Are Indie Authors Destroying The Market?

You're probably aware that we are drowning in an ocean of mediocrity. Yes, I know, there's mediocrity all around us; the TV, the music business, in fact everywhere you care to look. But I'm talking about mediocrity in 'literature', as if that term actually means something these days.

Once upon a time, not so long ago, 'literature' was a respectable part of the art world. Authors were mysterious intellectuals, removed from society, tortured souls poring over their foolscap notepads with quill in hand. They were just names, often widely-known ones, like A-list celebrities with no public face, controversy or paparazzi. The authors' agents, dark figures sifting through their ever-growing slush pile of tales, held sway over a global industry from behind locked doors. The authors' publishers were equally elusive, a forbidden realm for those with literary aspirations, with the ability to put their clients names right into the homes of the reading public and on billboards throughout the nation.

This 'literature' industry is still there, bubbling away to itself, but in the last decade or so it has seen a tidal wave of competition. Not competition from merely the digital revolution, which it has successfully embraced, but the empowerment that technology has brought to the 'independent' author. Mainstream publishers, and many mainstream authors too, are vocal in their opposition to the evil of 'self-publishing'. Indie authors are a demonic race debasing the art of 'literature'. Traditionally, publishers have regarded themselves as the gatekeepers of this literature, separating the wheat from the chaff, essentially deciding what is good or bad for the reading public.

I might not agree that power should always be placed in the hands or corporations, or their self-serving minions, but there is a certain comfort to be had in the idea that someone, somewhere, is 'filtering' out the garbage, the worthless, the obnoxious, the inciting, the hatred and so on. I think we need that. Why? Well, I've never tried to be a singer, but if you'd heard me sing you'd be glad someone, somewhere would stand in my way saying 'stop... go back!'.

Indie authors have decided to take on the publishing world, claiming the right to be heard, to make their work available to the public. And they have every right to do so. But here is the problem; most indie authors don't apply what I call a 'quality filter' to their work and, even worse, are incapable of seeing the difference between what traditional publishers would call 'good' and what they'd call 'bad'. In the words of best-selling author Sue Grafton;

"To me, it seems disrespectful…that a ‘wannabe’ assumes it’s all so easy s/he can put out a ‘published novel’ without bothering to read, study, or do the research. … Self-publishing is a short cut and I don’t believe in short cuts when it comes to the arts. I compare self-publishing to a student managing to conquer Five Easy Pieces on the piano and then wondering if s/he’s ready to be booked into Carnegie Hall."

Um, she has a point, don't you think? The truth is that indie authors are getting themselves a bad name; with traditional publishers, with agents, with mainstream authors, with book bloggers and so on. 'Who cares?', you might say, 'it's about time their market control was overturned!'

But it's not that simple. A more worrying trend is that indie authors are getting themselves a bad name with readers. Yes, readers! Readers are more aware these days of the ocean of mediocrity at their fingertips and are becoming more and more reticent to part with their hard-earned cash to take a chance on another 'indie' author, with all that this term implies. This mediocrity is essentially destroying the market. It's one of the reasons why indie authors are always giving away their work for free. They'll convince themselves it's a marketing ploy (promulgated by Amazon, see my post here), but the plain truth is that no one will buy their work. Why? Because it's trash. And the authors just don't know it.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying all indie publications are trash. There are some great indie authors out there, many of whom deserve better recognition than many traditionally published authors (some of whom really suck! I'm mentioning no names!). But, they are the exception. The vast majority of indie publications are not just mediocre, they are absolute trash. This isn't my arrogance talking; it's the readers themselves who have decided this, and it isn't hard to find the evidence for it.

So, what can be done about it? Well, as an indie author, you should try to apply some sort of 'quality filter' to your work. This isn't easy because it requires moving beyond your own conceit and self-adoration. It probably also involves learning a whole new set of skills.

In a subsequent post I'll be outlining some of the things you can do to develop your 'quality filter' and hopefully claw back some of the respectability that indie authors deserve. It may be too late, but we owe it to ourselves to at least try to gain the reader's trust again.