This isn’t unheard of but it’s the first time I’ve seen it. An indie author whose work I’ve read has listed themselves as a published author (in the sense of ‘traditionally published’). They’ve even set up a page for the publisher – not surprisingly it isn’t accepting submissions at the current time lol. Now I’m going to be utterly honest, half of me is green with envy at the idea and the other half is hoping like hell for the author concerned that none of the nasty reviewers figure it out. The more I learn about editing the easier it is to spot an indie writer through the common mistakes we make (and I do mean ‘we’ grin very much a learning process!) and this author’s work has the hallmark mistakes that I’m currently trying to edit out of my own work.
The idea is cunning. People who deliberately avoid indie author’s (like moi) are buying and gushing over the book. It’s doing quite well in the rankings and rightly so as it’s a good read. And that’s where I’m chewing on my own liver a bit. It’s an easy enough thing to do but I’ve set myself up as an indie author and I want to continue to support the indie movement, even if it feels like an uphill battle at times. Yet with that clever move this author has sorted out some of the biggest issues Indies get labelled with. So far no one has attacked the editing, yet had it been an indie there would be at least one comment by now. The book is selling well and the author’s name is set in peoples mind as a ‘real’ author. I don’t blame the author at all for doing such a thing, they are doing well and will continue to succeed. I guess in the long run I’ll be satisfied with doing the ‘loud and proud’ indie method but I’m not going to deny that what this author’s done is a damn clever way of solving quite a few issues. It’s also very cool to see those good reviews from people who’ve given scathing reviews to indies. It proves the points that so many of us know about those reviewers who are now painfully obvious (to me at least) in their judgemental and aggressive attitudes.
I wonder if it will all go this way? Does it matter? Would you feel ‘cheated’ at finding out someone you thought was traditionally published is actually an indie author? What if groups of indie authors used this method, that would be one heck of a way to throw a spanner in the works, wouldn’t it? Actually just the thought of that makes me want to do my best ‘Mr Burns’ impression mwahahahaha. Watch out indie snubbers! You’ll never know where we’re hiding ;p
Take care all!
Nic
I'm a bit confused. This author set up a website of his/her publisher's site? And in this site gives the impression that the publisher is a traditional publisher? Do his/her publishers know?
Sorry, I need more coffee!! 🙂 Take care
x
I believe I know the writer you're referring to and I can concur, she's truly a gifted writer. I believe that she would have eventually been picked up by a traditional publisher, but she has a lack of patience that do seem to plague the indie writer.
Perhaps it is a bit sneaky, but then again, it's obvious that she or someone close to her is the publishing company. So perhaps not so much snaky as creative marketing.
And least we forget, several legit publishing houses were launch for the sole purpose of getting the publisher's work out there. So who knows, maybe in time…
Hi Old Kitty – what I mean is this author has set up a faux publisher page so it looks like they are legitimately published ;p
Hi Shellie – Nope. I don't think you do know who I'm talking about. And I have to disagree re the lack of patience. Publishers don't pick up books because they are good books, they pick them up because they are money earners in their eyes. All the patience in the world isn't going to make a publisher pick your book if they don't deem it saleable. The mistakes I referred to as Indie mistakes really are jut first timer mistakes, Twilight for example, is littered with them and that is, as we all know, a trad published book.
We plan to set up as a publisher next year to sell our own books. The perks are worth it, and as you pointed out you get taken a tad more seriously. 'sides which, it could be the start of something big!
Oh, I've seen quite a few authors do this. I didn't think they were being "sneaky" though… The first person I saw do it spoke about it openly on her blog as something like (I don't remember exactly what she said!) making sure that SHE is the publisher of her work rather than the website through which she publishes (like Smashwords or Amazon). I think she was worried about Smashwords "owning" or being listed as the publisher of her work, or something like that. Anyway, when I saw that I thought, cool, I like that idea (I hope you don't think I'm sneaky if/when I do it! I promise I won't "hide" it!).
I've seen plenty of authors put themselves down as the publisher Rachel, what I haven't seen is plenty of fully blown professional looking fake publisher sites. It is done is a sneaky way hence my title. I don't have a problem with it at all as mentioned. But such an effort is made to conceal that it is the author themselves behind it all is why I think it's both sneaky and clever. It cuts out so many issues!! 🙂