5 Problems Indie Authors Face and One Common Solution for Each of Them

Freedom always comes with a price, but those daring enough to pay it rarely look back with regret, and the benefits of their sacrifice rarely remain reserved just for them.

Traditional publishing model, while being a huge step forward in the development of our communal thought, simply had to rely on a chokepoint-laden infrastructure, on a system which gave authority and deciding power to those who knew less about writing than they did about promoting it and charging for it. That’s why it was a gross, if comforting, oversimplification to blame the trends and tastes purely on the audience — sure, audience influences the demand, but we mustn’t forget that the supply influences the audience.

Since this post talks about the issues independent authors have to deal with, it might seem like a praise of traditional publishing, but nothing could be further from the truth. While departure from the established channels does impose new and intimidating challenges, those who don’t back away from them may soon find themselves being hailed as pioneers of the Enlightenment 2.0. Here are some of those challenges and how you might be able to overcome all of them with the help of blockchain based platforms and technologies.

1. Not Enough Freedom

Independent authors who want to self-publish are still beholden to third party services and platforms, which, up to a point, dictate not only what the book should be about, but also impose deadlines and different kinds of standards. Since the author is in this situation expected to take care of all other aspects of the book publishing process, having to answer to anyone else seems absurd and unjust.

Solution — Blockchain-leveraging platforms like Scriptarnica allow authors to publish their work in increments, without having to worry about protecting their intellectual property or receiving payment for their work. Since every transaction instantly becomes a part of the publicly distributed ledger, which is what blockchain is, you can publish anything you like, with no censorship or deadlines.

The only thing you have to worry about is whether there is an audience for what you have to offer. Naturally, because you eliminated all the middlemen, you get to keep a much larger part of the profit, which means that you don’t have to reach as many people as you would otherwise in order to actually meet your goals in terms of compensation.

2. Too Much Freedom

While being free from obligations to publishers allows you to create perfectly unique and innovative art, it does make the entire process of getting a book out there quite intimidating. You are supposed to outsource or personally take care of or things like editing, design, marketing, translating the manuscript, etc. Naturally, you don’t have the connections, resources or experience that publishers do, so you can hardly be faulted for feeling some trepidation in face of these responsibilities.

Aside from having to deal with numerous tasks that would otherwise be handled by specialized professionals, another problem with self-publishing is that you didn’t go through any kind of a selection process and didn’t have your work evaluated by an experienced editor. While their suggestions and demands are rarely taken without a fair bit of resistance from the authors, they do help in bringing the text much closer to what the audience has come to expect. Not unlike being lost at sea without a compass, your opportunities are endless, but some of the choices may be much more dangerous than others.

Solution — The way most of the current blockchain publishing platforms are currently set up gives independent authors a perfect launchpad. Since readers are able to buy individual segments of any text, comment on it, and even offer to collaborate if they feel qualified, authors have a fair bit of help in creating the initial traction.

They can use the platform’s members as a focus group to refine the manuscript; collaborate with other authors without having to worry about getting adequate credit or compensation; find someone to help with translating, editing or promoting the text; and basically, use the platform’s community as their own publishing network.

3. Collecting Royalties

When talking about self publishing vs traditional publishing, you don’t often come across problems that are equally common in both, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. One of the most pronounced ones is definitely the issue of collecting royalties for your work. Regardless of the format you went with — paper or ebook, getting paid for it more than once is practically impossible, regardless of how many times it gets resold or how it is used by some of the owners.

Some of the indie authors may not even consider this an issue since they never thought about the possibility of there being a solution for it. Luckily, blockchain comes to the rescue in this instance as well.

Solution — Since every purchase of a text is recorded in the public ledger, those using blockchain platforms to publish their work have absolute control over how and where their manuscript is being used. If someone buys something you’ve written and wants to sell it on to a third party, you will receive your fair share of that transaction. The same goes for someone publicly publishing your text, as well as for other kinds of use that would merit additional compensation. So, not only does this model help you get paid more because it cuts out the middlemen, it also ensures you get paid any time your writing is resold.

4. Financing and Expediting the Book Publishing Process

If you are already an acclaimed independent author, you probably don’t have too much trouble supporting yourself and your family while working on your latest manuscript. However, if you are just starting out, you can’t disregard the fact that getting a book out and getting paid for it can last for quite a while, even after you are done writing it, and that you have to eat during that time.

Since active writing leaves little time for other jobs, indie publishers often have to make a choice — do they neglect writing in order to provide for themselves, or do they rush through their manuscripts, conform to the mainstream trends, and jeopardize the quality and integrity of their work, just so they can cash in on it as soon as possible. Neither choice is likely to result in a long and prolific career, or even if it did, it wouldn’t be the career that the author had in mind when setting off.

Solution — I may have already touched upon this previously, one of the benefits of blockchain platforms is that you can publish your work in small segments. While this is useful even once the manuscript is complete — as it allows the readers to only purchase the bits that they actually need; it can be amazingly useful to those who could really use the money to continue providing excellent work.

While the delay between completing your work and actually getting paid for it is not as bad in independent book publishing as it is in traditional publishing, it can still be substantial enough to ruin your rhythm and motivation to get right back to writing.

Blockchain makes it possible to start receiving payments as soon as you have a chapter ready — aside from ensuring that your next chapter will be even better, thanks to the peer reviews you are likely to get in the process.

This model can be perfect for authors publishing scientific research, short stories, poems, and anything else which would otherwise be unsellable as fragmented as it is, but is by no means non-consumable in that state.

5. It is Difficult to Crossover from Independent Book Publishing

While part of the case being made here is that indie books are about to become much easier to publish, market and profit from, going against the grain and trying to do everything yourself might still get tiresome after a while.

If you come to the point where you would like to get some expert help with the publishing process, and decide to find a publisher for your work, you might notice that your reputation as an independent author may be more of a detriment to serious publishers than a recommendation. So, unless you have been amazingly successful on your own and managed to attract the interest of a renowned publishing house, how can you maximize your chances of being noticed or accepted by one?

Solution — Again, thanks to the transparency and immutability of the public ledger recording your successes and failures. While they may be author-centric for the most part, platforms trying to develop and refine this model would only stand to miss out if they ignored the publishers or refused to embrace them.

By having access to your work from the very get-go, publishers can see how the audience responds to it; learn something about your work ethics, productivity and talent; they can see how your work performs over time, in other words, if it has staying value; and generally, they get all the info they need to make a fairly risk-free assessment of your potential.

Is Blockchain Really the Answer to All Indie Publishing Problems?

This, of course, remains to be seen, however, the way things are now, this approach seems far superior to any of the ones we are currently familiar with.

Distributed ledger technology ensures that:

• The author’s intellectual property is protected from the very start
• Indie authors can receive payments for their work, or pay their collaborants without having to go through third party services and institutions like banks
• The texts don’t have to be bought in full, and each time they are resold by those who bought them, the author is paid royalties
• Authors have a sounding board for their ideas, i.e. an honest and helpful community, committed to supporting each other
• Publishers can find and approach budding talent without too much risk

While this is an impressive list on its own, it’s important to remember that this application of the blockchain technology is still in its infancy, and is only likely to get even more refined, versatile and useful than it currently is. Until then, all you have to do is write.