The unglamorous dark side of self publishing: Like a boss, baby

We’re like Startup Founders, minus the hustle worship

It’s nearly 5:00pm on a Saturday afternoon and I know I need to take a break from the indie author hustle — because I’m burned out AF— but I won’t. I’m scared that if I stop, I won’t start again.

I know this feeling all too well, as a freelance transplant from Startup-land. It’s toxic Hustle Culture, except with absolutely fucking none of the fanfare that Startup Founders get.

Startup Founders get to be visionaries, even if they aren’t making money. Indie authors get to be shitty writers — until we hit Amazon gold — or get picked up because we did the work ourselves.

We’re the same.

Self publishing is the same beast of entrepreneurship with absolutely none of the fanfare we deserve for taking on an entire establishment.

There’s a clear bias against indie authors

We should be the rock star rebels. We aren’t.

Somehow, many consumers and writers alike believe traditional publishing means quality, not sales. Sales geared at monoculture, because society has coddled a certain demographic from the top down.

Who do you think historically gets agented? The numbers don’t lie despite all the diversity pushes. I could barf up stats until I’m a human sauce machine, but even small publishers (often our unsung heroes) can parrot the lie.

Indie authors are often the unsung historically excluded. Indie authors fill the gaps in the industry, just like Startup Founders. Indie authors should be treated like rebels hauling ass against an unjust, antiquated system.

But we aren’t, for a key reason you won’t like:

Indie authors, like many fine artists, do not collaborate to fight the machine

We are so stuck in the mire of shit tools, services and social optics that revolution never hits the agenda

When the systems/processes suck, you’re forced submit or you find a new way. A new way means finding a pipeline or crafting a solution. What artist-rebels did to forge this “new way” was form groups.

The problem? Indie artists are not Fluxus — critics of art elitism that used their numbers for good. We’re snobby loner art skool kids getting ground up by predatory school loans, soldiering alone…to fail alone.

Countless promo-services overpromise/under-deliver, countless predatory publishers prey on us, countless shit-tier tools are hawked and yet we only inform each other in whisper networks or blog articles that do not keep up with the speed of corrosion.

Startup Founders talk about this corrosion publicly, collaborate publicly and even make public tools to blow shit out of the water.

Contrary to this, indie authors are terrified of rocking even one boat on open water. If our tools suck, we aren’t loud about it. If the help we get sucks, we aren’t loud about it. If consumers are performative and we have data on that, we aren’t loud about it.

We whisper and for good reason: art institution cock-sucking dynamics exist. You never know if you’re gonna’ piss off the wrong piss-baby.

Go further down this rabbit hole of cliques, the pure cash-dump of it all, never being real about the beast and being an indie author is worse than being a Startup Founder.

It’s worse, because Startup Founders flaunt each other, want to work together, outline this shit publicly, craft tools of disruption and get treated like glorious rebels for their hustle.

Indie authors don’t get any of that. We don’t imagine that we’re owed it and can reach for it together.

Let me be honest: I’m one of the lucky ones

I’m privileged and I know it

I get the intersectional issues and I’m aware of my privilege. I’m white, I have money, I’m treated like a dude while my relationship appears straight (it isn’t), I don’t face the level of vitriol trans lady authors face, my disability is invisible and I’ve only self-DXed as autistic this month.

Moreover, I have the skills to do the indie author hustle alone. Scaling requires more hands, so I have people helping me — this is a privilege many indie authors don’t have.

Yet, I still struggle, because for every 1900+ ebook giveaway and every glowing 5 star review, there are countless days spent wondering if it’s worth it to fight an institution that nobody seems to want to truly fight with me.

There are countless days spent staring at shit-tier tools, broken pipelines, scammers and wondering if I should just go tech-rogue to solve this, first.

There are countless days spent staring at outreach lists and knowing the work has pre-bias due to indie, genre and subject matter. Why bother?

There are countless days spent wondering if there’s even a market for the work I’ve made. Readers might not be able to find it considering the saturated market, how shit the tools are, the digital noise and more.

Sometimes, being an indie author just doesn’t feel worth it. I know there are plenty of indies who feel this way. I also know many of us don’t feel like we can be honest about how bad it sucks.

I see you, alright? I see you working overtime, hell-bent on getting your writing out there because it’s worth it.

I see you hauling ass without the tools, money and support you need. I see your excellent work being passed up in favor of monoculture garbage by people who love the gate that keeps you out because it keeps them in.

We hustle the same as Startup Founders yet get none of the credit. We also don’t think we’re owed it and think we’re fighting each other, instead of an entire system. It’s messed up, right?

I’m pissed for us. Not me, us.

Actually, I’m absolutely fucking livid.

So what can we do about any of this?

Own your fucking power, nerd. You’re the boss now.

Nobody tells Startup Founders they couldn’t do corporate and that’s why they’re not real business owners. Everyone tells indies they couldn’t hack it in traditional publishing and that’s why they’re not real writers.

This is bullshit. So, I want you to own what you are.

Indie authors: You’re the boss now, baby. Fucking act like it.

Moreover, it’s time to start treating your fellow indie authors like bosses also. Do we compete against each other? Sure. But what too many indie authors don’t realize is that Actual Bosses collaborate on a massive scale.

Do one of these today and keep doing them:

• Retweet your fellow indies. Share their articles. Promote their books.
• Form business relationships out of reciprocity: if someone shows up for you, show up for them — loudly.
• Swap newsletter shout-outs, swap guest posts, swap connections, make introductions, haul ass for each other.
• Give reviews, refer editors, refer good tools, give each other tips.
• Do all of this publicly and be fucking gnarly about it.
• I will literally give you free hosting for your author website. Shit like this.

Finally, own that you’re fighting a battle and roar. Stop being scared to talk about this shit. Stop sucking up to jerks who punch down at us all.

You’re an indie author. You’re an entrepreneur. You’re a force to be reckoned with in a legacy industry that refuses to fucking change.

Disrupt it.

Note: I’m not asking you to do what you can’t safely do. I get the intersectional issues, full fucking stop.

I’m asking everyone who can (who thinks they can’t!) to band together and embody the “Startup Founder Fuck Shit Up” spirit with added “Fluxus Fuck Your Institution” art-group finesse.

When we work together and own our power, we all win.

Are you fucking with me, or what?

K. Leigh is bi trans guy, author of LGBTQ+ stories, gamer, anime nerd, sometimes-freelancer and forever artist. Catch volume 1, volume 2 and volume 3 of CONSTELIS VOSS for some swag subversive fiction, or connect on LinkedIn for business inquiries. TTYS, nerds 😘