Trad versus Indie
When I first started getting stuff published there was a "trad" way of doing things (find a publisher, find an agent, if anyone would have you) or there was self-publishing. Which in those pre-historic days meant going to a pricey so-called "vanity" publisher and handing hard copies of your final printed book out to anyone who would have them. Only the rare few - the Mr Reillys of this world with enormous amounts of guts, talent and self-belief - could seem to make the leap direct from the "self" sphere, to the public sphere.
But them was the bad old days.
Now, I'm not expecting any of you lovely young folk to have read EL James' slightly saucy, originally self-published "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogy, but some of you may have heard of Susan Ee or Amanda Hocking or Leigh Fallon. These last three authors write for the YA audience, and the amazing thing about all of them, is that they are sensations who came from the "self-publishing" universe. Susan Ee is the author of an angel book I am dying to get my hands on (if one day I have enough time to work out how Kindle works). Amanda Hocking is one of the highest selling e-book authors on Amazon whose amazing reception by readers has meant cross over success in the "trad" sphere - she was picked up by so-called "real world" print publishers after going ballistic all on her own. And Leigh Fallon was one of the adult authors discovered on Inkpop, who now has a massive following for "Carrier of the Mark".
What I am trying to say is: if you think your stuff rocks, get it out there anyway you can, the indie way (via great sites like www.figment.com where you can post your writing up for the public to see directly) or by blitzing all the "trad" publishing houses who publish the kinds of things you like to write. Dinosaurs like me find the "trad" editing process invigorating, but some people are gifted enough and brave enough to just get out there and get writing.
Either way of getting your writing out there works these days. Be brave and test the waters.
