Indie Authors are on the Wrong Side of the Tracks

Guest post by Darian Wilk
Author of Love Unfinished and Reinventing Claire (coming August 2012)

Who here has read the book or seen the movie The Outsiders? It's a classic story that can ring true with any generation – the kids on the wrong side of the tracks, the kids on the right side of the tracks, and the rift between them. While writers are typically a jolly bunch willing to help each other out, often times you can sense the same tension, the same rift between Indie authors and traditionally published authors. Indies live on the wrong side of the tracks, traditionals live in a gated community. 

I'm privileged enough to know many fine authors who are wonderful people. It's a muddled mix of Indies and traditional authors alike, coming together to share the wacky journey of writing together. We know the others children by name, what WIP's each other is working on – we're friends. But even in this blended, tight group of friends it's there – the rift. It's whispered about with the others, the ones living on the same side of the tracks as you. Traditionally published authors calling themselves real authors in front of the Indies, Indies gritting their teeth in seething silence. My friend with the agent, publisher, editor, and publicist proudly lives on the right side of the tracks – I'm in the ghetto.

Sometimes you can feel the rift rumbling, almost growing into an all-out 'virtual' protest; but both sides have valid points. Traditionally published authors have a sense of pride, a sense of accomplishment, that they have earned the title of real author – because they have queried until they were blue in the face, wallpapered their family room in rejection letters, kept on writing, and then one day got 'the call' that someone wanted their book. They've earned their title – real author. They dredged through the slush piles and came out with a book deal. They sit proudly in the lush, gated community of traditional publishing.

Indies too have shared the same journey. Most, if you ask, have spent years querying, wallpapered their living room with rejections, kept on writing, but they decided sitting around for 'the call' wasn't the right path for them. Now, some could say they never got 'the call' because their work isn't worthy of publication; but that's an entire post on its own. So the writer, after years of querying, decides to go Indie. They don't see it, but they have just moved themselves into the ghetto. They've evicted themselves from the gated community, and moved to east LA. Instead of having a team of editors, a publicist, and a sure ticket to seeing their book on an actual bookstore shelf – they stand on their own. They put in many, many hours of work just to understand how to publish, let alone actually doing it. They've earned their title – real author. They sit proudly in the grungy, graffiti filled neighborhood.

They both put in the work, the hours, the heart, the dedication – yet there it is, the tracks between us. Indies and traditionals, us and them.  I'm living in the ghetto, surrounded by frantic writers scrambling for reviews, and banging their heads on the walls trying to format an ebook – and I kind of like it here. I see my friend over there, on the other side of the tracks, on her perfectly manicured lawn in the gated community of traditionally published authors – I nod and wave.  She smiles back, texts me, and we agree to meet for coffee and complain about promotions. She's a real author, I'm an Indie. We're friends and have a rift. It's like high school all over again.

But this is how I see it...so many people, Indies and traditionals, are so busy screaming about their author status we've forgotten the thing that made us love books. The thing that made us want to be an author to begin with...great stories. When I immersed myself in books growing up and well into adulthood, I didn't care about what the copyright page said; that was the boring page! A friend of mine that can almost recite her favorite book by heart, she can't tell you who the publisher is, she's never looked at the copyright page. It's the content, the story that matters to her. Indies and traditionals, my side your side...if my book is as strong as theirs, aren't we both real authors? If the content can stand on its own, does it matter what the copyright page says? Our journey here was much the same, and in the end we both have the same struggle – trying to get people to read our books. At the start of the day our to-do lists look the same, at the end of the day our worries are the same – are we really on different sides of the tracks, or walking down the tracks together?

About the author:

Darian is a women's fiction writer, avid book reader, mom to two amazing kids, and wife to one awesome husband. Her passion for writing started at an early age, which led her to being published in three poetry anthologies as a teenager. In 2009, she took on writing full-time and her first novel, Love Unfinished, was released in 2011. Her second novel, Reinventing Claire, is set to be released in August 2012. 

Find out more about Darian, connect with her on Twitter and Facebook, and check out the trailer for Love Unfinished.

Darian is also a regular reviewer for Krazy Book Lady!