Indie vs. Traditional

I used to be like most writers, wanting desperately to be published by a real publisher and make money as a best-selling author. But it wasn't until last year that I realized that wasn't the way to go to succeed. Now, if I was being published by a 'real publisher' like Tor or Baen, I'd have more sales, but I wouldn't be making very much money, because traditional publishing doesn't pay very well unless you're one of the big-name authors. Which I am most definitely not.

So, I went indie instead, self-publishing through Amazon (for now; there are other platforms for me to use). Sure, my sales aren't exactly setting records, but it's pretty cool to look at my page on Amazon and see nine books (soon to be ten) staring back at me.

At work, I get to listen (quietly) to music. Since it's available, I use YouTube. Usually I'm playing classical music or video game soundtracks (Icewind Dale's music is just awesome). But over the past couple of weeks, I started playing some indie artists, people who were rejected by the establishment at first, but who made great careers on their own. In particular, I've been listening to Postmodern Jukebox, Haley Reinhart, and Lindsey Stirling.

PMJ is one of my favorites; they take modern pop tunes and remake them in older styles. Trust me, you only think your favorite songs are cool. Until you've heard Bruno Mars' Grenade in a 60s surf rock style, or a slow-burn jazz version of Creep, you haven't heard music. And their version of the Titanic song, My Heart Will Go On, is brilliant and awesome in their upbeat, Jackie Wilson 50s' style. Seriously, check them out. You will have a whole new perspective on music.

Haley Reinhart is linked to PMJ, but I first saw her, as many people did, on American Idol. My wife teases me and refers to her as my girlfriend, but it's not her smoldering good looks that impressed me; there are plenty of beautiful women. No, it was her passion, her voice, and her willingness to take chances and be her own person that made her stand out, and it's an absolute crime that she didn't win. She's the best singer in Idol's history, end of sentence.

I suppose part of the appeal was that the judges were unusually harsh on her, as if they were deliberately trying to sabotage her and get eliminated. But she stuck around until the very end, finishing third. Since then, she's gone on to work with PMJ for several songs, but also carved out a successful indie career in jazz-infused pop music that's her own style, and works beautifully for her. She even had a big hit with her remake of Elvis Presley's Can't Help Falling in Love that was in a pretty well-known gum commercial. Trust me, her voice is absolutely amazing.

Then there's Lindsey Stirling. I'm sure that me mentioning her isn't exactly going to make much of a difference on her Youtube channel; she just passed three billion views on her channel. But still, her story is truly inspiring. She went on America's Got Talent almost ten years ago. While she did get through the audition, the judges' criticism after her quarter-finals performance is the stuff of legend. She is a hip-hop violinist, by which I mean she plays the violin but also dances at the same time. Well, the judges didn't think she could pull it off, or fill an arena, or do much of anything with her talent.

Today, she's got five albums, has toured the world several times, has over a hundred videos on her channel, mostly original music but a lot of gaming-related covers, as well. Oh, and she's been invited back to AGT as a guest performer, did a season of Dancing with the Stars, finishing second, and even got an invite to be in AGT: The Champions. She turned them down, of course, and who could blame her? She doesn't need them; in fact, she used their criticism to launch her career in an effort to prove that they were wrong. And did she ever.

My point in this post is that the traditional way of doing things is starting to fall apart, and not just in writing. Music, thanks to YouTube and other streaming options, is a hotbed of indie goodness. The mainstream music scene is just boring now; there's nothing new, nothing exciting, and nothing that you haven't seen a thousand times before, and done better. Indie is where it's at, regardless of your tastes in music.

Movies are a bit tougher, since it takes a lot more work to put one together. But it can be done. Star Wars and Star Trek fan films are legion. Perhaps we'll see some indie movie productions soon; with the current state-of-the-art in computer graphics, it might be possible to rival some of the bigger studios. Making their money isn't going to happen, but unless you're one of the rare few, even in indie, you're not going to make that kind of money anyway. You can still make a decent living from it, and you can certainly have a lot more fun with creative control.

So, check out indie publishing, indie music, and other things indie. It's a brave new world, people, and now is the time. For a good example of indie publishing, check out Best Served Cold, one of the Cameron Vail mysteries, available on Amazon right now.