Now that I've had a week to digest the RWA National conference I realize the buzz word at conference was "change."
Most of us, including me, don't like changes in our lives. We like our routines, our quirks and how we do things. Change is almost always hard and probably always will be.
The writing industry is changing practically daily. It has been going on for a while, but not quite at the pace I've seen in the last eight months.
Self-publishing (some call it indie-publishing) jumped into the market place in 2010, in 2011 it really began to take form with the sale of the Amazon's and Barnes & Nobles e-readers and tables. Amazon opened their own self-publishing arm as did Barnes & Noble. Smashwords took off along with others.
Some self-publishing authors are making lots of money, others are barely making back their expenses in getting the book out there for the public to read. RWA has had to look at self-publishing and figure out if there is a place in the organization for them.
Editors and agents are having to change how they look at writers, while not all of them are going to make things better for the writer, they are beginning to realize that authors have choices.
So as authors we now have several routes: Traditional (NY print), E-Publishers (e-book only and some print) or Self-Publishing (do it yourself).
I know some people won't like the do it yourself tag I put on self-publishing, but it really is do it yourself. You must find an editor, a copy editor, a cover artists as the writer, and you will pay out of pocket for these services before you ever put your book up to sell. And those services can cost you thousands, depending.
I do know authors who have wonderful people they can rely on to edit and copy edit their work for them. But many don't have a big circle of people they can trust like that.
Change is scary. I don't advocate one method of publishing over another, I just ask people to think long and hard about their choices.
My choice will not be your choice. I found myself at RWA defending my choice of publishing. Each person has a different motivation for writing, and it will eventually show up in the writing.
For now, things are going to be in flux.
