Aug 20, 2011

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.


 



8 comments:

  1. I think, if dont right (and you are), being an INDIE author is fabulous!!

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  2. I think, if done (dont - whoops, not a word) LOL. =D

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  3. i think you should be proud of yourself! you haven't let anyone control or define you but YOU...and very few people can say that.

    there is nothing wrong with being INDIE/SELF-PUBLISHED.

    go forward, be strong and continue to believe in yourself!

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  4. Personally, I really like the term "indie author." You go, girl!

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  5. I'm not at the publishing stage yet, but all of the information on self-publishing vs. traditional publishing gets my head spinning. Published is published right? Only I guess there are camps that only respect works published the traditional route; however, with the way things are going, it seems to me like more and more authors are going indie. Anyway, I admire you for pursuing publication no matter what form.

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  6. I also like the "indie" term :) Don't you want to hold your book in a hard copy in your hands? That is my biggest deterrent.

    But I do love that with more indie authors we are exposed to more and more books :) Congrats.

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  7. I'd never heard the term Indie before, but I like it. Indie reminded me of the car race. It sounds fast and exciting. Thank you for the resources, I'll have to see if they're availible in the library.

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  8. I got that same comment once. Not everyone is up on the new lingo, I guess ... or resisting. But resistance is futile. :) That should be the Indie motto.

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