Self-Published Indies Are Authors Too

Self-Published and Indie Authors, you know us. We are not a generation, nor are we a movement; we are a good share of folk who are just like any normal author who goes and publishes traditionally, so why don’t we get taken seriously? Why is it that some people and companies tend to frown upon self-published authors and not give them the credit they would give a traditionally published author? Why are we not taken seriously by everyone? It doesn’t need to be said, but here it is anyway, we write, we think, and we pour our hearts out into our work just as much as anyone else, yet the minute we decide to go on our own or take the lesser road traveled we are looked upon sometimes as having been taken by the plague.

To be clear, this is not about whether one is better than the other; that’s not what’s being asked here. What’s being asked is why self-published Indie authors are not given the same respect as those who go with the big guns of big-time publishing companies? It’s not like we have found the fountain of publishing; this is not a shortcut, it’s merely another innovative way for an author to get their work officially out there without the fancy contracts, waiting around, or ten sets of eyes to overlook it. There is no reason to be against an Indie author, sometimes authors go both routes(let’s call them bipublished), are they not considered normal?

I’ve heard that places such as Barnes&Noble don’t take self-publishers seriously. This is as much to say they will not consider promoting or carrying an author's book who has not gone through a traditional publisher to publish it, or doesn’t have it available on Ingram's books. If a book has an ISBN, it should be completely irrelevant as to whether or not it’s self-published or not; it simply doesn’t matter. Now, maybe I’m making a big deal out of nothing, but self-published authors sometimes have it harder than the others because we have to promote on our own. We have to go out and get the deals done and whatnot. Yet you would think a company such as Barnes&Noble(the biggest and perhaps the only major bookstore left) would accommodate and accept Indie authors as much as any author.

Their reasons will be that they want books they know will sell, that they can make money off, but what’s a self-published book to a traditional regular book that’s been in their store that no one’s ever bought? There’s no difference to me. If anything, it should be a win-win for them; they get a local Indie author to do a book signing, they make money and get people to their store, and the author makes money and gets people to have copies of their book. But again, not all of their stores or other book stores and companies are like this. We self-published and Indie authors are not outcasts, and we are not to be taken lightly. We are a kind, generous, and heartwarming folk(well, most of us anyway), and we are no different than those authors who go the traditional route.

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