"So you're a new writer huh? Wow, good fuckin' luck. You're gonna need it."
Sue Grafton is the latest in what's basically a handful of dinosaur writers who try to crap on indie and self-published authors. The famous "Alphabet"author believes that if you are self-publishing you are not willing to put in the hard work required to be published by one of the antiquated Big Six publishers. In other words, you're not willing to be a slave.
I've put in the hard work and earned hundreds of thousands in advances from the Big Six. I've also put in the hard work and earned hundreds of thousands in real sales from indie and small publishers. I've put in the hard work and just recently self-published my first book: Permanence, a literary thriller/novella that was first published traditionally by a small press back in 1995 and went nowhere fast. Now it's doing very well and sold more in the first week in e-book format than it did in its entirety as a small press offering.
I put in the hard work everyday. I write up to 2,500 words per day. It often leaves me exhausted. It gets in the way of my spending time with family and friends, and I am often alone. I work even when I travel. And I travel a lot. But I make sacrifices in order to put that word count out day in and day out. Its because of those sacrifices that I make sure never to attach myself to only one kind of publishing. Be with a major, an indie or via my own Bear Media label.
V is for Vincent but it's also for Victorious.
S is for Sue and for Simply so arrogant some poor young writer out there will no doubt listen to her garbage and end up never publishing a single book. Not because it isn't good but because Sue said no to publishing with anyone but the money changers on the hill in NYC.
Don't allow other authors, critics, editors, agents, or anyone else dissuade you from your dream. R is for Readers. Let the readers of the world decide if you have what it takes to be a great writer. They're your audience after all. You will live and die with them. Not with Sue Grafton.
