I probably shouldn’t be writing a blog post when I’m pissed off, but often those are the most entertaining posts, so what the hell.
Writers, have you read THIS? Yeah. Let me gather my thoughts here…never mind, I’ll just let it fly.
For several years I’ve bashed my head against many hard surfaces in my efforts to find an agent and/or a traditional publisher. This is the route I want to go for several reasons. I’ve thought long and hard, resisted the temptation to just publish my novels myself and sucked up a buttload of rejection in order to do this. I’ve cursed, cried, lost sleep, and generally lost my fucking mind to achieve my goal, which is to be published the good old fashioned way.
Now, along that winding road with the ruts and the bumps and the nasty trolls, I was told (as were many, many writers) that self publishing anything is a dodgy choice if you EVER hope to attract an agent’s attention.
Rrrreeeeaaallly?
Seems the agents (and no I’m not lumping every single agency into this, but there are a frightening amount turning to this model) have changed the fucking rules again. Why do we even bother? Why query for years and endure what can sometimes be brutal rejection? Why waste all of the time and effort and money on conferences and workshops when the damn people who are supposed to get your work to the right publisher might just offer to help you self publish anyway?
When I started this insanity, I was told this was not “ethical” for an agent to offer publishing services. Agents serve a purpose, as Victoria points out in her blog, and this purpose is compromised by acting as a publisher. This is why agencies that do that are supposed to be the ones that we avoid.
I will be damned if I’m going to pay someone to help me self publish my work.
I call shenanigans.
That is all.
Dangling on the Edge of Insanity 
Today's post on my blog touches on this too. What bothers me more is the rigid language in many of the new contracts with the Big 6. It is not pretty. Not only are they limiting where you sub future books, but they're grabbing your rights, often for perpetuity. And that's just plain ridiculous.I am not that desperate to publish with a Big 6 publisher just to see my name in print. Show me the money, honey. Then we can talk.
I'll have to check your post. I've become very disillusioned with the Big 6 in recent months too. It really has me wondering exactly what I'm aspiring too. I'm in this to make a "career" and part of that is to make money. I agree, those terms are not appealing. I was totally against self publishing for my work, but you know, the way traditional publishing looks lately, it's really forcing me to rethink my whole plan. I know I can sell my work, but I'd hoped to have a team of experience behind me. Meh. We'll have to see, won't we.
To be honest, I agree with you. This isn't why I decided to self-publish (if I'm perfectly honest, I'm self-publishing for all the WRONG reasons) but seeing this kind of thing going on doesn't exactly convince me that I made the wrong choice.I saw you whiz by in the Writers and Readers group on Goodreads and thought I'd check out your blog. Glad I did 🙂
It depends on your reasons and your situation. If you realize what you're getting into and you're self publishing not because you "can't wait" to see your book in print and not because you expect to rake in the cash, perhaps you're self publishing for reasons that are right for you personally. For me, it's just not an avenue that I feel comfortable with. I like that traditional publishing has a "bar" that it expects authors to meet. (true, some publishers fall very short in the quality control area) This makes me angry on many levels, most of all because it's putting the agent into murky waters. I'd always wonder if they in face couldn't find a publisher for my work, or if they just didn't try. By the way, thanks for stopping by. Always nice to see new faces. I whiz by Writers and Readers more often than I comment. I like the author interviews and discussions A.F. has going.
"in face"??? Ugh. In "fact". Darn fingers.