Author Maegan Provan

Today, I read an article titled “Self-Publishers Should Not Be Called Authors” by Michael Kozlowski. In the article, the blogger states: “Just because its easy to upload your written word, so that it can be downloaded to another machine does not make you an author, any more than me buying a stethoscope allows me to be called a doctor.” This attitude is not uncommon in the publishing world. As more and more self-published authors emerge, there are some in the industry who scoff and say, “Anyone can be an author these days.”

Well, as it turns out, anyone can be a gatekeeper–or, at least they can try. In the past, agents and traditional publishers acted as gatekeepers to the literary world. Now that self-publishing is a viable option for thousands of authors, a few authors and bloggers have decided to be unofficial gatekeepers to the industry. They can’t prevent authors…