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authors, blog, blogging, books, e-books, guest blogger, Indie Roadshow, Maria Zannini, publishing, Raelyn Barclay, The Devil to Pay
It is my extreme pleasure to welcome my friend, author Maria Zannini, as today’s guest blogger during her Indie Roadshow celebrating her recent release, The Devil to Pay
Take it away Maria!
~*~
Class Dismissed
Every so often I feel like the publishing industry in all its many forms is like one giant playground.
You have the cool, rich kids, those authors whose publishers offer big advances and lots of exposure.
Then there are the mid-listers, like many middle children, they’re hard workers, and usually quiet and obedient to their parent companies. They’re not looking for trouble—just a steady gig.
We also have the small press kids. Snotty-nosed and a little loud, we’d love to be able to play with the bigger kids. Sometimes they let us into their circle, if only for a short while.
Finally, we have the Little Rascals, self-pubbed hooligans who don’t care what the cool, rich kids are doing. They’re fierce, independent, and have boundless energy.
I’ll also include the unpublished into our virtual playground, the orphans of our world, waiting for someone to adopt them and take them into their fold.
Although I’ve never seen anyone discuss it, I think there are definite class distinctions in the industry. Fortunately, the lines have steadily blurred and it’s happened within the past decade. When I first got interested in publishing I was intimidated by the cool, rich kids. They seemed to know everything and often enjoyed lording it over you.
Slowly, I came to know what they knew and realized there wasn’t much difference between us. I was grateful when a few of them had taken me under their wings, but mindful that I wasn’t of their ‘class’.
While I was busy learning about craft, I started hearing strange noises. Small press was gaining ground. The cool kids warned me not to get involved with them. They weren’t real authors. Real authors are published by New York.
Like magma under the surface, small press kept growing, creating a fertile ground for a new breed of author. New York didn’t get too upset at first. After all, they were serving different markets. Then e-readers exploded on the scene and plowed a crater in New York the size of Manhattan.
The Big 6 persevered. They’d been in business for many years, a little technology was not going to change the way they did things.
That’s when they got sucker-punched by the Little Rascals. All of a sudden a few mavericks were drawing fans by the hour. Worse yet, self-publishing was beginning to lure their stable of big name authors over to their ranks.
And JK Rowling committed the biggest atrocity of all. She’s self-publishing her titles without input from her agent or her publisher. Blasphemy!
Trying hard to recover, the Big 6 has tightened the language in their contracts, restricting their authors and keeping a firmer rein on them. But it’s here I’m usually reminded of Princess Leia’s famous line: “The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin Big 6, the more star systems authors will slip through your fingers.”
The class divisions are beginning to blur and that playground just got a whole lot bigger.
What do you think? Is class still an issue between self-published, small press, and Big 6 authors? Have you ever felt snubbed or embraced by successful, big name authors?
~*~
I hope you’ll follow along with the rest of the Indie Roadshow as I share the things I learned on my road to self-publishing.
The Devil To Pay is available at Amazon
Synopsis: The road to Hell is paved with good intentions and bad tequila. Shannon McKee finds herself at the end of her rope, and she bargains her soul in a fit of despair.
Shannon’s plea is answered immediately by two men who couldn’t be more different from one another. Yet they share a bond and an affection for the stubborn Miss McKee that even they don’t understand.
When Heaven and Hell demand their payment, Shannon has no choice but to submit. No matter who gets her soul, she’s not getting out of this alive.
Bio: Maria Zannini used to save the world from bad advertising, but now she spends her time wrangling chickens, and fighting for a piece of the bed against dogs of epic proportions. Occasionally, she writes novels.
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This particular post could create strong feelings. Please keep all comments civil.
Raelyn Barclay 
Thanks so much for inviting me to stop at your blog during the Indie Roadshow.
I always love visiting you!
This is such a great topic, Maria.
As a reader, I don’t care how the book gets to me and have never based my decisions on the publisher. As an aspiring author, I’ve thankfully had positive experiences (primarily within the small press and indie circles).
I love having you visit 🙂
Oh. My. Gawd. This post is PERFECT. It says it all. I’m bookmarking this page. Stat. It’s like all the kids in school are being forced into the same room and everyone is jokeying for position. I think it’ll be a while before the dust settles on some of the changes. And that’s not so bad, IMO. Change is good.
Change is always scary. Right now it’s making a heck of a dust cloud. I’ll be glad when it calms down a bit. It’s hard to keep up.
Great post, Maria! And I am a small press all the way! But if I were still unpublished and not happy in my small press situation I would definitely be one of those renegades on the playground.
