"Self-Published Author" or "Independent Author"?

[Pumpkin337]

Wolf has been putting these crackpot ideas of his on this since 2005 (or earlier I didn't look). In all this time he hasn't changed his tune one bit so I doubt we are going to convince him of anything. Responding (mea culpa) just encourages him. So why don't we do what every other forum where he publishes his drivel does and ignore him. Vote by not reading, not responding etc. He can waffle away in his self-imposed exile from the publishing world (even though by publishing in these forums he, like every other author, is demonstrating that he does actually want an audience) and we can get on with writing or other more interesting stuff.

[YesNo]

I don't think there's anything wrong with PEOPLE for rhyming in poetry. I actually defend the right to do so. I know I have said "all poets that line should be castrated immediately!" Yes I do hate rhyming poetry – well actually I hate rhyming in contemporary poetry. But, again I defend people's right to write whatever they want to write. Unless they are neo-Nazis or something like that. I defend people's right to write Lysol-clean literature that puts people to sleep. I defend people's right to write airport novels, although I usually don't like them.

Glad to hear it. I wasn't really worried about physical castration as the mental kind.

But where I draw the line regarding the Lysol-clean crowd is that some of them (not all) promote censorship. They want to tell everybody else what they can or cannot write. This has been a real problem in the literary world for a long time, including today.

I agree. Formalist poets can be too picky about what forms are acceptable.

But what I want to talk about is how the AVAILABILITY of literature has changed so much in our lifetimes. It used to be your literary choices were pretty much confined to the small bookstore, but then the mega-bookstores opened and the choices were suddenly 10 times as much! That was an awesome experience walking into one of these places for the first time! But then the Internet opened up – and now there was Amazon with 100 times more books than the mega-bookstores, and author's websites, and there were literary posting boards, and there were all kinds of new literary magazines on the Internet that were publishing all kinds of cool literature that was neither censored or conservative like the pretentious I mean prestigious literary magazines. So much more literature to choose from – wonderful!

I want to keep it open by having competitors to Amazon. I like Smashwords as well (http://www.smashwords.com/) and go there first. Of course having the internet will keep it open.

The next step is to publish all submitted manuscripts. Yes – publish all submitted manuscripts. It is now far more economical to do so than ever!

Some manuscripts are drafts. Most of what I put on these forums are of that type.

The amount of available literature will be infinite – as infinite as the creativity of the human race! There'll be bad literature published as a result – but lots of bad literature is being published now – look at the New York Times bestseller list.

One can sort out the bad literature by viewing the ebook sample.

I remember buying rap CDs from people selling them on the street – their own work – and anyone can tell – even a "cracker" like me – that this stuff was way better and creative than what was on commercial radio. (Well, usually, not always.)

I like purchasing albums from local artists. I recently bought two CDS from a band called Billy Elton. They sing Elton John and Billy Joel songs. I know that probably disgusts you, but the singers did a better job than the originals in my opinion.

And for these reasons and many others I say let every manuscript be published! Let the readers decide what they want to read! There is no need any more for some gatekeeper – whether motivated by corporate greed or otherwise – to decide what will be the available to the public and what will not be available to the public.

I agree with the anti-gatekeeper mentality. I don't mind sharing profits with the greedy.

The time has come to change the publishing industry, including the sweatshop conditions and the wages of peanuts for those who work in it.

As long as we are under capitalism the publishing industry will be run for profit. But there are things we can do today. Like supporting the struggle for unions in the publishing industry, both in the industrial plants and in the offices. Union wages for everybody!

I'm not worried about capitalism. The internet provides a backdoor.

And I wonder if we writers can form cooperatives to advance our interests. Whether we write conventionally or experimentally I do believe we have mutual interests.

That sounds like a good idea. I suspect there are cooperatives already.

[HCabret]

i'm tired of getting kicked off of discussion forums. i'm thinking about starting a small press--or less ambitiously, to start with, a lit mag. i'd like to avoid the models of lit-mag-as-a-place-to-pad-your-dumb-c-v that are currently available, and i have some ideas about how to do that, but i'd be curious as to what you think. if you're interesting in the possibility of collaborating on a project like this, or would like to help brainstorming at the conceptual stage, i'm all ears. email me at [email protected]

we could call it "Strategically Unpublishable"

why are you a writer? Is it all about publishing? Or is it about creating?

