Simon Drake – Writer

You’re here wondering, “Yes, what does it mean to be an Indy Writer in the Digital Age?” And, I have the answer! Aren’t the writer and the technology that got you here clever.

Let’s get started. Who and what is an Indy Writer?

The Indy Writer
Honesty hurts, so here goes: A good friend had heard my dilemma many times: “What am I?” I know what I am but you don’t, and why should you? I have two titles published, another title represented by an agent, a number of titles self-published using print-on-demand and eBooks, you can buy my stuff but it helps if you know who and what I am. I’m hard to explain. Do you write self-improvement, humor, science fiction or action adventure? Why do I break the rules of famous writers (stick to one genre) and confuse you? So my friend replied that the answer to my question, was of course, me. I am the package. I’m also shy.
So, I searched around and came across an interesting podcast on The Writing Cast and identified with the term Indy Writer. There was no reason why I couldn’t label myself an Indy Writer, and in this day and age, I need the easy branding.
We all know what an Indy Film Maker is, an Indy Band, so why not an Indy Writer?
So what qualifies one as an Indy Writer? I’ve made a checklist:
1. The ability to write. That’s too easy. Anyone can do that, but you really need to have some grand scheme behind the writing, enforce editorial quality control, and,
2. Be out there. I narrow this to not just ‘be out there’ exploding poetry in peoples’ faces on crowed buses in traffic jams (captive audience = loyal market share), but to be on the free market. The market is cruel yet rewarding. And to make a difference in the modern market, a sea of dumped books, over-hyped trash and fads and the occasional gem, you have to be,
3. A bit different. Let’s not dwell on creativity and focus on what works. We’re all creative, but the reward is not a pat on the back from a male psychiatric nurse, the reward is, in a culture of lessening and shallower attention spans, being read. How you get read is your business. How you get paid, likewise. But an Indy Writer, on the peripheral of the market, can’t claim to be independent without being able to show it. Be original, I say, and suffer for it: Enjoy the pain, enjoy the gain.
I hope this clears up the term ‘Indy Writer’. Now I haul in the Digital Age because this is the age in which we live, and I have to make an impact in it.

The Digital Age
The Digital Age is hard to define. Did the humble VCR evolve into YouTube? Did the hand written letter just give in to the TXT message? Did the aspiring then disgruntled novelist turn to graphomania; incessant personal blogging, rampant verbose commenting and adding witticisms and snide remarks to whatever they could. If you looked back in history, from a hundred years from now, it might look that way. There was no overnight point where we went from biros and pencils to keyboards and SMS, but it’s happened, and for a writer, you have to keep up. However, things don’t suddenly get easier, the internet is no angel, and people still like to read.
Remember the classic type of writers that non-creative romantics goad newby writers with: “Oh, you’ll never be like them”? Well, go back in history and tell that classic writer to get his/her/it’s head around installing and customising Word Processing software on a computer (explained to the classic writer as a hybrid typewriter and television), programming and configuring websites to be in touch with the ‘common man’, and understanding Web 2.0, RSS, podcasts, URLs and Social Bookmarking just to be ‘on the scene’. This is what the Digital Age means to me. Yes you can aggregate content, post blogs, web video yourself on fire to get some hits, but just because you can doesn’t mean you’re making much difference to the end goal – to be read, and seriously.
Truth be told, the Digital Age is exacting and empowering. It feels good to be alive in an age where technology rarely staggers to a stop and calls over its shoulder, “Hey Hot Shot, catch up while I have a break and enjoy a cigarette or two.” The growth in what you have to comprehend ‘to be out there’ is a hindrance, but a reminder, that we are changing, what we read is changing, platforms shift, and this time next year, who knows what we’ll be buzzing on about. For all the effort, confusion, and exhalation, it’s worth it, you’re worth it (as in, writing for) and this is our time. As a writer, it’d be a shame to let the complexities and dreariness of the modern world deviate one from transferring mediations on life, humor, the self and everything else, into a platform for intimate dialogue.

I hope I’ve explained What It Means to be an Indy Writer in the Digital Age.
In time I will add to this article, so keep me posted with your thoughts.