Resonating with Readers

I'm a hybrid author, a writer who has self-published and traditionally published her work. As a hybrid author, I'm interested in the ongoing conversation about the different types of publishing.

Sometimes the conversation about publishing turns into a debate between two sides--the indies (self-published authors) vs. the non-indies (traditionally published authors). This saddens me because I believe we are all on the same side. We're all struggling to reach our readers. Neither approach to publishing is fail-safe, and neither approach guarantees success. On the upside, I believe the divide between indie author and non-indie author will lessen as the years pass and more authors become both.

The truth is that for every sizzling indie success story, there is a sizzling non-indie success story. For every indie failure, there is a non-indie failure. The publishing avenue a writer chooses to pursue isn't the sole factor determining their success.

It is the readers who ultimately determine a writer's success. Readers catapulted Fifty Shades of Gray, a self-published book, onto worldwide bestseller lists. Readers did the same for Hugh Howey's, Wool. In the indie/non-indie debate, writers like to point to these phenomenal successes as proof that self-publication works. But if these cases are proof, then Gone Girl and Harry Potter prove that traditional publishing works just as well.

Here's the question I don't often hear asked--did the indie books succeed because they were self-published? Or would these books have done just as well with a publishing house? Did the non-indie books succeed because they weren't self-published, or would they have taken off either way?

The answer, I think, is that they succeeded because they resonated with readers. The truth is most readers have no idea who publishes their favorite books. One might argue, they don't even care.

This great debate among writers and publishers doesn't exist for readers. Unless a book has a sub-par cover and sub-par editing--most people can't tell the difference between indie and non-indie books.

So why the debate? Sometimes it boils down to money--since money can be counted. Put simply--indie authors earn higher profits per book. That's true. And indies can charge less for ebooks to generate interest while non-indies don't control their pricing. That's true too. But there are plenty of .99 cent ebooks that aren't selling, and there are plenty of $10.99 ebooks that are selling. I don't think we writers should get sucked into the accounting of our art. It's all a mute point if we don't sell any copies. And it's kind of a mute point if we sell millions.

In the end, our books must resonate with readers, or we won't--no matter how our books are published--succeed at all. Resonating means:

To have particular meaning or importance for someone : to affect or appeal to someone in a personal or emotional way

Miriam-Webster Online Dictionary

The best books resonate with the psyche of their intended audience--like an Avatar linking with its direhorse. It's intensely personal, sometimes life-changing, unforgettable, and often inspirational. It's our common goal as writers--not to just produce--but to resonate, and any avenue of publication that accomplishes this, is the best one.

By JENNIFER LYNN ALVAREZ: author of STARFIRE, book one of The Guardian Herd series (HarperCollins Childrens, 09/23/14) and The Pet Washer (first edition self-published in 2011).