LOL. I never expected to be one of those renegades, mostly because it is a lot of work. But I did like learning about the stuff behind the curtain. I think it’s empowering.
How do I love thee, writing career? Let me count the ways in which I can pursue you?
Maria, this was a great post and Raelyn, I’m so glad to come and visit you here. Got you added to my Google Reader.
This ‘class distinction’ topic is a timely one, especially with the fall of one of the Big 6’s closest cousins, Borders. When I first started my interest in writing, bless my naive soul, I thought I could self-pub my book and get it into anywhere I wanted. One of the many lessons I learned during that humbling experience was how this ‘class distinction’ impacted things on the distribution end of this publishing journey as well. Technological advances and great story telling have been two weapons to hew at the deeply rooted ‘author caste system’ in place. Little Rascals are becoming golden geese. Orphans are having a less difficult time finding a home. And readers are the grand benefactors.
I’m reminded of an agent (can’t remember who) who said something to the effect that too many choices confuse a reader.
I disagreed. We have millions of choices every day on millions of different products and services. What difference does it make if we add books to that mix now.
@ Angela, thank you. You’re right that the readers benefit from all the publishing choices out there.
@ Maria, I agree that agent was misguided, readers are smart and will find the good books no matter how or what format.
As long as the book is good and entertains me, it doesn’t matter how the book gets published.
Dru, I think the reader is the bottom line.
To me, it looks right now that the best business decision is to go renegade, even if the prestige is still with the Big 6. I hope that the situation will become more equitable over the next few years.
The problem with renegade is still distribution. One of the keys to distribution is having a big back list. And that’s what I’m working on right now. Publishing is definitely a journey, not a destination.
Yes, publishing is exactly like the schoolyard. Of course, that can be said about most industries. I think there’s always going to be a “Big 6” clique and a “little rascals” clique and there will always be orphans, the balance of power is just shifting, as it tends to do within class systems. It’s a good thing I think, for the most part. The problem is that with the bickering and bullshit that’s going on, the most important factor in the whole equation is forgotten: the reader.
And I’m an orphan. The Big 6 don’t know I exist…yet.
Believe me. The Big 6 don’t know who I am either. 🙂
Whenever I read a book I truly love, I take note of who the publisher is. Time and again, it’s not the “cool and the rich” who resonated with me but a smaller house. It’s the quality of the writing that matters the most, and maybe it’s easier for that magical partnership to happen when you’re more of a name than a number with your publishing team. I also think it’s easier for a smaller house to concentrate on titles with a thematic feel to them, which earns even more loyal readers.
An excellent post, Maria, and thank you very much, Raelyn, for hosting Maria. I’m glad to be a new follower!
Michelle
I think the nice thing about a smaller press is that they spend a lot more time schooling you on what to expect and how to prepare. They still don’t have the distribution of the big boys, but they do provide some stability for authors.
@ Michelle, thank you. No one wants to be a number…it’s like that credit score ad where the people change their number to their name.
@ Maria, the small presses are certainly more approachable at least in my limited experience 🙂
Being someone who pays no attention to who publishes the books I am not much help in weighing in on this discussion, however there are some valid points you have made Maria that hit home in other things besides the publishing industry… Too many times there is a group, like the big 6, who control what happens until one day a change occurs that totally rocks the way business practices are implemented and in publishing that change was 1. Self published authors who were an “overnight” success so to speak and 2. The e-reader/e-book revolution… I am very happy with my Kindle and all the fabulous reads that it has let me enjoy, about 99% of those are books from authors who the big 6 will never acknowledge and that is going to benefit them not hurt them in the long run…
Congrats once again on diving into the deep end of the self-publishing pool and proving that those “class distinctions” do not amount to a hill of beans when the author has a good product for the consumer to enjoy!
Surprisingly, before I became interested in writing, the publisher brand was the last thing on my mind. I wonder if it has anything to do with society in general where we’re so brand-conscious.
That “good” product is what I’m looking for. I don’t even think about “distinctions.”
I think that like a lot of other things in the industry there is a separation between literary and genre. Lots of genre authors are breaking down the stigma against self publishing, and getting rid of some of those class differences, but I don’t think as much of literary works go through self pub. They still get put out there by the Big 6.
