Writers are human beings with needs, feelings, and many questionable tendencies, just like everyone else.  Shocking, I know.  But in many respects, writers, akin to other creators such as musicians, painters, or graphic artists, are also more vulnerable than the average person.  We need to be told our art is good.  Not by our friends and relatives but by the world at large.  What do we need?  Validation.  When do we need it?  Now! 

In my last post, I spoke about the proliferation of predatory pay-to-play literary contests.  They and other phenomena designed to separate a hopeful and naïve writer from his or her money have arisen for a reason since nothing happens in a vacuum.  Those of you unfortunate enough to remember Economics 101 (I’m sorry to bring up bad memories — really, I am!) understand where there is a demand, there will be a supply.  Need validation?  Someone will be glad to provide it — at a price.

Back before the days of ebooks and the independent publishing industry they unleashed, an aspiring writer had two paths.  One was to spend years querying in the hopes of landing an agent willing to represent their magnum opus, no matter the chances were less than Bigfoot hunters finding irrefutable proof he exists.  The other was to pay a vanity publisher to produce their book, but with no real hope of ever selling a single copy.  Landing an agent, then getting a publishing contract was the holy grail.  It signaled to the world that a book was worthy and its author a literary success.  Validation at last!

However, paradigms shift, and we independent publishers have bypassed agents and publishing contracts.  We not only write our novels, but we also put them up for sale ourselves via major online retailers.  But that means no more jumping for joy at your work being publicly validated when an agent lands you a measly advance that you’ll probably never earn out, with no guarantee of the publisher buying the rights to any subsequent books.  Yet us independents not only manage to put our books out there when no traditional publisher will even look at them, once we find an audience through determined marketing efforts and a bit of luck, we also make more money than most traditionally published mid-list authors.  Sometimes a lot more money.

Hmm.  Let’s see.  Money, fine.  Control over one’s writing career, fine. No gatekeepers.  Excellent. Wait a minute!  Where’s my external validation?  Who and what will tell the world I’m a literary success? 

The writer’s ego will not be silenced.  It craves recognition, a place on bookshelves, a seat on literary panels, nominations for awards, long lineups at book signings, interviews on Oprah, on the BBC, and with Shelagh Rogers on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s show “The Next Chapter.”  It craves reviews in major newspapers and a place on major bestseller lists.  It wants to hobnob with Stephen King, JK Rowling, and George RR Martin.  Human nature strives mightily to win every single time and the profiteers out there know it.

My last post discussed predatory pay-to-play book awards.  Those are merely one manifestation of a questionable supply meeting a growing demand from authors in need of ego-stroking.  That dream of a traditional publishing contract, even if it brings in less money?  It’s still alive and well in the hearts of many because it means someone in authority (questionable as it may be) has deemed a book worthy.  And if a book is worthy, so is its author.

These days we have vanity publishers re-branding themselves by offering ego-stroking for a steep price.  Here’s the basic rule that overrides everything else: money flows only from the publisher to the author, never the other way.  A publisher who contacts you to praise your latest book and offers to publish it for you under a co-payment program where you invest a few thousand dollars is a vanity publisher — a crook.  Authors should never be asked to pay for publishing their work.  And that contract the publishing firm Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe sent you out of the blue isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.  Worse yet, it’ll probably make you surrender all rights to your work in perpetuity.  How’s that for external validation?  Sign on with a vanity publisher and all it validates is that you’re an idiot.  Send a publisher money because it’s a co-payment publishing deal, and you just validated yourself as a fool.  Always check Writer Beware https://accrispin.blogspot.com/ to see if the nice publishing house that reached out to you is looking for an easy mark.  Chances are almost 100% it is.

Then you have the crooks who specialize in offering desperate authors ancillary services such as marketing deals for a steep price.  Hey, pay us a few hundred dollars, and we’ll list your book at the Whateveritis Book Fair.  Sure, they might even do so, but if you think it’ll bring on the sales and the recognition, you’re validating yourself as a naïve bumpkin.  Again, consult Writer Beware.  Spend a few hours reading the entire website.  You’ll come out of that exercise more knowledgeable, less foolish and utterly cynical.

Legitimate small presses are a different beast, but can still present serious pitfalls for authors.  Sure, you get validation in that a legit operation thinks your book is worthy of their imprint.  You might even enjoy decent editorial and graphic design services at no cost, but you’re essentially at the small press’ mercy.  And life hasn’t been kind to many of those small presses, leaving authors without income and with their rights locked up.  Again, consult Writer Beware before signing up with a small press.  The story of ChiZine Publications is a cautionary tale worth reading: https://accrispin.blogspot.com/2019/11/scandal-engulfs-independent-publisher.html  If going with a small press is because you can’t or don’t want to handle the business part of publishing yourself, fair enough.  If the main reason is for external validation, you may wish to rethink your motivations.

What’s my bottom line?  Seeking external validation comes at a price unless you’re the next big thing in literature, and chances are pretty good you’re not.  Sometimes that price can be steep.  Sometimes it’s devastating.  If you’re intent on a career as an independent publisher, a better solution is changing your validation paradigm.  Sure, I’d love to meet Shelagh Rogers in person.  I’ve enjoyed her radio programs for decades and would be honored to answer the Proust Questionnaire on her show.  But I know that’ll never happen.  Nor will I ever enter into trad pub contracts except for subsidiary rights, such as audiobooks, foreign language rights or the like, because I can make so much more money publishing my English-language books as an independent.  Sure, it’s more work, but that’s what independent means.  It is, however, more lucrative.  When I look at the typical advance paid to mid-list science fiction authors nowadays by the trad pubs, I have to laugh.  Rarely will that advance ever earn out with the measly royalty rates grudging given to authors. I often make more within the first few weeks after a book’s publication, let alone over its lifetime.  External validation, even from entirely honorable and legitimate channels, carries a real cost.

However, all is not lost.  Independent publishers can condition themselves to find validation from their readers through sales, through reviews and ratings, through Kindle Unlimited pages read and through the money deposited in their bank account each month.  Sure, that’s a big paradigm shift.  The ego will resist dismissing all of what it craves in favor of small validations each time a new reader enjoys your books.  It will resist the mercenary-like validation of money even more because a writer’s ego needs plaudits, not filthy lucre.  But it can be done.

For the record, I derived a sense of external validation when Tantor Media approached me for the audiobook rights to three of my novels.  Yes, I’m just as human as the rest of you despite the scurrilous rumors.  But it hasn’t been particularly lucrative and has hardened my determination that I will never enter traditional publication contracts except for subsidiary rights. It also proved that external validation comes at a price.  I’ll share a little secret with you.  I like to consider myself one of the most financially successful Canadian science fiction writers no one’s ever heard of, and I smile at the fact that many of my traditionally published peers still need to hold daytime jobs while I don’t.  Perhaps one day, I’ll become known, but that’s not something I worry about. Should Shelagh Rogers’ producer ever contact me to appear on her show, I’ll let you know when the interview airs.  But don’t hold your breath.

If the above makes you think about the cost of external validation, then I’ve done my job.  I won’t think less of you should you keep seeking it, so long as it’s done intelligently.  The ego is a hard beast to master.  Few of us succeed at doing so consistently.  But giving money to vanity outfits will earn you a ticket on the ship of fools currently docked at pier sixteen.  Do your research, then make informed choices.