What People Shouldn't Say

There was a link on Facebook yesterday to an article written by the best-selling, crime writer, Sue Grafton. She had caused a stir by accusing indie writers of being lazy. It seems she had to withdraw the accusation because of the reaction from the public. It made me wonder what must have been going through her mind when she said that, and would she have said that before she became a published writer. The old saying “struggling in a garret” comes to mind when I think of people like myself who wanted to write but could never get off first base because of the hurdles that always seemed to get in the way. For most of us, no doubt, it was having to work for a living before getting home and cracking on with the novel. Then there was the problem of convincing a literary agent that your work was worth considering. And then of course the battle to find a publisher. How many of us have received rejection after rejection, not because we were not any good, but because of the system? I would think it would be a very high percentage. And getting a book published is not a guarantee of success either, which means it’s a case of back to the drawing board and on the treadmill again. But what about the best-selling authors? I’ve lost count of the times I’ve read the credits in the beginning of the book where the writer acknowledges the help (without them I could never have written this book) that reads like a who’s who of the publishing world. Compare that to the working man or woman who cannot get on with their book until the kids are in bed or the housework is done. To call indie writers lazy is an insult. No-one can produce a full length novel by being lazy. There was a mention too (somewhere) of using a professional editor to ensure the book is fit to be published. Has anyone seen the fees these editors charge? That’s why indie writing is a bit like do it yourself: you do it on the cheap. But if the talent is there, if you have the gift, a publisher will pick you up whatever the state of the grammar and punctuation, make no mistake about that. So I would say to people like Sue Grafton to whom the article was credited, come down off your hobby horse and take your mind back to the days when you didn’t even have a novel in print. That’s what the indie writers are doing all the time. Well, most of them.