Last night a some of our local authors gathered together for a Meet-&-Greet, it was a small gathering, like the Reading on Saturday.
The wonderful thing was we got to put our heads together and share information.
It freaks me out when someone says they can't afford to publish a book because it costs thousands of dollars. I realize that communication, between writers, isn't as lightening fast as email.
It is easy to forget that I'm plugged into the World of Indie Publishing in ways that other people aren't. The hundred or so hours I've spent every week since 2009, learning all I can, is stuck in my head. (It wants out.) I want to pay it forward, and haven't had a clue on how to do it.
My books rode the cutting edge for a few sweet, fleeting, weeks, and dropped into the mulch layer, like thousands of books before and after mine.
I see myself as a micro-publisher, on the fringes of a vast industry that doesn't know that my itty-bitty company exists.
I live in a region full of talented writers. The more I hear and see the work of others, the more in awe I become.
These books are incredible.
On Saturday I heard four authors who wrote completely different genre, in different styles, and they all touched me with the quality and craftsmanship of their books.
Craftswomanship is a better term for Saturday, but yesterday there were two guys there, and they were craftsmen, too.*
These authors and their books don't belong in the Mulch Layer. The bookstore that was kind enough to host us should get recognition as well as the gallery/pub who hosted us last night. There are supporting craftswomen and craftsmen, editors, proofreaders, cover artists toiling in obscurity who deserve some kind of recognition.
Together, we can achieve, or ascend, to heights we can't reach alone.
It's a matter of finding the way to dig ourselves out of the mulch layer.
This blog might make a good starting point.
* Gender is such a sticking point. Using either pronoun leaves out half the population. Using both sounds stilted. (sigh) I'm gonna use both.
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