Four of the Big Six Kick Libraries to the Curb

As of this week, many library patrons will no longer be able to check out new ebooks from four of the Big Six traditional publishers.

Penguin

Simon & Schuster

Hachette

Macmillan

All of them will no longer be making their new ebooks available to Overdrive, the system most libraries currently use to provide their patrons with access to ebooks.

I normally don't bitch about publishing on my blog. But today, I am. You play dirty with libraries and I will fight back.

I want everyone who cares about libraries to read this article now. Spread the word. Tell everyone you know what they're doing.

Denying libraries access to materials really makes me angry.

My mom has been a library aide since I was in second grade. I have worked in multiple libraries. My books circulate in libraries and I am VERY PROUD of this.

What the Big Six is doing is driving more consumers toward independent authors. Not only do we charge far less for our ebooks than traditional publishers, but we also make a significantly higher royalty. That will attract more authors to epublish on their own.

If you support libraries, and everyone should, please join in the outcry. In a time of economic uncertainty, publishers are punishing readers - particularly lower-income readers.

Quite frankly, it disgusts me.

My Name is Megg and I am a Gambler

There are few things I enjoy more than a game of cards. Poker, euchre, hearts, rummy, Egyptian War (or maybe that's unique to where I grew up?), if it involves cards I'll sit down at the table.

I am a gambler and when I play, I play to win. I take risks, but every single one is calculated, which is what makes me a tough opponent. No one ever knows if I'm bluffing or if I have the full house - and I like it that way.

I've approached e-publishing the same way

It was a HUGE gamble for me to become an independent author.

Gamble One: Two agents were still reviewing a full (not Anathema) and I pulled it back. Yes, I essentially rejected two agents, one of whom spent the entire day emailing with me about my choices. Guess what? She was supportive.

Gamble Two: I risked alienating some of my traditionally published friends. I think a few were miffed or horrified (someone actually called me a traitor), but to my surprise a few came out of the woodwork and fully supported me.

Gamble Three: I started over from scratch with a pen name. I could have published under my real name and perhaps had a much larger audience from the start. However I wanted to keep my fiction totally separate from my nonfiction. So far it seems to be working. Everyone in my real life knows my pen name so it's not like I'm living in the shadows.

I have more gambles, some I'm working through now and others I've saved for future dates. If there's one thing I learned in my six years of freelancing for magazines it's that the publishing industry is one big, fat gamble.

I'm willing to play, are you?

Oh, Shut Up!: Indie vs. Traditional

Anyone else getting tired of all the arguing? Am I the only one watching this and rolling my eyes?

Yes, I am indie, self-published, whatever you want to call it. (Big debate on Nathan Bransford's blog about this yesterday.)

No, I don't hate New York, agents, or traditional publishing.


Barry Eisler turned down traditional publishers to go indie! *gasp*

Amanda Hocking signed a contract with traditional publishers! *gasp*

It amazes me how much press has centered around how they are both traitors to their roots, not on the achievements and contributions both have made to the greater publishing world. Both have been asked to justify their positions. Really? Why? Let them make their business decisions without facing persecution. It isn't a big deal if they want to discuss their decisions, but they shouldn't have to defend themselves.

The readers aren't complaining and I'd say 95% of this anger stems from in-fighting.

Why can't everyone get along? Why does it have to be one or the other? Plenty of self-pubbed authors have gone on to great success in the traditional world. Others have left traditional publishing for the indie world. I want to know why writers/editors/agents/publishers can't be happy for each other.

Why? Can anyone answer me that?