Do you want fame? Money? Glory? Or do you want enlightenment? Joy? Salvation?

[HCabret]

Wolf has been putting these crackpot ideas of his on this since 2005 (or earlier I didn't look). In all this time he hasn't changed his tune one bit so I doubt we are going to convince him of anything. Responding (mea culpa) just encourages him. So why don't we do what every other forum where he publishes his drivel does and ignore him. Vote by not reading, not responding etc. He can waffle away in his self-imposed exile from the publishing world (even though by publishing in these forums he, like every other author, is demonstrating that he does actually want an audience) and we can get on with writing or other more interesting stuff.

its too much fun though. wolf larsen is like glenn beck. Paranoid, alien, and ultimately tremendously entertaining. Its like watching sharknado over and over and over and laughing harder each and every time. The only thing he hates more than no response is a true response.

[illiterati]

why are you a writer? Is it all about publishing? Or is it about creating?

Do you want fame? Money? Glory? Or do you want enlightenment? Joy? Salvation?

I'm not entirely clear about how your response relates what I wrote, there. Clarify?

[HCabret]

I'm not entirely clear about how your response relates what I wrote, there. Clarify?

what is the point of all this in the first place? Do you write simply to make money or become famous? Do you desire to have accolades of your genius showered upon you? Or do write simply for the innate pleasure of creation? I hope nothing i write ever gets published. While i hope you end up on the new york times best seller list.

I don't write for anyone but myself and for calanawen.

[illiterati]

Huh well. I refer you to the conversation in the thread "Getting Poetry Published" in the Poets and Poetry forum (I think). I won't debate the initial premise about desiring an audience or a writerly community, but I will say that I would like to carve out a space beyond the MFA/NYC divide. That's precisely the double bind I'm fed up with. I'd like to create a forum that's outside the economy of the professional cv. Hate to tell you, but poetry has been outside the economy of money and fame (outside of academic posts) for a long time.

[HCabret]

Huh well. I refer you to the conversation in the thread "Getting Poetry Published" in the Poets and Poetry forum (I think). I won't debate the initial premise about desiring an audience or a writerly community, but I will say that I would like to carve out a space beyond the MFA/NYC divide. That's precisely the double bind I'm fed up with. I'd like to create a forum that's outside the economy of the professional cv. Hate to tell you, but poetry has been outside the economy of money and fame (outside of academic posts) for a long time.

smacks of the pulpit.

[illiterati]

Didn't you just finish suggesting that any kind of publishing reduces writing to a desire for money and fame?

I'll stick with my own, more reasonably sized pulpit.

[HCabret]

Didn't you just finish suggesting that any kind of publishing reduces writing to a desire for money and fame?

I'll stick with my own, more reasonably sized pulpit.

i'll wear a garbage bag like a poncho as I preach about commercialism and not throwing away good stuff, like love.

[illiterati]

i'll wear a garbage bag like a poncho as I preach about commercialism and not throwing away good stuff, like love.

I'll throw tiny, sharp-edged pulpits at you from my expensive spaceship. Later, I will collect the tiny pulpits and put them up for sale on eBay, then use the money I make to purchase justice, love, and also commercialism, not because I need those things but because I want to wait until you're sleeping, steal your garbage bag, and throw away my justice, love, and commercialism in it, all as a kind of performative allegory about the importance of charitable discourse.

[HCabret]

I'll throw tiny, sharp-edged pulpits at you from my expensive spaceship. Later, I will collect the tiny pulpits and put them up for sale on eBay, then use the money I make to purchase justice, love, and also commercialism, not because I need those things but because I want to wait until you're sleeping, steal your garbage bag, and throw away my justice, love, and commercialism in it, all as a kind of performative allegory about the importance of charitable discourse.

i like you.

[mitchstrahsberg]

I agree too. Self-publishing means you have all the control because you have the complete rights of your book. The idea here is literary freedom and freedom to express.

[YesNo]

I'm trying to put together an ebook and I really have WolfLarsen to thank. I don't know what to put in the ebook yet, but I figure if I get something started the words will follow. I was going to title the book: "Monsters, Monsters Everywhere and Not a Bite to Eat". That might be too long.

I've been reading "Publishing E-Books for Dummies" which seems pretty good. The author, Ali Luke, recommended Calibre, so I downloaded it and now I will try formatting some test documents made in MS Word to see how this all works.