The Journal: Indie Publishers — Exclusive or Wide?

In today’s Journal

* Quote of the Day
* Indie Publishers — Exclusive or Wide?
* Of Interest

Quote of the Day

“[I]t amuses me that people sometimes accuse me of writing the YA books to ‘cash in.’ Um, no, my friends. I earn less on those. Not significantly less, but still. I write them because they are stories I want to tell.” Brandon Sanderson

Indie Publishers — Exclusive or Wide?

Over at KillZone blog, Garry Rodgers asked, “Indie Publishers — Exclusive or Wide?” I suggest you read the post and the comments. They are enlightening. Then go whichever way you feel best.

I will personally keep my books and stories wide, meaning available to all readers despite their store preference. They have a right to choose where they buy books, and I want them to be able to read my books if they want to.

Besides, I’m not comfortable being paid muscle for anyone, even Amazon, and telling readers if they want to read my books, they’ll have to get them through that one store. I’m a storyteller, not an addict who drives new clients to my dealer in exchange for free drugs.

Or as Brandon Sanderson much more graciously put it (see the first link in “Of Interest” below), “People don’t like to be moved from one platform to another–and I get it. The convenience of having your media collection all in one place, of already having your credit card info stored, of not having to do much besides click a button (or grab something at the bookstore where you’re already visiting) is huge.”

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “How Are You Going to Spend the Money?” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/how-are-you-going-to-spend-the-money/. You can click through and read the longer, more detailed original post at https://www.brandonsanderson.com/some-faqs-you-might-enjoy/.

See “An Evening With Neil Gaiman” at https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2022/03/an-evening-with-neil-gaiman.html. Gaiman on tour, maybe near you.

See “ProWritingAid VS Grammarly: Which Grammar Checker is Better in (2022)?” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/prowritingaid-vs-grammarly-which-grammar-checker-is-better-in-2022/. I know nothing about ProWritingAid, but frankly I wouldn’t take Grammarly to a sh*t-fight to use it as a shield. I recommend using your brain and, when necessary, referring to a HarBrace College Handbook.

Disclaimer: In this blog, I provide advice on writing fiction. I advocate a technique called Writing Into the Dark. To be crystal clear, WITD is not “the only way” to write, nor will I ever say it is. However, as I am the only writer who advocates WITD both publicly and regularly, I will continue to do so, among myriad other topics.

2 thoughts on “The Journal: Indie Publishers — Exclusive or Wide?”

  1. I agree with you – neither Pro nor Grammarly.

    But then I only use my lifetime membership to Autocrit to count: adverbs, repetition of words and phrases, dialogue tags, my ‘special words’…

    Once flagged like that, I use my brain to make decisions; I would never take advice about writing from an algorithm designed for Business English. (I tried each before – horrifying interventions in how I write things.)

    Even better, if AC catches something that makes me curious, I dig into my Handbook of Good English and other tools to see if I remember correctly, so I relearn or reinforce whatever it is. ‘Always be learning.’ Don’t want to make the same mistakes again.

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