That and I am not sure that the Big 6 and self pub are competing for the same authors. (Other than JK Rowling, as you mentioned, who has has way more juice than the average author.) People who self publish are generally people who a) never wanted to be traditionally published or b) went through it after being rejected by the “cool kids.” And more power to them, it takes a lot of chutzpah. But right now I don’t think many authors get offered a deal by Simon and Schuster and then say, thanks but no thanks, I’m going to self publish. Although I could be wrong about that. Has happened, from time to time 🙂
While I was doing my research, I saw quite a bit of literary work too.
As for who the ideal candidate is for self-publishing, the doors are wide open. I didn’t self-publish because I couldn’t get into regular publications. (I already have other books out) But rather it was in addition to my other pursuits.
Also, aside from Rowling, there’s Barry Eisler, John Locke, Maya Banks, and Courtney Milan to name a few. It’s no longer the domain unknown authors and I think that’s one reason self-publishing is gaining legitimacy.
@Maria You’re right, it def. has become more legitimate. Even within the past 3 months I think the attitudes have changed about it. But I just don’t think it has reached that tipping point where it’s on the same level with the Big 6. Not saying it won’t, but I just don’t think it has yet. I happen to think self pub is great, as is traditional. Depends on your individual situation, I think, more than which is “better” so I wouldn’t put myself in either camp.
You’re also right that lots of people do both and lots of known authors use self pub, but I think in general it still tends to be people who are breaking in. Which would make sense to me, because it provides a lot of creative control and independence for the maverick types who want to do it themselves and helps equalize the playing field for new authors.
It’s really great to hear your perspective on it, because you clearly have done a lot of research & have personal experience. Would you say you saw as much literary as genre, or about the same, in self pub?
Ref: literary vs genre
Hard to say since I focused on genre authors. The only reason I noticed the literary authors is because they kept showing up on indie boards and forums.
This is a most interesting analysis of distinctions.
Bottom line for me is, I just want to read (and write) a good book. But lately, some of the self-published books I’ve decided to try have either bored me with their cliched writing, or have been filled with “errors,” formatting and otherwise, that have discouraged me. Then again, I’ve read some marvelous self-published books, such as Cinders, which was first published on Smashwords. Jackie (above) mentions a “good” product. This is what I’m looking for. I don’t care who publishes it, the “big” six, a small press, or the author!
I’m probably dating myself because I come from an era where if you didn’t do your best, you got fired. I don’t want to get fired–not by my readers.
What an intriguing topic. Rascals are good for a system, but it can be tough being one. My hat is off to Maria and everyone who self-publishes.
I don’t think I’ve ever chatted author-author with a big name, but I know a couple of times when as a reader I’ve sent a “thank you” fan letter, I’ve been thrilled to receive a response. So I think all of us help build the hierarchy by our hopes, expectations and behaviour — even those of us at the bottom!
I was lucky to have been befriended by a couple of savvy and successful BNAs. They made me realize we were more alike than different.
Great post Maria! I don’t think class matters anymore. There is a lot of acceptance of self published books now unlike ten years ago. It seems like the publishing world is changing and people are choosing to read books by the smaller presses and the self pubbed authors instead of the Big 6. I personally feel like there is a lot more reading veriety to choose from with the smaller presses. They are more open to publishing stories that are different unlike the Big 6 which seems to be publishing the same books over and over.
You know, I didn’t want to say it out loud, but you’re right. The books I from the Big 6 almost have a cookie cutter taste to them.
I read the PW sales often and every blurb is beginning to sound so much alike. I can’t remember the last time I said, Ooh, cool. Now that’s different.
What a great comparison, Maria. Complacency is never good, which I think perhaps some of the Big 6 are guilty of. Personally, I’m all for change, and the publishing industry needed a good shake up. Like most readers, all I want is a good book that will entertain me for a few hours. It doesn’t matter if it’s self-published, from a traditional publisher or something else. There are no classes in my to-read pile.
Ref: There are no classes in my to-read pile.
I like that, Shelley. When did we ever get so tied to brand?
I love the comparison you drew! Hmm… when it comes to where I fit in, I’m sort of the same person I was at school. Friendly enough with everyone, but with bigger fish to fry than worrying about where exactly I’m going to fit in.
I’m sitting back to see where the market will settle before I decide who I’m lining up with. Maybe that makes me the school ground weasel, but you know, weasels (unlike eagles) don’t get sucked into jet engines. ;-P
Ref: Maybe that makes me the school ground weasel, but you know, weasels (unlike eagles) don’t get sucked into jet engines.
ROTFL! I’m going to have to remember that.
As a huge Star Wars fan I LOVED that line. 🙂 Classic. I think I’ll have to quote you.
Ciara: It fits with what’s been happening to publishing perfectly. Thanks for stopping in!
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