I certainly consider myself in that category of non-mainstream voices so I’ve often wondered whether it’s even worth the effort aiming for a big house to publish my stuff.

And thanks for point me to No Media Kings! It certainly looks interesting.

Great question! There have been several times over the last few years that I’ve lamented the perceived differences in being an indie writer/publisher and an indie music artist. There’s something inherently cool about being an indie musician, about putting yourself out there, putting out a cd, getting discovered and building a career. So why does the inverse seem to be true of self- or indie-publishing? That said, I really think the same trajectory for a writer or publisher is becoming cool – think about the cultural cache of McSweeney’s (even in non-literary circles).

Remember that some indie publishers aren’t striving to be something bigger or greater – there’s not always an idea of growth inherent in its existence. And they can be a great breeding ground for non-mainstream voices – think (in Australia alone) Breakdown Press for political activism, Lifted Brow for publishing difficult forms (such as an epic 80-minute spoken word poem) and aduki independent press for creating a vegan media…. as far as the differences between self-, vanity- and indie-published, I would agree with Isaac above.

If you’re interested in self-publishing a great resource is No Media Kings: http://nomediakings.org/. NMK was offered a contract from a corporate press and decided to go it along; he has had a long career as an indie (self-published) author. There are loads of DIY publishing resources and info on his site.

Thanks for your thoughts Neil. I guess there is a lot of similarities. The difference being that your gaining of support seems a lot more public. Those beginning avenues for writers can be very hidden and no one knows to take you seriously until you’re a bit more noticed.

Certainly that external support by people turning up to those first tiny gigs must provide some sort of motivation.

Look forward to your further comments.

I think there’s a great deal of similarities in the promotion of music and literature, from an indie perspective. And lets face it, promotion and marketing your work is likely to be the most effective way of reaching a financially viable career.

It’s all about building a fan base.

For us (Midwinter), this involves spreading the word via internet (facebook/myspace), playing shows and maintaining an email list. Getting out there an exhibiting your work at every opportunity. More recently, this has grown into television interviews, community radio appearances and the holy grail in building a fan base… obtaining a support slot with a better known band.

I assume the writer’s equivalent for this would be other print forms previously mentioned – blogging, eBooks, etc – any outlet for getting your words out there and generating some kind of a buzz.

I think Alan hit the nail on the head, when he said that building a fan base is like playing one really slow gig, hoping more people attend over time. This rings true for us indie musos as well – we just need to ensure that after the gig, we’re keeping people informed on upcomging news, gigs, appearances, etc.

Intrestingly enough, i think we would fall into the category ‘vanity artist’ that was mentioned earlier.

After writing and producing our music over a two year period, we took the leap of faith to go an get it recorded in a well-reputed, quality studio – with a well known producer to top it off. Everything was self funded, and the result is that we have a quliaty product that we can market independently.

For independent writers, i guess this translates to: written, proof read 1000 times, edited and published.

I’m afraid i’ll have to revisit this post at a later time – will be back to comment further then…

It doesn’t matter whether you’re putting out your own CD or your own novel, both are easy enough to accomplish with today’s technology, but neither will make you any money unless you’re willing to work hard and distribute a quality product.

I have a friend who self-publishes and she’s very professional about the whole thing. She started it up as a business and treats it that way. We also have a recording studio in our house and I’ve seen numberous garage bands pass through that will never amount to anything else beause they’re unwilling to put the work into it.

I have to say that setting high standards will get you further than anything else.
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It is such a slow game. And I know part of thoughts about self-publishing come out of impatience. The traditional route looks so long and daunting, so unattainable sometimes.

So it seems getting your book professionally edited is a key factor in making sure your book is the same quality as traditionally published books.

Alan, I talked about how bands got to show there stuff at gigs in the previous post. Though I’m racking myself to think of how it can be done in the writing world.

Just self-publishing a short story collection now and selling it cheap to friends and family wouldn’t be same, but also it would be impatient as my writing isn’t ready.

I suppose getting published in online markets print magazines and even posting your flash on a blog like I do could be considered in the same vain. Though, it doesn’t feel the same for me.

Friends who are in bands get all of us to come support them. I want that with my writing, but perhaps this desire is misplaced or just impossible.

With the indie music situation, it’s easy for a band to practice their chops in pub gigs and self produced CDs before really trying to make it big. It’s also easy for people to listen with no investment of time and very little investment of money. So in some ways it’s easier to make a success fo indie music than indie writing.

Which brings me to the second point – You absolutely can NOT self-edit. No one can. Yu have to have multiple proof-readers and ideally some quality editing help. You can often get this from writers’ groups. You don’t have the ability to showcase your work like bands playing a pub gig. The first look at your book is all people have to go on. They need to invest time and money, so your presentation and previews need to be bang on. People can spot poor self-publishing a mile off.

That’s the idea with my indie outfit Blade Red Press. I put out my own books through it first and people should see a quality, well presented book and it won’t even occur to them that it’s self-published. Most readers don’t care how a book gets to them if it’s what they expect a book to be like. And hopefully I can use Blade Red Press to make those opportunities open to more emerging writers.

We learnt a lot of “how not tos” with it – which will hopefully feed into a more successful venture with Chinese Whisperings.

I think the big thing with self publishing is being willing to work with someone you trust in the editorial capacity to ensure you’re work is the highest quality possible. While we are all our worst critics in lots of ways – we are also often not far enoughed removed (or have the ability to move far enough away) too look at our work dispassionately.

This was the case of of two ladies I know- again with a non fiction books. Great premise, really important info – but so badly written it was inaccessible for the average person who needed the information.

If you’re going to invest the time, energy and effort into creating the work in the first place – you really need to ensure you tick all the process boxes that traditional publishing houses do – which is why it is such hard work.

Paul and I have just had the luck of getting a published writer to take a look over our final anthology (and hopefully we’ll be able to garner the eye of at least one other person not directly involved in the project) so we can assure ourselves when it hits the POD and download market we are offering a top quality product.

And yes Allan – it is the vanguard movement. And I’m hoping soon, from our Chinese Whisperings project we’ll be able to grow something big and important for self publishing writers.
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Small presses are another story. I know of a few that would probably fall into the ‘indie’ category who bring out some really good stuff. To me, those type of small presses and similar outlets are what are defined ‘indie publishing.’ They have support structures, copy-editing, etc, but one doesn’t necessarily need an agent to sell to them. They remind me of the independent labels that indie music took its name from. I think, in the music industry, there’s the commercially backed boys, then the indie boys, and below that the slush, from which will arise the next commercially backed group or indie group.

Similar deal with writing, i think. The only real difference is that the indie music industry is structured a little differently than the indie publishing industry–and it’s easier for a band to get noticed.
Isaac´s last blog ..Gaining momentum