Sep 13, 2011
Micro-pub.
Every once in awhile, you hear a word—a label—that rings true to you. Last night, I found that word in a Chuck Wendig essay, “The Trials and Tribulations of The Modern Day Writer:”
Micro-pub.
As a sidenote, I like that term. “Micro-pub.” Better than indie, which carries its own debate. Better than self-published, which is a term that sounds about as dismissive and masturbatory as a term can get. (“I just ‘self-published’ my seed into this Kleenex!”) Ahh, but micro-pub! One man publishing. Like micro-brew.
Yeah. I like it.
I will hereby refer to myself as a “micro-pub.”
At least until I forget I came up with that term, which is in about — *checks watch* — ten minutes.
I can’t add much to Wendig’s statement—he pretty much sums up exactly why I like the term—but it struck me at the right time, as I was laying in bed having spent hours doing last minute formatting on an ebook that should be coming out today but may be coming out tomorrow because there are just not enough hours in some days. Yesterday was one of those.
Right now, the ebook is complete but I’m waiting for Amazon and Barnes and Noble to populate it on their sites before I launch it. That may be today, but it’s looking more and more like it’s going to be tomorrow. Hopefully this disappoints a few of you, but hopefully it doesn’t disappoint you too much.
This will teach me to announce ebook release dates ahead of time!
I’m about 3/4 of the way through Wendig’s book, Revenge of the Penmonkey. It’s well-worth the $2.99, by the way. I really dig his (oft times filthy and profane) practical approach to discussing writing and publishing. Some people approach writing as too much of an artform, but Wendig is realistic about both what he’s doing and his place in the writing hierarchy. He’s smart, and he avoids a lot of the politicking around the publishing industry and the best path for writers to take.
I’ve long given up the bullshit of “I don’t read books about writing,” because, really, how else are you going to learn? I write well, but I can always write better, and I can always learn from another writer’s perspective and experience.
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