Opinion: Self Published vs. Web Published vs. Quality

My father's opinion column in the May issue of CT sparked off quite a discussion between the two of us regarding writing and publishing. Although we agree on most points, there are a few places where our views don't quite line up, and of course, as the realist (ok, ok, maybe "pessimist" is more accurate) that I am, I tend to see the worst side of it all. This discussion caused me to realize that I have a bit of a double standard, and that's where this column comes in. When it comes to comics, I avoid things from large publishers and seek out small press, independent, and even occasionally self-published comics. Admittedly, I don't read many actual comic books anymore; the last few times I've gone in to the store to pick up some Blade of the Immortal, I've cruised the new releases shelves and seen nothing that flipped my cookie. However, I am still a pretty big fan of web comics, and it doesn't come much more "self published" than that. When it comes to books, however, I head down to my local book store and I buy the work of established authors - usually ones whose previous work I've read and enjoyed. I don't take a lot of chances with novels. If I want to try a new author, I wait until I find a paperback at the used book store, so that if it sucks, I'm only out a few dollars. I never seek out self-published or small press stuff, I don't cruise the magazines looking for new authors, and I don't look for free stories and books on-line. One reason for this has to do with my experiences with both mediums. One only has to look at my old comic reviews, particularly of stuff that is given away at conventions, to see that I've had pretty mixed results with small comics. Some of it sucks, but I've also read some good stuff. And my experience from web comics ranges from "This person should not post things on the internet ever again" to "Ohmigawd, this is the best comic evar!!!11one" but mostly falling into the middle ground of "This is pretty good, I think I'll add it to my bookmarks." With books, however, well... I grew up reading and writing. I've read a lot of books, both from big publishers and smaller, specialized publishers. But I've only ever read one self-published novel, and to be honest, it was rather juvenile. I'm sure the authors were very nice people, and I'm sure they were so happy to be selling their book at a convention, but they really could have benefitted from an editor or agent gently telling them that their story was so damn twee that your average person would have a hard time reading it due to all the eye-rolling they'd be doing. Thus, I've not been eager to seek out any more self-published or vanity press books. As for web-based books and stories, I've just never read them. Another reason is the big difference between the mediums. With my web comics, I load them up, I read through all of them in 20 minutes, and I go on with my life. They're a brief but pleasant diversion. It gets frustrating sometimes being told a story in such small chunks, but the pretty artwork and the fact that it's free makes it all worthwhile. Books, on the other hand, are something that I like to immerse myself into. I can spend hours at a time reading a good novel or anthology, and to be honest, if I'm going to do that, I'd rather be curled up on a comfy couch, with my cat sleeping on my feet, than on my cheap desk chair staring at a screen. Physical books are also more portable than things on the internet or computer, even if you have a laptop. I know I'm not the only person who feels this way. I've offered my currently unpublished books to several friends, who've said that they really don't enjoy reading books on the computer. Of course, that could be their polite way of weaseling out of reading my early drafts, but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt here. Reading on a computer isn't as pleasant an experience, and printing it up just leaves you with a cumbersome stack of pages. Comics also seem to form less of an attachment for me. I've easily dropped comic book series, and web comics, when I decided I didn't like a change the author or artist had made, or when I've grown frustrated with sporadic publishing and updating schedules. On a very rare occasion I'll wonder if the series or strip is still ongoing, but it doesn't haunt me. Books, however, well, it takes a pretty bad novel to get me to put it down unfinished. I find the wait between volumes of a series to be almost unbearable. Books engage me in ways that comics generally fail to (am I allowed to say that on a primarily comic-centric ezine?). Even given the differences between books and comics, I have to wonder if novelists can learn something from cartoonists. Is the internet the wave of the future for publishing in general? Many comic strip creators have realized that there's no money in syndication and have gone to the web instead. Do authors also need to give up the dream of the rare and elusive humongous publishing contract and instead post our work on websites, hoping to make money off of donations and merchandise? Or is a business model that's proving quite successful for comics simply not able to support the medium of novels and short stories? I'm curious to check out the state of fiction on the web. If any of our great CT readers out there have recommendations of sites to read free stories, I'd like to check them out. Maybe you can shift my opinion away from "anything not from a major publisher sucks" to "stories are just as much of a mixed bag as comics." If anyone directs me to a really awesome site, I might even review it for a future CT issue. To everyone out there, I'd just like to say keep on reading, no matter what the medium or the publishing method.

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Copyright © 2007 By AJ Reardon E-mail AJ at: ErtheFae@aol.com Visit AJ at: www.erthefae.com