Peer Pressure

One of the things that was important to me as a parent was that my boys, who were often referred to as the Laman litter, were individuals. The good thing about having three same sex kids in three and a half years was they often shared interests in activities and toys, so they played well together. Yet I wanted them to see themselves as individuals and to explore their own interests.

I encouraged them to assess situations and think for themselves long before the curse of peer pressure set in once they were in school. The other benefit was that they would think on their own when the drug and drinking phase arrived for their age group. That worked swimmingly.

One thing about the indie section of the publishing industry is the peer pressure. Yes, there are certain things that every writer should do and blah, blah, blah... There are other things that writers should know, then decide on their own if the items apply to their goals - letting no one pressure them to do otherwise.

From the beginning of my writing career, I've been pressured to conform. I can imagine how less mouthy people fare. It is confusing to know who to listen to and who to flip off.

There are well know reviewers who skim a book or don't read it at all then write something that tips off the author, like in a review of Jen's books (the reviewer switched cancer for a stroke) and for KB someone said she was a lawyer??? There are others, and if you don't know who they are now - you will learn, who tear down competitors. Think carefully about the integrity of the people out there shouting the loudest, they won't treat you any better than they are treating everyone else.

This is just like any other business, common sense goes a long ways and so does knowing the rules of the industry. New people in any industry are obliged to learn the rules. Read industry news from a variety of sources, as well as understand that some of the articles are more marketing than informational.

The big 'must do' item is e-Books. The most often answer to "Why?" is that everyone is doing it. Actually the large publishers only recently began to release some of their titles in e-format.

One writer said (link below), "I would expect 20 percent of book sales to be digital by 2014." For the 'in' thing to do, I would have expected to read a higher number. Not that statistics are a deciding factor for me. But one thing that article did do, after I waded through it, was to point to the fact that not 'everyone' is on the e-book band wagon if only 20% of sales will be e-formatted books in five years.

The point is, no one knows better what is best for your book. Seek good counsel. Then think for yourself and don't let peer pressure be your guiding force.

http://jeanninegarsee.blogspot.com/2009/09/paul-goldschmidt-strikes-again.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/14/ebooks.ereaders