F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

Mark Coker

The Indie Author Manifesto, by Mark Coker

by

We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident! (Howard Chandler Christy [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)
We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident! (Howard Chandler Christy [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)
I love this guy!

Mark Coker.

Creator of Smashwords.

I met him at a writer’s conference a couple years ago, drove him to the airport with a carload of other VIPs. This guy is so cool, so down to earth, so frigging real. He isn’t afraid to stand up to the icons of the publishing industry and call “Foul!” Dazzle them with the facts.

From his current post, I have lifted what he is calling, his Indie Author Manifesto.

Rock on, Mark Coker!

THE INDIE AUTHOR MANIFESTO

We indie authors believe all writers are created equal, that all writers are endowed with natural creative potential, and that writers have an unalienable right to exercise, explore and realize their potential through the freedom of publication.

I hold these truths to be self-evident:

  1. I am an indie author
  2. I have experienced the pleasure and satisfaction that comes from self-publishing
  3. I have a right to publish
  4. My creative control is important to me.  I decide when, where and how my writing graduates to become a published book.
  5. Indie does not mean “alone.”  I choose my partners.
  6. I shall not bow beholden or subservient to any publisher. In my business relationships, I seek partnership, fairness, equity and mutually aligned interests.
  7. We indie author comprise diverse writers unified by a common purpose to advance, empower and celebrate writers everywhere.
  8. I am a professional.  I take pride in my work, and I strive to improve my craft to better serve my readers, myself, my fellow indie authors and the culture of books
  9. My writing is valuable and important.  This value and importance cannot be measured by commercial sales alone.
  10. I celebrate the success of my fellow indie authors, for their success is mine, and mine theirs. Together we are pioneering a better future for books marked by greater quality, creativity, diversity, choice, availability, affordability and accessibility.

Related articles

We Talk Story, Yeah?

by

English: Interesting Story
An Interesting Story (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Story.

Isn’t that what we’re really doing—writing stories, fictional or otherwise?

I read this article the other day, by Bob Mayer, and it really made me look at things differently! Bob’s got a lot to say in the post, but one of the things I came away with was that books are not the be-all, end-all. They’re a method to this madness, is all—and not the only method. Bob broke it down into three great lines (quoting from his post):

“Authors create stories and ideas.

Readers consume stories and ideas.

Everyone in between the two has to add value to that.”

What great insight!

What this means to me: I’ve been trying to get my work published through my agent by the traditionally published route. It hasn’t gone well. Over 4 years and not one sale. I never claim to be a Stephen King, Bob Mayer, James Patterson, or anyone else. I’m just little ol’ me, scribblin’ down my stories. But the point is, the traditional route isn’t working, and the traditional route is all about selling books. It’s not so much about selling stories. There’s an ever-so fine distinction there. It’s about the story and about picking different platforms, and all that goes with that. Mr. Mayer does a great job of it in his post, so I suggest reading it, but my point is that I’ve been resistant to trying the e-book only platform, having to admit to loving books, in and of themselves. I do, yes. As a reader. But as a writer, I’ve never been against any of the other platforms, like e-books. Just personally didn’t deal with them. My view has always been, if readers want to read on computer screens, smartphones, or tablets, more power to them!

So, I’m going to give this a shot. I’m going back over, for the umpteenth time in 12 years (I’ll post more about the long road in this novel’s journey once I get it out there), to my supernatural murder mystery, set in Gulf Cost Florida, and I’m going to publish it as an e-book. And I’m pretty dang sure I’m going to do it through Smashwords, but I’m still open to other ideas (I met Mark Coker last year, at the PPWC, and heard him speak; I was quite impressed with him and how he stood up to “Traditional Publisher Think,” or TPT—okay, I just made that up, on the spot, here, but feel free to use it!). And I’m pretty danged excited about it! This is a story that has been near and dear to me, on many levels, but, most importantly, it’s a story that’s important to me (or I’d never have stuck with it this far; I have given up on other manuscripts)…and one I think will entertain others, not to mention “get readers to thinking.”

