Lucynda Storey-Erotic Romance Writer

To all of those frustrated by the dismissive attitude of some of the larger professional organizations, I’d like to offer the following thoughts.

“A book is a book, regardless of form.” This nugget of wisdom was coined by Karen Woods of EPIC some time ago, and it’s true. All the mind games and politics in the world are not going to change the fact that books are books, whether presented on paper or by using a screen, whether printed 100,000 copies at a time or a single copy at a time.

Given the chance to buy a book that sounds interesting to him/her, a reader will purchase it, whether it’s a POD trade paperback or one printed offset. READERS do not care what these organizations do or say. They are organizations for authors and publishers, not for readers.

It is time to re-evaluate why we care what the mainstream professional organizations think.

Because they’re professional organizations? They are, but they are professional organizations with a very limited scope. I don’t just mean in terms of genre but also in terms of which authors and publishers they consider worthy of their attention and respect.

It’s time to change that mindset. Indie/e is no one’s follower. We are innovation, breakout technology and breakout books, the industry leader in adopting new and profitable genres. Indie/e does not need professional organizations that are not willing to acknowledge our strengths. They are, simply put, a liability and nothing more.

Because its nice to have the respect of our peers? Many of our peers are in indie/e, and NY authors rarely share this bias. Why would I put money in the coffers of a monolith that makes me prove my worth by way of biased guidelines? We don’t need their approval. We certainly don’t need their permission.

So, why do we need to worry about what they think? Because we want validation that we’re really published? If you’ve written and contracted a book, you’re published. “A book is a book, regardless of form.”

Because we want to enter their contests? Why? What is so special about their contests? They are a private endeavor that doesn’t allow everyone, even those with print books sold by the publisher, to enter. They are closed-group awards, because only authors of recognized publishers or member authors are allowed to play. And the judged
awards are expensive, to boot.

Why would an indie/e author care about entering? Readers don’t care…for the most part. The only industry awards for books that a significant number of readers of the genre recognize and care about are Hugo/Nebula and Newbery/Caldacott. It’s just another award, and readers largely dismiss awards, so it’s for industry recognition and not reader appeal. The industry that prizes them so highly is not indie/e; it’s NY, so what is your focus? Where should it lie?

Why should we care about what they say? What do these organizations give back to the indie/e members but continuous scorn  and headaches(at the National level, not in the individual chapters)?

They not focused on us. We don’t even blip on their radar, except as the red-headed step-child that they’d like to send off to our room. Too bad. Indie/e is here and we’re strong…and we’re growing every year.

Just remember that they need members; we don’t need them. EPIC is there, with open arms and open minds…and with contests that are inclusive and respected, even in NY. If you would like to experience a professional organization that is focused on your needs, as an indie/e author or industry professional, even if you also work in NY or aspire
to NY, EPIC may be the place for you.

EPIC’s commitment is focused on only two things: indie publishing and e-publishing of any type, large or small, even those that self-publish. Members are not only published authors but also editors, publishers and other industry professionals.

Remember what EPIC is committed to, because it’s become increasingly clear that some of the other “professional organizations” have no wish to embrace the future. For that reason, it is high time we started asking ourselves why we care what they think.

The door is always open.

Brenna Lyons
President of EPIC

I’d also like to point out one more thing. EPIC doesn’t take unpublished authors. If you take all of the unpublished authors OUT of RWA and compare the focus to focus groups, RWA is less than four times the size of EPIC, despite the fact that EPIC is less than half the age. The ONLY reason RWA looks so big…is all of those unpublished authors, filling up their ranks.

Brenna
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http://www.brennalyons.com http://www.myspace.com/brennalyons

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 at 4:40 pm and is filed under Lucynda Storey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.