Beginning with the headline above, Sarah Hoyt had some great thoughts on the (sometimes abusive) relationship between writers and publishers and where the publishing industry is headed over at her writing blog According to Hoyt:
First let me point out no one beats me. Not literally. For those of you who’ve read Athena (Darkship Thieves) this should not be an incredible surprise.
The title is denoting of the relationship existing in traditional publishing between the writer and the publishing house. It is also the sort of thing I heard many women say about their husbands in the village where I grew up. Portugal, like most countries whose cultures were strongly influenced by Islam, had a streak of wife-abuse running through the poorer or more culturally backward classes. Since in the village where I lived my dad was one of the very few white collar workers, this meant my mother and my grandmother were forever saving women who ran away from home when they were two steps from landing in the emergency room… Only to see them go back to their husbands because “He beats me but he’s my man.” Or “He beats me because I’m not good enough.” Or “He beats me because he loves me so much.” Or even “Whom should he beat but his own.”
Needless to say, the one thing my family told me, from – I think – before I could toddle (I could talk before I could walk. No. Don’t ask.) was “If your husband ever so much as slaps you, you leave. That day. And you don’t go back.”
Unfortunately my family never knew about publishers and the status of the mid-list author.
I wasn’t going to talk about any of this. I wasn’t. I like at least one of my publishers immensely, and I do understand how their hands are tied. On the other hand the last few days have been very trying. First, is it my impression or are all the establishment’s blue eyed boys going out of their way to tell us how we’ll starve in the gutter without traditional publishing? They remind me of my first agent, who btw, ONLY made official the sale I had already made to the publisher, and who then told me I’d die in the gutter without her, when I fired her. (Yeah. That… didn’t work as she thought, curiously enough.)
But then yesterday, in the Baen bar, someone posted that he sent letters to WRITERS complaining about their publishers’ DRM policies and pricing for ebooks because, I don’t know, the Kool-Aid man is red? Oh, wait, no, it’s more nonsensical than that. Because and – clears throat – I am quoting: writers choose their publishers. I want them to choose publishers who don’t do these things.
Read the rest here.
Publishers wasted 20 years of my life. I finally published myself and I’m just about to put out my 6th book!
That entire industry is vile, and comparing publishers to abusing husbands, though clever, does not go nearly far enough. They are more like abductor-rapists who keep sex slaves locked up in their basement torture chambers.
When I was on the verge of publishing myself the first time I ran into a woman who was starting up her own small company, and she was interested in my work. I said, “I don’t get why in order to help me sell my book you have to OWN it.” She flew into a rage.
Publishers are nothing but controllers. They are mentally ill.
For a very long time, the established publisher was the only game in town. He had the printing presses. He had the cover artists. He had the marketing department and the expertise at publicity. A writer whose expertise is in writing, rather than in running a printing press, painting a cover, or marketing his wares pretty much had to go through a conventional publisher.
Yes, things are different now, thanks to eBooks, eReaders, and the Web. But most of us who write (Yes, I’m a fellow sufferer) still need help getting our stuff out in readable form, and persuading others to risk their money on it.
Fortunately, where there’s a demand, there will soon be a supply. Just as there are independent writers who disdain to batter themselves bloody against the gates of Pub World’s fortresses, there are now independent cover artists and independent editors. Amazon has made publishing in paperback format rather straightforward. Smashwords has made e-publishing even easier.
The one area where most of us still need help — apart from the actual creation of readable fiction, that is — is marketing. I have no doubt that help will soon be on the way, though for a while the indie writer who makes use of it will be speculating on the efficacy of the marketer he signs up with. That will leave us with the sole (and difficult) problem of turning out good stories well told, such that readers who elect to stake a buck or two on them won’t wish they’d spent the money on something else.
The division of labor will triumph. It always has before; why should storytelling for money be an exception?
It is important for writers to learn all the things they aren’t good at. It is their responsibility. In the same way that resorting to the government for help is wrong, running to a publisher and signing away the rights to your intellectual property is wrong. When you give in to them, it affects other people down the line – people who DON’T want to play that game, but are expected to.
In all these articles I’ve seen recently, people keep talking about ebooks being the savior. I’ve been PRINTING my own for years now. I’ve been fighting publishers for quite some time now and you’re all late to the fight.
I’ve spent money that could have gone toward home repairs or vacations. My wife and I have sacrificed to get an inventory of books printed. But everyone else only comes around when the cost comes WAY down. Not much pioneering spirit in y’all.
From the above, I get the distinct impression that:
1. You feel very, very sorry for yourself;
2. You’re more interested in publicizing your travails (and garnering sympathy for them) than in making any new friends…even if those friends just might be able to do something for you.
Your attitude makes it impossible for me to feel any sympathy for you. You chose your own way. The rest of us, “pioneers” or not, decided on other courses. We’ll live with our choices, just as you must live with yours.
Have a nice life.
I savor, lead to I found just what I used to be having a look for. You’ve ended my 4 day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a nice day. Bye