So Indie Publishing Is Dead
I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and will earn commissions through the links on this blog.
I've been hearing a lot of buzz about the independent publishing market lately.
As an indie author, I guess I should probably sit down and figure out my take, and what I'm going to do about it.
I'm not interested in rehashing what everyone else is saying.
Some say it's dying. Some say it's been dead for a while. Some say it will never die, just change form.
I'm sympathetic to all of those takes.
What I want to focus on are two simple realities that need to be dealt with.
Publishing is a bit of a winner-takes-all game where the bulk of sales go to a very small number of books.
AI slop is making it really really hard to find anything good to read.
Essentially, these are the same problem.
AI slop is adding a lot of noise to an already noisy arena. As a reader, are you really going to try and cut through the noise to find something good, or are you just going to read the bestseller that everyone says is good? Not to mention all of the tried and true classics. It's an easy choice. My time is valuable, I'm gonna go with the safe bet and not risk getting swindled by grifters.
So, the more slop, the more the winner takes.
So what are we going to do about it?
It seems readers and authors are both getting screwed. Readers less so. If you like what makes it onto the bestseller lists, you'll be fine and can just keep doing what you're doing. But, if you have niche tastes, good luck.
Is there a solution where indie authors can find people interested in reading their books and readers can find quality books that are good because their good and not because they've been written to market?
I think the answer is actually pretty simple. You solve the problem of drudging through the bog by not going to the swamp.
As a reader, how do you avoid AI slop and reading the same thing everyone else is reading? You avoid shopping places that sell AI slop, and have an algorithm authors must bow down to. You avoid Amazon.
For authors, it's a bit trickier. Avoiding Amazon sounds like a death sentence. And it might be. However, we don't need to fully avoid it, we just need to make sure our books are available elsewhere. And that's the real tricky part.
Readers can, and should buy books from local, independent bookstores. There's something different about walking into a store and feeling the physicality of it all. Just the smell alone is worth it. But there's another key component that we get from going to a local store.
Human curation.
A real human had to put those books on the shelves. In most cases, they made deliberate decisions about what books are in their store, and what books get placed front and center. Often, these decisions are made by a real, book loving, human.
Human curation is the crucial component that is missing from much of our online marketplaces.
When I run my finger along the spines on my shelf, all of my favorites were recommended by another human being, not an algorithm. Heck, some of those favorites I only read because another human kept mentioning a book they liked, and thought I would like despite my own uncertainty, until I finally gave in and tried it.
So how do indie authors get curated by humans? It's real tough, if not impossible, as an indie author to get into physical stores, much less local independent stores. So, on that front, I have nothing for you. All I can say is, publish in a way that makes it possible for an independent bookseller to pick up your book if they stumble upon it.
But then there's the rub. How is an independent bookseller, much less reader, going to hear about, and read your book?
I think that's where we need good blogs and other writing done by human curators who are willing to filter through the noise and find good independent works to recommend.
I think all it takes is a few curators read by readers and booksellers to keep independent publishing alive.
In the world of grifty AI slop, all we need is honest human curation to find good books.
As a reader and a writer, I think it might be my duty to also become a curator.
I want to read good books. I want to write good books and have other people read them. So, when I read good things, I want to share them with you. They won't always be things you like, we're different people. They won't always be independent books. They won't always be books. But, when I find something I really like, I want to share it with you so that you have a greater chance of finding something you'll enjoy.
While I'll always recommend buying from your local independent bookstore, they can't carry every niche indie author. So, sometimes we'll have to buy online. For that, I'm going to recommend bookshop.org.
Bookshop.org shares profits with local bookstores. Bookstores and affiliates can create curated storefronts within bookshop.org. As far as online book shopping goes, it's the next best thing to a local independent store.
Authors can make sure their books are on bookshop.org:
If you are with a publisher, ask that they get their books carried by Ingram, the largest book wholesaler in the US - if Ingram has it, we'll list it on our site! If you're self published, either set up your book with Ingram Spark, or enable "Expanded Distribution" in your Amazon KDP account and it will appear on Bookshop.org within a couple of weeks. (link).
I will leave you with a threefold call to action.
First, as a reader I want to read good things from indie authors. If you're an author contact me, I'd love to read your work and (if I like it) review it! If you're a reader, let me know about the things you like, especially independent works.
Second, I'm an indie author, so I should probably ask you to read them. You can get physical copies on my bookshop.org store page (I get extra commissions on books bought through that page) and free ebooks through my ko-fi shop.
Third, follow this blog thought RSS. I want to start reviewing the things I've loved and would love to help you find something new. I have a store page on bookshop.org that will give me some commission on my recommendations. It is also a stripped down, curated place to browse if you're looking for something new. I also want to ask you to like this post so more people in the bearblog ecosystem can find it. You liking this page (or not) is you participating in the great endeavor of human curation. Thank you! Let's read and share good things!
You are Love
Subscribe to my blog via RSS feed.
Go to my contact page and send me your indie work for review!