Whipping the Rising Tide
How Jealous Demands for Equity Don't Help Your Publishing Efforts
There is an old Chinese tale of an emperor who wanted to go on a sea voyage. Unfortunately, the tide went out when he wanted to leave and had to leave the next day. Incensed at the ocean’s insolence, he ordered a large number of his army to go to the shore, with whips and scourge the sea till the tide obeyed his desires. So the army obeyed and sent men to whip the sea.
The sea ignored the emperor, and shamed him before his people because the emperor was powerless to control it despite the emperor claiming divine authority over it.
Why is this relevant? Because I’m seeing a growing resentment in indie publishing against the philosophy that’s taking it’s name from JFK’s famous quote about lowering taxes:
“A rising tide lifts all boats”.
The Rising Tide means those in the indie sphere from authors to new presses help each other improve and grow. It’s the inverse of the typical “Crab Bucket” phenomenon. A mentality that pulls others down in order for them to get ahead at their expense leaving the crabs trapped despite having no lid.
Lately, I’ve been seeing more and more people unhappy with the Rising Tide and claiming that it isn’t working. They are getting angry that they don’t see their personal boat being lifted. Some even rage about being left behind claiming nobody’s helping them out.
I’ll admit there are times I myself have given in to the lament because I’m not doing as well as I think I should. But instead of claiming it’s a fraud, I lean on my growing network and community that I’m teaming up with. They help me power through the negativity and frustration I feel and offer suggestions to try out. I have not given up on the rising tide helping me, or in turn reaching down to help others get a hand up.
One commonality I see with those who are sneering at aspects of the rising tide (networking, cooperative advertising of peers, shared reviews, suggesting each other’s work to content creators for publicity, sharing memes, introducing people to small publishers), is they won’t look at the reasons why they are responsible for their struggles. They’re constantly putting holes in the bottom of their boats by their behavior and reaction toward those they ask to help.
Case in point, several new authors have wanted me to help them with alpha/beta reading, developmental editing, cover design help. Areas that I feel I have enough expertise to offer a solid opinion. When I gave them my honest criticisms, I was rebuked. Then I witnessed them do the same to others who warned them of the same problems with their book.
These embittered authors often say “You’re just not my target audience” in a hurt and resentful tone. These writers assume the problems you just addressed with their manuscript is a criticism of them personally. It’s not. These are issues with a product they must address to get published with a press, capture an audience or do well in the market. I’ve even seen one make accusations toward a publisher and a social media group that kicked them out for breaking their rules as “woke communists”.
Sour grapes entitlement destroys beneficial relationships from people who can help new authors get their foot on the next rung of the ladder. One publisher uses the phrase “redshirting” to basically let other publishers know that these new authors are too problematic to work with and won’t touch their manuscripts. Effectively this kills their prospects of becoming a hybrid author. I’ve warned new authors before. Do not piss off a small press. Most of them talk to each other and they all may join in solidarity with cutting out a toxic author that won’t listen. Don’t redshirt yourself.
Another erroneous criticism of the Rising Tide: everyone is raised equally. If the Rising Tide isn’t equitable, and evenly distributed, then it’s unfair because nobody should be lifted up faster than another. Wrong. Jealousy toward other authors succeeding does not help the situation. Merit factors significantly in the outcome of any help given. Who you network (make friends with) matters. Your genre matters. Your marketing methods matter. Your social groups matter. When you act matters. The algorithm matters. There’s thousands of reasons why your ship won’t rise including plain dumb luck. If you want to try and get socialized results, don’t embark in a creative endeavor that is a meritocracy like indie publishing. Nor can you change that no matter how angry it makes you or unfair you think it is.
Don’t believe anyone owes you their assistance or patronage. There’s nothing special about you that grants you preference. The market doesn’t care if you think you’ve been called by God or that your book will solve the world’s ills. It won’t matter till you find a way to make the market to believe that. Even then, there is no guarantee.
You shouldn’t expect to have the same results from their advice that worked for them. I can tell you beyond a doubt advice that worked for many people has not worked for me at times. But the inverse has been true as well. Our paths as authors are individual paths, not an interstate where everyone drives the same speed arriving at the same rewards at the same time. Trust me, it’s super frustrating to get what appears to be fantastic advice fail to work for you because you missed the opportunity, or what you have written is not the same. Again, these things will harden you if you let it, but it’s not the Rising Tide’s fault because it’s not an exact science.
Then there are those who love to stir up online drama. They pick fights and act like an ass ten ways to Sunday alienating both fans and peers. It’s only after the fact they discover the toes they stepped on to get some click-bait and drama views were attached to the asses they must kiss to move forward. Remember, nobody asked for your 'controvertial hot take’ and you may just upset those who could have helped you. Just like I’m taking a risk with writing this article.
Then there are those who are hostile to anything that smells of tradpub publishing, yet get furious when they don’t get the same impact as those who do cooperate and work with small or medium presses. Those social media antics will catch up to you in the worst of ways. Small presses LOVE authors who, even with a small audience, will work to promote the book. If they see someone thinking they are the next A-list author, starting fights and acting up in their little corner of the interwebs, they will walk away and you’ll never know how close you came to making it. Same goes for the author who does nothing to interact with their public online. The days of sitting back and letting the publisher do all the work is gone, and that means you have to be open to work with the guys who are willing to put money behind getting you out there, but they need you to participate too.
Lastly, this goes for the “art for the sake of art” crowd who demand all writers be artsy-fartsy hobbyists. These are often the same people who call those who do write to market or make money as sellouts or worse. It’s fine if you want to be that way. Just don’t expect to become Harper Lee (one literary book to millionaire celebrity status). She hit the literary powerball with that one. Accept the fact you’re not going to and be satisfied with your vision of success, but please stop bad-mouthing who want to make a living doing this and wish to help others.
Ultimately, the author is the reason the Rising Tide floods their boat instead of lifting it. You’ve got your anchor on too short a chain pinning you to the bottom or blown too many holes in your hull.
Of course, nobody asked my opinion about this. I’m just getting some crap off my chest. This is more of a list of cautions to those who are punching out at people who are trying to network, and help each other rise up.
Until next time, vaya con Dios.