So, let’s talk story, folks, and think differently about what it is we’re doing and how we’re doing it!

Related articles

Pikes Peak Writers Conference (PPWC) 2012

by

Agents, and editors, and publisher, oh my!

How was your weekend?

Great, well, lemme tell you a little about mine.

This past weekend I attended the PPWC 2012 conference, which was celebrating its 20th year. I’ve been to 17 of them. hadn’t been to the last two, but it was fun attending this year, and seeing friends I haven’t seen in two years. Putting faces to those I’ve only harrasses and taunted in blog posts, comments, and e-mails (like Betsy [wishing you all the best on your knee surgery today!], Mario, Bree, and Gusto Dave!).

But I nearly missed it.

You see, I thought it was the next week, and by “next week,” I mean April 27th – 29th.  Literally, I had my jacket on and was leaving the house, when something (I won’t go into what, but plenty of you out there know what that “what” is…) prompted me to check the PPWC website.

April 20 – 22.

What did I have on my calendar (I even took a picture and showed others this, just in case no one believed me)? What did I take off from my day job?

April 27th, etc.

Yeah.

Can you say “unprepared?”

Head not in the game?

Embarrassed (I had volunteer duties that, uh, got modified, because of this…)?

Needless to say, I said “sorry” a lot this past weekend.

I’ve never (fully, and of my own actions) blown anything out of the water so beautifully and completely as I had this weekend.

Man.

Anywho, I wasn’t alone! Apparently, others had too. At least three of us. Some friends (who periodically checked my sanity throughout the weekend–thank you!–and made sure I was on the right day and time for things, like pitches; many thanks to Laura and Janet and Margaret and Karen for keeping me sane–and for the PPWC staff for your concern and understanding in the matter, especially Chris Myers, who was my volunteer boss) brought a couple of us together to hang our collective heads in amused embarrassment and laugh at ourselves. As one of the people mentioned, just think if we had made flight and hotel reservations….

But, all things considered, it was great getting “back in the game,” as it were. Sometimes life gets so bizzy (case in point), we get so immersed in just living. But as writers, where we are always in our little caves, we do sometimes really need to get out into the “sunlight.”  Get out amongst our peeps. Our peers. Conferences are great places for that.

And you get to meet and pitch to editors, agents, and publishers. Get to know them on a personal basis. Yeah, they really are just like you and me. Get headaches, laugh, converse. Walk (not float inches above) the earth.

Surprise–they even put on their pants one leg at a time.

For the full list of the faculty, click HERE, but we had the likes of Robert Crais and Jeffrey Deaver, Susan Wiggs, and Donald Maass as Keynote Speakers. I am a fan of Bob’s writing (the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike mystery series)–in fact I grew up watching some of the show he’d screenplayed. Bob is truly such a cool guy, extremely personable and accessible. There is an energy about him that has him stand out head-and-shoulders above the rest. I remember meeting and talking with him in the very beginning, way back in 1993 (pardon me if I’m off a year, but I’ve been somewhat time warped this month, as many can attest to…), and every time since, I make it a point to talk with him. Like he said in his Keynote delivery, it’s like he’d grown up with the PPWC. Other samplings include Steve Saffel, of Titan books (another I always make a point of talking with), Lou Anders, of Pyr (that’s “Pie-er”) Books, Mario Acevedo, Kevin J. Anderson, Carol Berg, Mark Coker (Founder and CEO of Smashwords), and  Joe R. Lansdale–another really cool, down-to-earth guy.

And Jimmie Butler, the founder of all things Pikes Peak Writer. He founded the conference 20 years ago and was the driving force for many of its years, before stepping down (the job can be quite taxing, not to mention impact one’s writing life). I’d even attended his critique group for a period of time. It was great seeing and spending time catching up with Jimmie. He’s a great guy, and I hope many attendees had a chance to at least introduce themselves and thank him for all he’d wrought with this conference!

Of course there were others, but I eventually have to post this and return to the real world, so checking my watch, I do see it’s time to go.

And I think it’s Tuesday, no?

Related articles