Friday, January 22, 2010  "Subsidy" or "Vanity" Publishing?
Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware has penned a spirited analysis
of such terms as "traditional publishing," "indie publishing,"
and the like here, and I recommend everyone read it. It has much
useful information about what to call what in this very
confusing time in publishing, and we could all use a little
boning up.  There are, however, two things I don't agree with in
her blog.  First, the phrase "traditional publishing." As
Strauss suggests, I think "commercial" or "trade publishing" are
the phrases we should be using. What I don't believe is that
this term found its way into the vernacular because of one rogue
scam mill infiltrating us with it. (No doubt, they tried.) The
phrase "traditional publishing" does reflect some common sense
for many writer-publishers, as in the publishing model we think
of as traditional, and thereby some publishers and writers, this
one included, may have pulled that phrase from their own sense
of things. Of course,