The Kool-Aid I drink

As a general rule, I try not to drink Kool-Aid in publishing. I don’t believe there is any one way to do things; everyone who’s found success has walked a different path, and whenever someone tells me “EVERYONE SHOULD DO IT THIS WAY!” I raise an eyebrow and think, really? Depending on which beverage vendor you choose, you can have your flavor: traditional publishing is dying, books will become advertisements with pretty graphics, or traditional publishing is on its way to becoming a lean, mean dynamo, but before that can happen, zombie pirates will eat our brains. Some say you should never self-publish because it’ll destroy your chances at a career in traditional publishing. Some say you should never traditionally publish because the evil overlords will steal your back-breaking labor for their own profit.

I dunno about any of that. I figure that any way authors can make money works for me.

But amidst a great deal of negative news, there is one kind of Kool-Aid I will happily imbibe, and today, I feel like drinking it.

I believe in books. And stories. I believe that most people are really good people. I firmly believe that in the years to come, people will continue to want to read. I don’t think that the business of telling stories will disappear anytime soon. If I wanted to, I could believe in doom and/or gloom. But no–sorry–I love books too much.

And so if there’s any Kool-Aid I drink, it’s the one that says that stories are magic and that they’ll be around for longer than I will.

*raises glass*

9 thoughts on “The Kool-Aid I drink

  1. So true – storytellers give us our past and show us our future, no matter how the stories are delivered. Cheers all around!

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