For a few weeks now, I have officially launched a project I have worked on with a lot of enthusiasm and that in some aspects has been a real technical challenge. This time it is more about talking about these technical issues than about the project itself. But first, a bit of personal history…
In 2014 I published my first book (The Programmer’s Black Book), and since then I have not stopped having a literary project in progress of one kind or another: technical, novel, or short stories. The result? Six books, four related to professional software development and two novels (under the pseudonym G. Blanes), but also a detailed understanding of everything related to independent publishing (or indie) and even considering my work as a writer as another area of my profession.
For those who do not know yet, it is no longer necessary for a traditional publisher to choose you in order to publish a book, and even less to sell it anywhere in the world. The internet has allowed exploring thousands of new business models, and the publishing world cannot stay out of it. In a way, the possibility of publishing has been democratized (you no longer need anyone’s permission to do it).
It surprises me (and I say this as a personal reflection) the strange aura surrounding the image of an “author,” and the fact that some feel blessed and pontifical thanks to a magical hand that differentiates them from the rest of mortals, something that does not happen in other professions. It is true that there will always be good painters and bad ones, good programmers and worse ones, and therefore also excellent writers who win the Nobel Prize and many other amateurs. However, there is space for everyone who has creative concerns in any area. Not for nothing, how many acclaimed artists are rejected in their time, as if one had to die for their work to be valued…
Authors whose works would never have seen the light of day because they did not fit the commercial or niche interests of traditional publishers can now make their work known thanks to technology. Others, already established, switch to independent publishing because it offers more freedom and higher royalties, without a doubt.
I am not only talking about authors of “literature,” but of any type and genre: personal development, technical books, etc. In fact, I would dare say that in our profession, there is a lack of more and better technical literature in Spanish, perhaps because many developers do not explore that path.
I do not like the expression independent publishing, which is akin to saying, if there were any similarity with other activities, independent sculptor, independent painter, or even independent programmer. It sounds strange, right? Do we need to label the fact that you are responsible for your publication as opposed to an entity granting you permission to share your work?
Although ten years ago, anyone who could not get published ended up “self-publishing,” and the term “independent” was associated more with materials that did not fit the classic and commercial trends of publishers, today all this has changed radically.
In fact, today the trend is starting to go this way; even authors who come from the “other side,” such as Matilde Asensi and Raimón Samsó, are moving part or all of their work to this model. Why? For the same reason that Airbnb allows apartment owners to rent them more effectively, or a supplier decides to open a shop on Amazon to reach more customers: because technology allows it at minimal cost and scale, and because this gives you total control of your asset (whether products or services).
What about the indispensable work required to generate a quality book? I am talking about reviewing, correcting, designing the cover, laying out the content, promotion, marketing, etc. All of this, without a doubt, is hard work done by publishers; now it can be subcontracted, if you want, to anyone and whenever you want. We will talk more about that later.
In other words, publishing independently basically means that you do the work of writing, but you also take care of getting the cover, laying out your book, revising it to the point of exhaustion, and publishing it directly on platforms like Amazon, Google Play, Kobo, etc. Or you hire other professionals to do this work for a reasonable price. In any case, you have the freedom and control (and copyright) over your work, and only readers have the capacity to judge it.
Because this is what I think and believe: just as reading is a Right, I believe that Writing is too (as Julia Cameron would say in her book The Artist’s Way, or Natalie Goldberg), so no one can stop you from doing it, whether you manage to monetize it or not. That is why I created Hub de Libros as an Open Editorial Publishing Platform.
I recently read that more than eighty percent of the American population has at some point wished to write a book. Most never do.
The difference is that now it is possible unless you decide not to do it.
What about quality? Yes, that also means anyone can publish a piece of junk (which will not be read by almost anyone, by the way) or a real gem. But you can also improve your text at any time (as I do regularly with my books), change its price, etc.
In any case, the last word belongs to readers; only they can indicate the value of your work.
Well, behind all this history and a certain personal concern when affirming that Writing is a Right we have, is Hub de Libros and the Open Editorial Publishing Platform. It is a site where readers can find new content but, above all, new authors, and writers can create their own profile and publicize their work.
I created Hub de Libros so that authors who want to publish can do so without the technical problems I experienced at the time and that I overcame with a lot of effort, trial, and error.
I also believe in the gig economy, in which more and more professionals can offer their services to any client anywhere in the world, as happens through Fiverr and many other portals. For this, Hub de Libros also aims to be a kind of hub where writers, readers, and professionals offering editorial services converge collaboratively.