I’ve been meaning to write this thread on Social Media AUs (or just AUs) and fanfics (FFs), since that CC issue hating on a work bc of the ship, on an author for the use of a character, & on a workshop on questions of credibility... but it’s not too late, I think?

I’m fairly new to the AU/FF game having completed only 3 works so far... but not in the INDIE PUB scene, in which I’ve been involved since 2012. AU/FF *is* indie pub. “The author is the producer.” The author has control over 100% of their work, which makes indie pub so different.

Different from what? From non-indie publishing, aka “mainstream” pub (e.g. the books you buy from bookstores). Compare that to AU/FFs or zines (as in maga-zines, which are indie pub books). How are they different? In mainstream pub, there’s a “middleman”...

To illustrate, in mainstream pub: author middleman reader; while in indie pub: author reader. The middleman “filters” the work of the author. The biggest reason is PROFIT. For e.g. Wattpad fics turned to books are heavily edited to cater to a bigger market.

Did you notice the influx of dystopian lit since the popularity of The Hunger Games? That’s the middleman at work. Since they noticed the profitability of the genre, they generated more of it. But in indie pub, there’s no middleman. We don’t care AT ALL about profit.

That’s game changing. The authors in indie pub are free from considering the marketability of their work. They can write whatever the hell they want, and they should. (Note, however, that freedom always comes with responsibility over the consequences of their work.)

With this difference (that indie pub is non-profit, while mainstream pub is for-profit), indie pub has built an entirely diff culture of making and consuming art. My fav aspect of it is the sense of community. In mainstream pub, there’s a consequential “hierarchy”...

The middleman (aka editors, producers) decides what is “good”. Authors would’ve to kiss their ass to get their work out there. There’s a whole lot of gatekeeping. But in indie pub, since there’s no middleman, WE’RE ALL EQUAL HERE.

Rather than vertical as in mainstream pub, the community built by indie pub is horizontal. We’re all just writers, regardless of our reach, or of how long or short we’ve been in here. The community is my biggest inspiration. Don’t you get hyped up when you read a really good fic?

But it’s scary, too. Since there’s no middleman, the author is bare before their audience (readers). Which makes criticism, however small, sting bc the author in indie pub cannot detach him/herself from their work. The lit choices (plot, setting...) are reflective of the author.

The work *is* the author. But since readers are so used to the mainstream culture of criticism (aka talking shit), we forget that writers are PEOPLE. (Surprise?) You don’t like the ship? Or the choice of words? Just move on to the next work, bc you’re obv not who the work is for.

Again, since indie pub is NON-PROFIT, the author is not at all obligated to consider your preferences. And since indie pub builds a community in which we’re all equal, stop talking about credibility (like a pig/capitalist). Let people write! (Join @day6autale #DAY6FiloAUTale.)