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@dvewlsh that sounds *amazing*.

And I'm sorry you got such awful advice about indie publishing. There's a lot of terrible hot takes out there, but there are also really wonderful writers publishing good shit. And helping one another.

I'm looking forward to reading this.

@LJ I think there's... a thing about indie publishing, where people who were successful broke the process by ruining reader expectations.

If you're doing it just to do it, it's fine. But the sharks happened, pumped out endless 'minimum viable product' content. I made a living off of being an indie for two years and just burnt out so hard on it.

@dvewlsh yup. Someone I used to be close with went all in on 12+ books/year & social media & ad blitzing. It was exhausting to watch them chase trends & turn into this weird influencer. I'm not even sure they're still writing. That kind of pace is punishing & treats art like a generic commodity.

I write because I need to create & words are my best medium. I long ago realized I'd never hit it big with my books. I'm grateful to earn out my production expenses. (Cont.)

@dvewlsh if I needed to support a family, I'd still be working as a physical therapist. I let my license lapse years ago (after a 25+) year career) & I still get recruiters calling.

I'm happy that I have the tools & access to publish under my own imprint. That I can write what I want to write & have the creative control to do it on my own terms.

I'm certainly not on the rapid release cycle--it's been 6 years between my last book & the one that came out on Feb 10th.

Best of luck w/the book!

@LJ @dvewlsh I think the mechanics have changed but the results are the same: it's not a viable career for the vast majority of us. 30 years ago there was a cohort of authors cranking out Harlequin Romances, now they're cranking out their own series instead (I'm not sure what the equivalent is for those cranking out Space Operas is). Years ago we could find a quirky independent small press and hope against hope that they managed to generate enough publicity to get it noticed, now we're tasked with that job as well. Then there's the people who would never get published, and now they can send their stuff to print and foist it upon people in their first two degrees of separation.

The good news is that the "downstream infrastructure" is adapting to self-publishing, with a few layers of readers and reviewers who can bury the dreck, say nice things about the pulp, and highlight the good stuff, which in turn might get picked up by the next tier(s) and elevated further.

Instead of taking a bus from city to city to do book signings, we get to put ourselves (or our personas) out there on social media in hopes of similar results.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss...