So I’ve been traveling for the past few days, and will not be in my normal writing hovel for a while to come. In the meantime, there have been more responses to those stating their feelings against self-publishing. I featured one such rant from John Green when he gave his acceptance speech for an ABA (American Booksellers Association) Award. Andrew Franklin spoke vehemently against self-published books covered by The Guardian where he claims that it is a “…deeply corrupt world of self-publishing”.

Open book and electronic book reader

Even though I don’t have time at the moment to give somebody my 2 cents to throw my own opinions into the ring, I found out that I don’t have to. Libbie Hawker, writing for the Seattle Vine, has written an excellent response to not only the latest “hatred” towards self-publishing but also the growing amount of publicized angst against the growing industry. Since she said it best, I’ll let her words do the talking.

“…In 2013, it has become more apparent than at any point since self-publishing became a legitimate “thing” that the slush pile has moved off the desks of unlucky, starving New York interns and onto the laps of everyday readers. Now it’s readers who sift, who sort, who judge. Now it’s readers who decide which authors make the cut and which are denied the success they crave. There are way more readers than interns. And so way more writers than ever before are making it out of the slush pile and into a sustainable career. Because there have always been more good books than publishers can publish.

And those readers and writers have stepped right around that crowd of people who formerly stood between them, and they have met face to face. For better or for worse…”

 

Check out Libbie’s post “BOOKRANT: The Publishing Industry Forgot The Only Thing Worth Remembering” on Seattle Vine. Then feel free to add your thoughts in the comments there or here.