The democratization of slush

[minervaK]

An interesting article by Laura Miller, NY Times Book Review contributor, over at Salon:

http://www.salon.com/books/laura_miller/index.html

I think she makes several hopeful points, especially for authors.

[Vic]

You know, every other business is prepared to "test the markeplace" which author driven epublishing certainly does and if the work is professionally edited and good enough, it will succeed and the rest will sink as is it does in traditional publishing. So what?

Yet, still this form of self publishing is demonized by agents, publishers and even other writers who see it as some form of embarrassing self aggrandizement which is somehow less valid than a "real" published book. I see it as another business venture which will gain market traction or not as the case maybe. It gives power back to the author and removes the "will it gain a large enough market share?" from the equation and the author gets more of that market share directly in her/his pocket.

[Jim Thomsen]

Vic makes a good point. I think it all comes down to why you want to write and publish books.

If it's to be accepted as an equal by the writers you admire, to feel validated by being accepted by a mainstream agent and publisher, to feel superior to writers who are trying the same thing you are and not succeeding ... then by all means, pile on and hate on self-publishers.

If, however, it's to share something with the world that you think is pretty good — well-written AND well-edited — and make at least a little money in the process, then you'll probably ignore the derision and happily forge ahead on your own.