See on Scoop.it – Writing and reading fiction
Passive Guy raises eloquent objections about an agent’s defense of stringent publisher contracts.
It is disturbing how many times I’ve seen some agents defend the status quo. It’s as if they’ve forgotten who they’re working for. Draw your own conclusions at the link. ~ Chazz
See on www.thepassivevoice.com
Filed under: publishing
C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m 
I’m actually kind of happy that I took the path of self-publishing, despite what others have told me. I read a comment in Passive Voice, in a discussion about an article, where an agent had been threatened and stalked by a writer she rejected. One of the person’s quote about handling rejection was “Don’t get mad, go indie!”
When I was looking for an agent and book publisher, one of the biggest problems I had was understanding publishing contracts. Some of these contracts and guidelines I couldn’t even find on their company websites. I read about publishing contracts online from those who had more experience in the business. Seemed quite unfair to me, which is one of the main reasons why I had some doubts whether I should even bother with them.
A lot of it had to do with book royalties and publishing rights overseas, etc etc. In fact, I don’t like how many of them run their businesses. Even as a self-published author, you still have to be careful about some of these publishing scams going around lately offering to sell your book. I read up and did much research on the subject, but I wanted to go with the best option where I had more rights as an author.
To me, it’s harder to do everything on your own when going in the self-publishing path. Marketing is still one of my big issues right now, but in the end, do I regret it? Not really. I think self-publishing was the better option for me in the long run: better contracts, better royalties, and a better sense of accomplishment. Will I ever make a living out of it? I don’t have the faintest clue. I’m a lot happier in a sense though, but that’s just my opinion. Sorry for rambling and thanks again for the great article. 🙂