A friend of mine just shared an article with me on the thoughts of the conventional publishers toward indie authors. They basically think we are lazy and taking the easy way out. Can I just say that this is so far from the truth. I currently work fulltime and write fulltime. That means I have little free time between starting a book and edits to release. It’s a very time consuming process.  We are also our own marketers. We study, read, and try new things on a constant basis to get our names out there. The large publishing houses just don’t seem to understand that the market has changed. E-books are king now. They also want to pick up authors who already have a fan base and know how to market themselves. So the question is—why would I pay you 15%-20% of my royalties for doing the same thing I’m doing now? I chose to self publish because it puts me in control of my books. I design the covers, write the blurb, hire an editor who will give me an honest edit, but not change my story. I set up my own book signings, run my own contests, and chose my own release dates. I have no intention of releasing a book before it’s ready. Recently I have read two different books, by different authors, released by big publishing houses. To be nice I will just say that I could tell they were rushed. On top of that they charged me $14.99 for an e-book. I felt like I needed to vent a little here. It gets frustrating to hear that I’m not a real writer because I self publish. Huh? Is there not words on the pages? Is there not a story there? I say give a huge stadium wave to all the indie authors out there. Yes, some put out crappy material and don’t hire good editors, but I know tons that work hard and care about the work they publish. Someday the big publishing houses will realize this. Leave a comment and support indie authors.