Stop Edit Shaming Indie Authors

Has anyone else noticed the amount of hate and inequitable critiques indie and self-published authors receive? It got me thinking about editing, story-telling, the art of writing, style, writing fads, goals and what it says about us as human beings. For the purpose of this article, I’m going to refer to indie, hybrid, and self-published writers as indies, (or maybe I should just call them rebels *wink, wink*).

• Why do we critique/review?
• Does the critic/reviewer think an indie writer doesn’t have an editing team or process?
• How many typos are too many?
• Writing styles and writing fads change.
• What really is good story-telling?

Why Do We Leave Negative Reviews & What is the Goal of That Criticism?

Does the critic feel they are providing a service to the world. Warning others from wasting time or money? A superhero for book readers? I substitute teach for my day job (yup, I still have one, though I’ve been able to cut down and devote more time to writing and editing), and the admins do in-class assessments, walking in like the…