[MeiLinMiranda]

NPR had some unflattering things to say about indie musician Jonathan Coulton. (If you don't know who JoCo is, check him out. He's a really fun songwriter, and an inspiration for indies of all stripes--musicians, visual artists, filmmakers and writers.) Essentially, Planet Money dismissed him as a fluke; his business model could not be duplicated. "He won the Internet lottery." In other words, without a [record contract | book deal | film deal | etc] you can't make it. Anyone who does is a fluke, a Snuggie; no one knew they wanted a Snuggie, a novelty, until they saw it.

Jonathan answers, politely and firmly:

So is it replicable? Of course it is! For goodness sake, even the Snuggie is replicable. In fact, the Snuggie itself is a replicant of the Slanket, how's that for a mindblower? (See also the Cudlee, and the German product Doojo, which has gloves.) I can't believe I have to point this out, but there are plenty of artists making music and using unique and creative promotional techniques to sell it directly to fans (say it with me, won't you?): Trent Reznor, Radiohead, Amanda Palmer, Paul and Storm, Marian Call, OK Go, MC Frontalot, MC Lars, the list goes on and on and gets larger every day. We are successful to varying degrees and we have different ways of doing things, some of us came from labels, went to labels, or eschewed labels entirely, but we are all participating in the same basic re-jiggering of the spreadsheet. I obviously don't know the details of everyone's business, but I'm guessing that we have this one thing in common: we've all decided that it's fine with us if we reach fewer people as long as we reach them more directly. The revolution in the music industry (which has already happened by the way) is one of efficiency, and it means that success is now possible on a much smaller scale. Nobody has to sell out Madison Square Garden anymore to make a living.

Read the whole thing. It's great. Jonathan inspired me to go indie myself and I can't thank him enough.

 

[Tom Junior]

The revolution in the music industry (which has already happened by the way) is one of efficiency, and it means that success is now possible on a much smaller scale. Nobody has to sell out Madison Square Garden anymore to make a living.

Great post and totally applicable to what we do. And the above quote is really the heart of it, IMHO. You don't need to sell out bazillion copies at nationwide book chains. You can make your art at home & distribute it world wide. A few will become megastars, but larger number will become self-sustaining mid-listers and thats good!

 

[John H. Carroll]

That's absolutely wonderful.   I think Indie Authors actually have it easier than musicians.  They've already paved the way for us.  The Amazon Kindle and the B&N Nook have really given us platforms to rocket to new heights.  Apple has learned from their battles with the music industry and has also made it easier for authors.

If I haven't said it before, this is really a fun time to be an author.