Against all odds, we make it work. A post about the difficulties of publishing independently in Belgium (and The Netherlands) and why it’s important to support indie authors.
Recently, I released my book ‘Tijd om te bloeien’ (in Dutch) as an indie author, which is incredibly exciting. But there are also some frustrations around how indie authors have so little opportunities in Belgium (and The Netherlands). For instance: I’m practically unable to sell my book through physical bookstores – even independent ones, I have no chance at winning literary awards or prizes, I can’t become member of a group that offers lectures by authors on a large scale, I have no option to apply for literary grants… And the list goes on.
How is this possible? Well, to understand that I have to give you some context about how the Belgian (and Dutch) book landscape works.
Most importantly; there’s one single distributor – called Centraal Boekhuis (or CB for short) – who handles the deliveries of books to bookstores (and libraries). But to collaborate with them, in theory you have to be a professional publisher. You can get around this by starting your own publishing house just for your own book, but still: it costs a lot of money to do that and often it’s not worth it knowing you probably won’t sell thousands of copies of your book (the market for Dutch-language books is relatively small). Publishers, on the contrary, can split the costs over their imprints and all different books they publish. It’s true that CB collaborates with other companies (like Pumbo) to offer services specifically for indie authors, but I used their online calculator and I was stunned: for each book sale I would make a loss of more than € 2,5. This means that I would have to pay that amount for every book that’s sold! That’s crazy.
So you now get why I can’t distribute my book through CB.
And that has a lot of consequences. First of all, most bookstores – except for maybe some in your hometown – will not go through the trouble of buying a book directly from the author. When it comes to professional publishers who use CB’s services, bookstores get to make deals which allow them to return unsold books. As an individual author, you can’t organise such a distributing system.
So that leaves out offering your book in physical bookstores. But okay, offering it on Amazon is also very accessible.
However, a book needs promotion and visibility. So I looked into literary awards. If I could send in my book to be taken into consideration, the quality could speak for itself, right? Well no, apparently. For a book to be an option for the most important book prizes, you have to be published traditionally. And if they don’t mention it in so many words, they make sure they exclude indie authors because of all sorts of other requirements like having to be part of CB (there we go again), but also monetary obligations (like paying € 2.500 when you’re on a shortlist, promising to print an extra 1.000 copies at your own expense if you make it to a certain selection etc.). So even if your self-published book is amazing, you might never be recognised for it because of these obstacles.
If someone puts that much effort into something, knowing very well there might not follow a lot of visibility, sales, or even admiration, you can be sure this person is convinced their story is important and their passion is unmatched
Now, okay, maybe I can host some talks about my book? Well, no. The easiest way to book an author as an organization in Belgium, is through the platform of literary institution ‘Literatuur Vlaanderen’. They bundle all authors who offer talks. Well, at least authors who were published in a traditional way and distribute through, you guessed it, CB.
Can I then at least apply for one of the literary grants, in Belgium or maybe on a European level? Unfortunately not. You need at least one book that’s already been published traditionally. You can’t, for example, use other ‘proofs of writing’. All of this while I think the ones who haven’t found a path towards a publisher yet, are the ones who might need a literary grant the most.
In conclusion, as an indie author you can’t fully participate because of the many barriers. This also results in a certain hesitance of the public to read books by indie authors: because if they are not visible and not celebrated, why would you read them? I get it. But I wish people would see how much resilience and perseverance it takes to self-publish your book.
If someone puts that much effort into something, knowing very well there might not follow a lot of visibility, sales, or even admiration, you can be sure this person is convinced their story is important and their passion is unmatched. Oftentimes, indie authors bring the most diverse stories and are writers from marginalized communities. They bring stories that are missing in the traditional landscape. In Belgium in particular there’s a tendency to publish books by celebrities or people/influencers with a large following on social media. It’s becoming increasingly harder for new voices to be given a chance. This raises questions about which voices we all read and listen to and which ones are overlooked.
Oftentimes, indie authors bring the most diverse stories
Luckily, there are accessible options to still publish your book, so that at least it’s out in the world. I chose Amazon as a platform. However, on the internet a lot of people are calling for an Amazon boycott. And in some way I get it from an ethical point of view. But at the same time: I don’t think it’s that black or white. Yes, there are legitimate concerns about Amazon as a company. And at the same time Amazon offers the most efficient and beneficial platform for indie authors, especially for writers in smaller languages like Dutch. That way the company facilitates the publishing of diverse stories, which is also important. So yes you can choose to limit your purchases through Amazon. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use it to support some good things. Anyhow, that’s how I feel.
Thank you for coming to the TED Talk of this slightly frustrated writer. 😉
If you want to support me, you can buy my book on Amazon as a paperback. It’s also available as an e-book on Kindle and Kobo. For now ‘Tijd om te bloeien’ is only published in Dutch, but the plan is to also translate it to English. If you’re subscribed to my newsletter, you’ll be the first to know.
Written by Nikita
Nikita – founder of Nikita’s World – is a Belgian author of feminist feelgood & a journalist specialized in pop culture and the creative industry.