The self-publishing argument


"Self-pubbing's only for fools!"
"The Big Six have out-of-date rules!"
It makes my head spin,
This publishing din,
A pox on these loquacious duels.

This limerick is in response to the blog post I read this morning that made me feel like a goddamned loser idiot for even considering doing something so breathtakingly stupid as self-publishing my book, since self-publishing is OBVIOUSLY a sign of a horrible, worthless crappy book.

I made the decision to stop reading that blog a long time ago because its author is steeped in bile, vitriol and contempt. It's touted as an "important" blog, one that all early-career writers "must" follow. However, reading it always made me feel angry and rather dirty, as though I'd gone for a walk over a badly leaking septic tank. I don't miss it a bit.

Still, this morning I clicked on a twitter link, thinking maybe for once the value of the message would outweigh the acid packaging.

Nope.

===== Feel free to comment on this or any other post.
Posted

7 comments:

  1. Larry KollarMay 22, 2012, 8:06:00 AM

    Thank you for confirming that my early decision to not waste writing time on those kinds of sites was a good one. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. LauritaMay 22, 2012, 9:34:00 AM

    Love a limerick that uses the word loquacious. And I totally agree with the sentiment as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tony NolandMay 22, 2012, 4:20:00 PM

      I had to be a bit loose with the syllable emphasis on "loquacious", but it's worth it. 8-)

      Delete
  3. Rebecca EminMay 22, 2012, 11:16:00 AM

    That blog owner is luckily not a mutual contact of ours (or I haven't followed the link) but I wanted to say you're better off not going there any more!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Katherine HajerMay 22, 2012, 9:44:00 PM

    Yeah, I've got some blogs like that on my own no-go list. I wonder how much our lists overlap?

    For what it's worth, a couple of years ago I took an introductory course to the publishing business, taught by someone who had worked in the industry for over twenty years before switching to academia. She acknowledged that self-publishing had become a viable choice and encouraged us to consider the pros and cons of it for our own work. The idea was to be educated about all publishing options, rather than being pushed towards following one or the other.

    ReplyDelete

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