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vincent de souza's avatar

Ian I don’t know you but I like you - doing Substack and Coverstory as you do makes you an online publisher, if you put out your own material on this medium you are self publishing, the same as my bin man, dentist, Pilates teacher or local lady of the night can do? It’s not sensible or even sane?

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Ian Gouge's avatar

Who's to say? Maybe it's just the new normal... Article being drafted... 😉

Needing to write & to be read: that's an addiction which is just a little bit crazy anyway, isn't it?

But I also agree with you in the sense of wanting differentiation, validation. Having an agent / publisher has to be the 'gold standard'.

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Vincent's avatar

Fair enough Ian - but I suppose this new poetry book leans heavily on the side of self

publishing, which I'm sure you know carries its own can of worms. Probably a fitting

topic for your discussion thread?

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Ian Gouge's avatar

Oh, you're not wrong Vincent! Self-publishing is very much a double-edged sword.

Unvetted, unqualified, I suspect there's an awful lot of not very good writing that has been sent out into the world - especially on Amazon and primarily as ebooks. And maybe on social media platforms too. Should we draw distinctions between formats / means of delivery? [And let's not forget, there's some not very good writing that has come through conventional channels... so that's no guarantee.]

In a way, isn't setting up a Substack and posting there a form of 'unvalidated' publication? Or does the validation come later from subscribers, followers, comments etc.? That's the lifeblood!

Personally I'm driven by wanting to share my work / voice and - importantly - feel 'validated' to do so by the many positive things people have said about it, plus being chosen for publications, short- and long-listed in competitions - even prize winning!

I briefly touch on the subject in the post below; but you're right, there may be enough for a more considered piece in the future.

https://iangouge.substack.com/p/when-youre-too-old-to-land-an-agent

As ever, thanks for the comment.

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vincent de souza's avatar

Hi Ian, is this you putting out your own work through your medium, or have you submitted to the real world and got accepted?

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Ian Gouge's avatar

Through my own imprint, Vincent - though I do get individual pieces accepted from time to time. I had three books (non-fiction) conventionally published twenty years ago.

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Liz Thompson's avatar

And I'll be after a copy, if only to have the Oldest Profession in my possession!

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