The Writer as an Independent Artist

Fiction and non-fiction writers find themselves in a awkward position in terms of being perceived as an independent artist.

There's a stigma attached to the independent writer that doesn't exist for other artists.

An independent musician or band who puts out their own CD is looked upon as someone who is non-compromising and believes in their work. The music that inspired me as a youth, and still does to this day, is largely independently produced.

Epitaph. SST. Dischord. Alternative Tentacles. All symbols of non-compromising art on the artist's own terms.

A filmmaker who puts up his or her own money to produce a film has been put on a pedestal in the artistic community in the past twenty-five years. Robert Rodriguez, Kevin Smith, Steven Soderbergh, Tarantino, etc. are rightly considered mavericks artists.

A theater group that puts up independent productions is often held in a similar regard as the independent filmmaker.

A self-published writer?

Hack.

Fraud.

No-Talent.

There's an interesting double standard that exists when it comes to writers as independent artists. Many will say that if your writing is good enough to be read, it'll be put out by a major publisher.

Take a second and think about how many great musicians and films you'd have missed out on if people held that same standard in other mediums.

It's interesting that, generally speaking, the same people who hold up independent music and film in such high esteem will just a quickly turn their nose up at an independent writer.

Why? Unfortunately, the answer is simple. There's a crap that's self-published. It's not all crap, mind you, but a good portion is. Same can be said with music and film in my opinion. The only difference is that it doesn't take week to listen to a few songs or watch a film.

I'm a huge fan of independent publishing and I think the times are changing and people are becoming more accepting of self-publishing. Blogging has resulted in an explosion of independent publishing.

As always, the Internet is on top of things faster than the man on the street.

More and more bloggers, who are essentially self-publishers, are looked upon as legitimate news, literary, and entertainment sources.

Independent writers also control their fate 100%. With people buying less books, it's imperative for major publishers to put out books by already established authors or "celebrities-turned-authors." In turn, this makes it that much harder for a new writer to break in... so why not just do it yourself?

Who wants to politely stand on someone's doorstep knocking on a door that's never going open, when you can piss on their stoop, build your own house (which will be way cooler), and party with all your friends!

When you put out your own work, you get all the profit. You'll have to work harder to get it, but it's all yours. It's entrepreneurial. It's as American as apple pie, as they say....

Plus, independent publishing is really easy to do!

There's a litany of sources available online to create a product as good as anything you'll find in a brick and mortar store. I've used lulu.com for short stories, audio works, photo books, and my short story collection. It's very easy to hook up with a talented graphic artist to create compelling art work for your book.

More than once I've heard, "Wow! This is just like a real book!"

It is. It is a real book.

It's an independent book.