies seem to have forgotten how to read.
Pose a question and you can be sure to get a reply that won't answer your question. Totally unrelated and from their point of view, making it about their books and their writing, self-absorbed and unnecessary. Particularly on fora where authors mingle.
 
#  3 Indies are worse than every sales person I've ever met.
No matter where you go: Twitter, Facebook, writer fora, you always have those who would blatantly disrespect other people's discussions and dumb a link to their book smack bang in the middle of it. Or they will ask you to retweet their books, like their Facebook page, take a look and follow their blogs, ask for comments, share or whatnot. No! Go away!

#  4 Indies can't take criticism.
Despite negative comments on their books from real readers that the characters and story line are flat, they only cherish the positive comments, disregarding any negative comment. Or worse: they will talk back.

#  5 Indies think readers are stupid.
Even if that may be the case for a few, the majority of readers is rather switched on. So they will spot that the author had family, friends and their dog to write reviews or recommend their books on the forum. Writing fake reviews, bribing independent reviewers backfires to those who go about the business with honesty.

#  6 Indies are the biggest arse-kissers I've ever come across.
I can't even tell you how many times I've heard 'I loved your book, can't wait for the sequel to come out'. They'll be all over you with only one aim: to get you to buy their books and review it. In most cases you will never hear from them again. It all a lot of hot air.
 
#  7 Indies constantly refer to rubbish traditionally published books with errors in it.
Yes, there's a lot of rubbish, but it's normally well-edited rubbish with a minimum on errors and typos and often just a matter of taste. Since I'm deleting so many Indie books due to terrible character and story building, as well as wrongly used dialogue attributes, I'm not convinced that both compare. I have read only a few which compared to the quality standard of traditionally published books, yet, they were still a far cry from the book that made me sit up and say: better than any traditionally published book I've ever read.

#  8 Indies claim that we have to support each other.
Er, no. I don't have to. If I want to support someone, I'll do that. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for helping if someone gets stuck with their writing, to cast an eye over it and help to clear the blockage. I'll even shout it from the roof tops if I find a book worth recommending, but I won't do that just because 'We Indies have to stick together.' Which leads me to number nine.

#  9  Indies say we are not competitors.
We are not? Interesting how quickly the perception changes if one has a bit more success than the other. There's so much bullying and bitching going on behind the scenes, it makes me sick. Writers love to help each other, but as soon as they're published, they are competitors. Like it or not, it's a fact.

# 10 Indies think they are the next big thing.
Most of us are not. Not even close. So you are an author, fine, but to be the next big thing, you need sales and without sales you're just an unsuccessful author. 10k free downloads doesn't count. Better quit the 'bestselling author' in your bio. I've not heard of you, and I assume, nor has the world, so you are most likely not a bestselling author.

21 comments:

  1. ^^ Haha.
    You got a point there, as always Stella. :)

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    1. Niels! How's Bremen? I hear it's cold, so is London.

      I see you had a giggle. Good. :-)

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    2. Cloudy, but no rain. For the temperature I have to leave the house, what seems like an invasion of Afghanistan. No way, I leave my cozy attic. ^^

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  2. Nice list of extreme negatives stereotypes Stella. But I have to ask. Do you include yourself in this list? Or are you the only perfect Indie? You'll probably delete my comment, but quite honestly I don't think a post such as this adds positively to any reasonable debate about self publishing.

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    1. Hi, Derek.

      Why would I delete your comment? I posted my observation and you disagree, that's all. I'm not a perfect Indie, by all means. This list is nothing else than my separate rants and, as I said on top, it's not aimed at ALL Indies.

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  3. Well after my spit, I have to agree that there are a minority of Indies that haven't quite 'got it' yet, so can empathise with your list for a that small number of, well the word idiots springs to mind. However, even these Indies who are mostly newbies tend to learn fast. But in general I really think Indies are making great strides in becoming a reliable and readable alternative to mainstream publishing. I think these Indies need supporting and promoting. I think our blogs should do this more often. Deal?

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    1. You know me. I rant and I help. Shaking awake and lend a hand. :-)

      Maybe I need to withdraw myself from everything for a while and ignore Facebook, Twitter and Fora.

      Next post will be positive again. I promise.

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  4. It's funny. I thought my last post was very positive, but still got beaten around the ears. But oh well. Such is life as Ned Kelly said just before he was hung. lol

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    1. It's often a matter of rushing to bring stuff across and it gets in the wrong pipe. I had that, too. Although not that I got clipped around the ears, but I ended up frustrated because I had to explain myself. Lesson learned. lol

      What we want to say and what comes out can be miles apart. haha.

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  5. Hey Stella
    I'm going to print this off and stick it above my computer as a reminder of the things not to do as an Indie author :)x
    Carla

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    1. LOL That's a very good idea. Everyone -- including myself -- needs a reminder every now and again.

      So far, I haven't seen any obnoxious behaviour from you, so you should be safe anyway.

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    2. Phew! If you see me slipping feel free to yell x

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    3. Ha! The last person I told, de-friended me on Facebook. :-)

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  6. While some of what you say is true- I'm glad this is now an option for us.

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    1. Oh, me, too. I'm just fed up with those who make it difficult for those of us who try to go honest and hard-working about the business. You know how many times I saw suggestions like 'Let's all buy each other's books.'

      No, I won't parttake. I buy books I want to read.

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  7. Hi Stella, as usual, you are right. LOL. The "indies must support one another" dictum irritates me too. It's not an us-and-them situation. I won't support bad writing just because it's self-published and I won't belittle good writing if it happens to be published by a known publisher. I gravitate towards good writers and people who interact a little bit. The people who ask me to review their book, retweet their promos and like their facebook pages without knowing anything about me are worse than those sharks who ring me on a Sunday afternoon and try to get me to change my gas supplier. Good writers who support people like that will lose readers.

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    1. As you can see, there's much more that irritates me. LOL Hey, by the way. I'm always a bit more upfront when it comes to Indies. Even if I piss a few people off, some will take notice and may think twice before they go and exchange reviews or maybe go another time through their book; perhaps even take a negative review on the chin or rant on their blog instead of insulting the reader who took the time to comment, etc.

      It's only an observation. My observation. :-)

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  8. Maybe I should stop with the pucker...

    :-) The 'Support' part was not aimed at you, by the way. It's a general observation, you hear/see it all the time. "I bought your book, we Indies must stick together."

    I tend to think then: Okay, thank you for buying my book, but don't do it because you think you're doing a good deed, do it because you want to read and enjoy it.

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  9. Stella, a lot of what you say is true - very true - but you know what? Forget it. Forget it all. And write. Publish - only if the story's polished to an inch of its life, of course. And ignore the "buy my book" emails. I get those 100000 times a day. Support those who deserve it - but mostly... just write! There are several authors I respect - some are Indie, some are not. I've learned, slowly, the hard way, to just let it go. Finally - just go straight where the readers are. And the reviewers... that will get you readers. That's what matters. I'm a firm believer that no matter what anyone says or what the numbers are, quality always wins out. It does in my book any way.

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    1. I couldn't agree more, Natalie, re the quality winning over. But to win, it must be seen, which is a bit difficult with the situation as it is now. I think, for me, the only option is to get the books into print and do a bit of legwork myself, get them in the shops.

      However, I do have this blog to write about writing, editing, publishing, etc., so this list belongs here as much as recommendations for good books or wonderful authors. I write anyway, nothing's keeping me from it. :-)

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    2. Awesome Stella! Wish you nothing but the best, girl. xoxo

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