I’ve been reading a lot of opinion likening the rise of indie/self publishing with the punk movement of the mid-seventies – the key similarity being the separation of the form away from the unaccepting mainstream. Thing is, punk rock offered something the current indie-publishing crowd don’t, and that’s a new voice. A new sound. Something different. I’m not saying punk rock was great – I want to listen to the Sex Pistols as much as I want to listen to freeform jazz – but they had something new to say, and it was that message that justified the departure from the status quo. If you look at most self-published books, they’re the same as the titles being churned out by the “traditional” publishing houses, only with less money spent on cover design and marketing. So they must be inferior, right? Otherwise they’d have a book deal? Well, no, but you could forgive any potential reader for thinking that.
Remember the UK indie music scene of the late-eighties, early-nineties? Bands like Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Thousand Yard Stare, Power of Dreams – so many great bands putting out music on indie labels and reaching an audience, but unable, or unwilling, to make it into the top 40 (although, I think Ned’s managed it with “Trust”…). Their music wasn’t so different, but they were a bit dour, or downbeat, or scruffy, or just happy with the following they had. They made a living in their own niche, and they had fun doing it. That, if anywhere, is where the indie publishing crowd are heading.
It doesn’t have to end that way though. We just need a new voice. A new sound.
Why are novels 300 pages long, with a beginning, middle and end, three key ideas and plot reveals at 25% and 75% of the word count? Because that’s what people have grown to expect. But no one is expecting anything from the indie crowd, so why tie ourselves to those expectations? I love short novels - say 150-200 pages – but so few are published as people want fatter books. Novels used to be shorter, but fashions changed. They can, and will, change again.
I’m not saying that my novel, Make a Move, is the answer, but it is different, both in structure and narrative style. I’m not saying I’m taking indie novels in a new direction, but someone who reads it and likes what I’ve done with my idea of what a novel can be, might. I’d like to meet that person, maybe have a beer and a conversation, and see what ideas emerge. Maybe if enough of us have conversations and support each other in breaking away from traditional ideas of what constitutes a novel, indie publishing can evolve into alternative publishing – offering a product that appeals to smaller markets, but which is no less valid for filling a niche. That difference is what would attract readers away from Amazon or Waterstones or, shudder, Tesco and back into independent bookshops. With fewer middlemen, there would be more money for writers, and fewer obstacles keeping writers and readers apart. It would be a new movement of interactive, responsive, original, daring and, above all, fun fiction.
Now that would be punk rock.
Tags: Alternative, Indie, Punk