Self-Publishing Poll

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

ysabetwordsmith pointed out this poll on self-publishing, which I visited briefly. After reading a handful of the comments, I was struck by their violence: there's a lot of emotion there in the people denouncing the practice of self-publishing. ysabetwordsmith said about that: "Any instance of extreme hostility raises the question of why people are being so violent about it."

I think that's a good question. Why do you think some of the people opposed to self-publishing are so hostile about it?


Edit: Please note, I'm not really interested in debating the profitability of the publishing industry. What I'm trying to understand, primarily, is why there's so much vitriol leveled by writers and readers at self-published authors (as in one of the commenters who said of self-published authors that they can "call themselves authors" but they never will be real ones). This kind of extreme behavior strikes me a strange. Particular coming from writers to other writers. And readers—that makes no sense at all. If they don't want to read self-published work, they can just... not read it. Why the anger?

Comments

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

That poll on self-publishing is on my blog.

Personally, self-publishing is not a route I would choose to take, but I have no strong feelings about it either way.

I specifically asked people to give their answers and input from a reader's POV. Many folks did just that, but I agree there were a lot of negative responses. Since my journal is aimed at writer's, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that many writers found it hard to seperate their writer self from their reader self.

Having said that, if I read your post here without following the link to the poll, I'd assume that most of the 150+ comments there were spiteful rants about the self-publishing industry and the people who take that route. That's simply not the case, and I don't think it's fair of you to portray it that way.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

You will note I made no comment about all of the commenters on your post. I said specifically: After reading a handful of the comments, I was struck by their violence.

I meant that exactly. I was speaking about the handful of comments I read, and made no comment about the entirety of the response on your poll.

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

'I made no comment about all of the commenters on your post'

I didn't say you did, but the implication is there, and it shouldn't be.

This is your blog. You can post what you like, but I'd appreciate it if you'd consider changing how your portray my poll and the people who commented on it.