Hi everyone – it’s the first Wednesday of the month and time for another IWSG day!
Last month I was feeling insecure about the MA in creative writing I’m currently studying. Thankfully, last night’s session went quite well, so I’m not feeling like the class dunce today. Today I’m feeling insecure about something much bigger …
The Festival of Romance! (That moment needed a horror movie soundtrack to go with it.)
OK, weekend after next I’m booked to appear at the Festival of Romance in Bedford. Exciting, tick. But at the romance fair, I’ll be on a table with some big, big names in the world of writing, and I’ve also found out I’m one of only a handful of indie authors attending the event.
What will they think of little old self-published me? Will they sneer, laugh, and throw things? I know it’s ridiculous, but I have this horrible high-school-esque image in my head of them standing, en mass, and shouting: I refuse to sit at a table with her!
Well, I’m over dramatizing it (hey, I am a writer!) – I’m sure it won’t be that bad. But don’t you think that even if I don’t mention my indie status, someone is at some point going to ask me that dreaded question: Who are you published by?
I’m not ashamed of being indie – far from it. There are those who say traditional publishing is the new vanity publishing, with its lower royalties and tendency to make a lot of money for someone other than the author. We indies are a talented lot and we work very hard. But there is still this publishing snobbery that persists, the sense that those who have been accepted with open arms through the gates of the establishment are better than those who were sent away to do it alone.
So, that’s my story today. Insecurity is niggling away at me. Big hugs to everyone else out there who is feeling insecure today. Jo x
Visit the official IWSG page here, and offer your support to some more insecure writers today. And thanks for listening 🙂
Related articles
- Insecure Writers Support Day – October (the-view-outside.com)
Joanne Phillips 
November 7, 2012 at 7:35 am
Go ready prepared with a list of some fabulous writers who have chosen to go indie after being mainstream published – to start you off, Helen Hollick and Sarah LeFanu are now both self-published with the assistance of the excellent publishing services consultancy SilverWood Books and their books will give any mainstream published book on the shelf a run for its money! Not that I’m biased at all – pure coincidence that they also published my book! 😉
November 7, 2012 at 1:54 pm
Thanks Debbie, and thanks for your other comments about this event too 😉
November 7, 2012 at 8:06 am
I think you will be absolutely fine. You have produced a book which you can respect so have nothing to be ashamed of because you published it yourself. After reading a handful of free self-published e-books, I can see where the snobbery has come from regarding this type of publishing. Some of the things I’ve read are truly awful, in grammatical errors and writing style. It took me by surprise to see all these errors because the first self-published book I ever read was yours, and it was perfect. So you have nothing to worry about 😀 It isn’t the method that maketh the book 😉 x
November 7, 2012 at 1:54 pm
Thanks Emma 🙂 Shame you don’t live near Beford! x
November 7, 2012 at 6:40 pm
You don’t either though :P, quite a way for you. Hope you have fun anyway, and make lots of helpful contacts 🙂
November 7, 2012 at 8:18 am
Joanne, stick to the old faithful techniques. Think of them with no clothes on. And think of the tax that E L James has to pay,this year – early indie as you know. Think also that you are the coming, the future, they are the past. In ten maybe even five years all writers will wonder why they gave all their royalties away to parasitic agents and publishers. viva the Revolution!
November 7, 2012 at 1:55 pm
Argghh!! Now there are some scary images 🙂 Thanks Roy, viva the Revolution indeed!
November 7, 2012 at 9:49 am
Jo, you will be FABULOUS!!!!! 🙂
Be yourself, and be proud, you have every reason to be 🙂
So wish I could come to give you moral support!
Xx
November 7, 2012 at 1:55 pm
Thanks Vikki 🙂 (So do I!) xxx
November 7, 2012 at 12:47 pm
Jo – you probably will have to face the question – ‘who’s your publisher?’ and it’s difficult not to feel a little defensive twinge when the question comes. There’s no doubt that literary snobbery is alive and kicking. But perhaps it’s kicking out in fear nowadays? Self-publishing has been turned on its head from the much-derided vanity publishing days to now, when bold, professional writers decide to become independent rather than wait forever for the gatekeepers to reveal the ‘inner sanctum’. There are some poor self-published books out there in terms of content, presentation, overall lack of quality. Yours is NOT one of them. You have everything to be proud of – you have dared to do it and achieved!
November 7, 2012 at 1:57 pm
Thanks so much Lindsay – you nearly made me cry. (In a good way.) Maybe I should make up a badge ahead of time – Indie and Proud! 🙂 x
November 7, 2012 at 3:34 pm
From the way this post read, I’d chance it to say that you don’t have a thing to worry about. You have a confidence in yourself and abilities (well-warranted), so relax in that. I understand the high schooleresque insecurities, though. I recently went to a reunion and had to discuss this venture. Where are you published? Well, I’m not…but I will be!
November 7, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Okay, I get that you’re nervous, but you’ve achieved awesome things already as an Indie.
Chances are, they will be lovely and you’ll come away with new friends. But, if they’re not, maybe it could be great material for your third novel?
November 9, 2012 at 1:38 pm
Thanks Pauline, I’m sure you’re right 🙂 x
November 7, 2012 at 9:17 pm
Wow. Congrats on even going to the festival. That’s a big step. In my experience (which is limited, I admit) writers on the whole seem to be a really nice, supportive, helpful group of people. I don’t think I’ve ever met a writer I didn’t hit it off with. I’ll bet the writers you meet there will be just the same. And I don’t think they’ll look down on you, not with how many self-published books are out there making a big name for themselves. Good luck!! And don’t forget to have fun with it. 🙂
November 9, 2012 at 1:08 pm
Hi Tamara,
It was a leap when I contacted them and asked if there was space – I didn’t have a clue what I was letting myself in for (still don’t, to be honest)! When they sent me the list of authors I’d be on the table share with I was nearly sick! 🙂 Thanks for the support, I’ll be sure to take lots of photos and report back how it went. x
November 9, 2012 at 4:59 am
I agree with everyone else. I’ve experienced one or two instances of snobbery but on a whole writers have got to be the most loving supportive group of people I have ever known.
Be confident, proud of your work and have fun!!
November 9, 2012 at 1:06 pm
Thanks Doreen, you’re right! x