Indies versus Trads.

April 3, 2011

Interesting…The McKoys versus the Hatfields. The North versus the South..The families of Romeo and Juliet. War. And now the Indies versus the Trads. Wazzufak?

The Trads aren’t a drug dealing, weapons using gang. They’re the writers who became authors using the old print publishing model. Almost all of them are lost somewhere in the vast no man’s land of midlist. The Indies, in contrast, are an endless stream of writers looking for some way to get enough critical mass to sell their self-published works in the brave new world of publishing. I don’t fit into either category at this time, so I guess I’m currently an innocent bystander. As such, I have no place in either camp. My first impression is, they hate each other. The indies, led by J. A. Konrath, Barry Eisler and Amanda Hocking, have demonstrated it is a viable direction, one where a writer can be successful. The trads are fearful that when the “train leaves the station,” they’ll be left without any vehicle. Pick a side. Grab a weapon. Fight for your life as a writer.

How to choose? In the eyeball war, it’s the content that’s important. Fellow readers what do you think? Over the next few years, what’s the best path to follow?