(Not really, sorry. I would read that though!)

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/harlequin-fail.html

Yes to all the rest of it too. Except the bit about you not being a real author, obvs.

I can point out that I am not looking forward to the potentially (probably) disappointing-nay-crushing despair of the submission-rejection-polish-resubmission cycle.

And for, uh, ‘starting’ writers I still recommend spending a year or two submitting. There are many, many people who will only read self-published novels if they’re from a previously traditionally published author. Traditional publishers are great for getting a start in building an audience and stamping yourself with credibility. To many people I will never be a “real author”, and it would certainly be simpler to get that “real author” stamp before taking control of your own books.

Good luck with the polishing and submitting.

Point 2: I agree with this too, actually. Andrea’s example is an outstanding one, to be admired and emulated in many respects. But where I think I differ with her (at this point anyway) is on the subject of exclusivity. Being well aware of her particular experience with so-called professionals, I completely understand and endorse her go-it-alone approach. She’s worked very hard to make it work for her and she deserves her success.

But where I depart from her for the moment is in agreeing that it has to be an all-or-nothing proposition. I see no particular reason why I would restrict myself to just self-publishing work, any more than I would in theory cede all ownership of my writing career to some faceless publishing edifice. Hard to see the advantage in not going for both.

(Case in point, the current novel for which you are so patiently salivating is *probably not* going to have wide appeal. When I get it done and critted and edited to my satisfaction, I plan to attempt to shop it to various publishers large and small. However I have a reasonable expectation that it will not meet their needs. C’est la vie. If I think it’s good enough, there are any number of self-publishing avenues I could look at, and I’ll do that then. First thing’s first, though – gotta get it done)

I guess it’s fair but incomplete to suppose that I want to sell writing for validation. In a sense it’s true in that I know there are publishers and publications whose standards I respect, based on the material they have handled in the past. I know that if I can con them into buying my stuff – probably more than once, and preferably on as regular a basis I can manage – then I will have achieved a milestone I could not have set for myself. But, on the other hand, if I don’t, then at least I will have had practical experience in skin-toughening exercises. And I know that I have other options, including self-publication.

What I don’t plan to get so desperate and pathetic as to do is to change what I write to appeal to the post-Twilight crowd. Partly because I don’t think I could, but mostly because I don’t want to. Finding the time and will to write is hard enough without writing shit that I wouldn’t want to read. So, don’t worry about that part.

Also, my cyclone story is coming along nicely. I’ll send you that soon to keep you going while the novel outline continues to take shape.

Or I might just send you a link to Youtube…

My new serious point is to do with ‘professional, published’. Is this really the best way to get your work to a wider audience? See how well Andrea is doing using a non-traditional model. Think outside the hollow rectangular prism. For example, I think your short stories would get the biggest audience if you put on a Batman costume and read them out loud on Youtube. If you want to be ‘professional and published’ to validate your writerliness, rather than to reach a wider audience, do you really think the publishers and consumers of “Derivative Vampire Teenfic #137″ are qualified to pass judgment on you as an artist? I think, no.