It's Just a Word . . . What's All the FUSS?

See that little red sticker over to the left on my sidebar? The one that says, "GO INDIE."  Yeah, who knew that would lead to an entire post on my blog. Evidently, there are some people who are of the old school and believe that in the publishing industry, being an INDIE means you are an Independent Publishing Company (NOT one of the BIG 6) and that using the term INDIE makes me, and I quote, "FRAUDULENT." The person that said this didn't mean any harm by the statement and it was meant in general toward everyone who uses the phrase INDIE, but I think she's is under the impression that I'm using INDIE because I'm ashamed or embarrassed to call myself SELF-PUBLISHED.

PPFFFFT!!!

Okay, first of all, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I get that. And if that's what they want to believe, that's fine with me. And honestly, it doesn't even bother me that much that they feel this way. I've done a lot of research on the subject over the past few days and there are people out there on both sides of the fence and that's totally cool with me. Here are a few who refer to self published authors as INDIE AUTHORS.

HOWEVER, when I say I'm an INDIE, I don't just mean I'm an independent author. First of all, INDIE is short for INDEPENDENT . . . which is just a WORD folks. It's not a brand name like McDonald's or Nike or Ambercrombie. It is a WORD and here's what Merriam-Webster has to say about it:

¹in·de·pen·dent  ~  adj \ˌin-də-ˈpen-dənt\

 a (1) : not subject to control by others : self-governing (2) : not affiliated with a larger controlling unit

b (1) : not requiring or relying on something else

c (1) : not requiring or relying on others

d (1) : showing a desire for freedom

And a few Synonyms: self–sufficient, self-dependent, self-reliant   

How does INDEPENDENT or "INDIE" NOT describe what I'm doing and who I am? I'm proud to be self-reliant, not just as a soon-to-be self-published author, but as a woman and a mother. I've worked hard to be where I am. I don't hire someone else to raise my child. I don't have a personal assistant who follows me around all day and I don't plan on letting my writing career be dictated by a bunch of bureaucrats sitting in a board room somewhere. Don't get me wrong. I'm just as anxious as everyone else to get that contract with the 6 figure advance, foreign rights and a movie deal, but I've been crawling and clawing at the feet of agents and publishers for years now and it's time I stood up, shook off the rejections slips and confidence crushing I'm-not-good-enough attitude and show the publishing world what INDIES are capable of. 

So, YES!

I'm a

SELF PUBLISHED AUTHOR

who is

PROUD

to call herself an 

INDIE! 

 Do you think I'm wrong? I'd love to know your opinion.