__ SELF-PUBLISHED:  James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941), Irish novelist and poet, was considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century.  Joyce moved to Trieste, where this sculpture is located, and taught English there.
He remained in Trieste for almost ten years. 
Photo by Stefano Costanzo on Fotopedia

The indiePENdents:

The Why and Wherefore

Self-publishing Isn’t Vanity; It’s Necessity

                “'Tis the good reader that makes the good book; in every book he finds passages which seem to be confidences or sides
                hidden from all else and unmistakably meant for his ear; the profit of books is according to the sensibility of the reader; the
                profound thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until it is discovered by an equal mind and heart.” 

                                                                                                 ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Published authors are organized and their interests are represented by the Authors Guild. Self-published authors still seem loath to speak with one voice, as if by joining forces we’ll lose our individuality. As a result, we continue to talk, often at cross-purposes. Some of the discord we hear may be coming from other interests than ours.

Talk feels good, but action is more effective. We must realize our common interests, and achieve unity of purpose. But only the strength in numbers can make us prevail. Once we become a united critical mass of thousands of authors, we will collectively become a force to be listened to by the media, by Amazon, by the publishers, and eventually, yes, when necessary to protect our common interests -- by the courts.

Unless self-published writers get under one umbrella to do something concrete for themselves, we won't be effective against adverse marketing forces.

_ The exploding number of digital books on the market is not a sign of the demise of traditional print. The same titles are available on Kindle, Nook and other e-outlets that can be found in print as well. The majority of them, however, will not be found in libraries, schools, or even bookstores, which are losing readers who would love to browse and buy the books from them but are forced to turn to other sources. The problem isn’t the future of books but of publishers, libraries, schools and bookstores. It has several causes:

1. The great majority of today’s independent authors can’t get their manuscripts past publishing agents; the response to their queries, if they get one at all, is often negative, but they will mostly get a total rude silence. This is perhaps because potential publishers like to bet on proven money-makers or on celebrities, regardless of the literary value of new writings. As a result, more writers are abandoning the traditional publishing route and are self-publishing.
2. The next hurdle is provided by the bookstores themselves, even the so-called independent ones: They will not accept books of independent authors, regardless of their merit, unless they have a publisher. 
3. Writers are thus blocked from public view by the subjective judgements of agents, publishers and traditional bookstores as to what they think will sell, rather than as to the literary and cultural value a book might have.  Authors then go into self-publishing and the public has a choice to read them in digital or print form, but the books must be visible to succeed, and  this forces authors to become marketers.
4. The avalanche of self-published books creates a problem of legitimacy. Therefore, a group of us, authors and editors, is now forming a nonprofit organization, The indiePENdents, with the purpose of establishing standards and promoting independent writers. We will try to enlist the support of Amazon, Barnes&Noble, LuLu and mainstream publishers in creating standards and awards.

Authors write books. They represent the future of our culture. The indiePENdents want to give the creativity of the self-published authors an imprimatur, so to speak, in order to achieve the respectability and credibility that they are not presently given by the industry.  Books that meet the standards will be awarded the indiePENdents' Seal. 

This document established the organization, December 13, 2011.

To contact The indiePENdents, please send an email to ideas@indiependents.org
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