Why Indie Authors Feel Set Up to Fail | Bitty Balducci

A conversation about publishing quickly turned into something bigger.

After discussing author scams, we sat down with Bitty Balducci to talk about indie publishing, traditional publishing, BookTok, gatekeeping, and why so many authors feel like they're navigating the industry completely alone.

We discuss:

•  Why Bitty chose indie publishing 
•  Querying frustrations 
•  Long traditional publishing timelines 
•  Whether BookTok is really "ruining publishing" 
•  Why indie authors are expected to figure everything out themselves 
•  The importance of following creative inspiration when it strikes 

And yes, we also talk about the wild novella Bitty wrote in less than a week after a dream-inspired idea refused to leave her alone.

In This Episode

•  How a dream-inspired idea became a published novella in less than a week 
•  Why Bitty believes writers should follow creative momentum when it strikes 
•  The inspiration behind Shades Drawn and its timely, Black Mirror-style premise 
•  Querying frustrations and the challenges of fitting books into industry expectations 
•  Why some authors choose indie publishing over the traditional route 
•  The realities of marketing and selling books as an independent author 
•  Whether BookTok is changing publishing—or simply exposing existing problems 
•  The role of gatekeeping in today's publishing landscape 
•  Why traditional publishing timelines can feel disconnected from modern readers 
•  Creative freedom, risk-taking, and building a writing career on your own terms 
•  The importance of transparency and information-sharing within the author community 
•  Hot takes on publishing, creativity, and the future of books and authorship

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

So, Biddy, this is your episode. Tell us what you're doing. Tell us what you're up to. Let's jump off one more. Let's start there.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Yes. So I started off a couple of years ago writing a young adult dystopian sci-fi trilogy. And I finished the first book, got that released in August of last year. And since then, I've been in like promotion mode. Like, I don't know. Like, I've mostly just been like focusing on that. And I have like the book two kind of like drafted, like I have a very weirdly extensive outline of what I'm gonna do in each chapter because turns out planning is good. And I didn't do any of that the first time. So I'm like, I should really probably try to do that. Um, because I was like constantly rewriting sections last time. And uh so I was working on that, and then I got a wild hair up my ass uh last month to do something totally different. So, like in the span of less than a week, I wrote a novella and like published it on Amazon, and it's totally different than what I've currently been working on. Um, it's kind of like Black Mirror vibes where uh it's kind of messed up, to be honest with you. So that's what I've been doing.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

That's wait, so were you just like it just came down from the heavens? Were you going through something? Was it a thing?

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Like, you know that I think it I'm gonna go with it came through the heavens. So apparently I get ideas like when I'm asleep and I'm not even kidding you, because the like core of the idea for my trilogy came like in a dream as well. And um, then this idea also came in a dream. And so, yeah, I'm gonna go with the heavens. And so I just uh I don't know, I just really wanted to do something very different. Like I said, like the trilogy is young adult dystopian sci-fi. So, you know, there's some dark aspects to it, but it's not that heavy. Um, whereas this novella is like I felt messed up writing it. I'm like, what who thinks of this shit? Like I went on a trip. Yeah. But I it was a ton of fun to do. And um, because it was such a quick turnaround, like I didn't have beta readers, I didn't have any like editor besides myself. And I kind of just wanted to put it out there because actually, uh, we were my fiance and I, I just got engaged, which I'm very excited about. Wait, wait, flash that again. Show me that. It's Jade. I love it. Uh it's like very unique and um stunning. Anyway, so my fiance and I were going to Europe for like three and a half weeks. So I just wanted to like get it out there. So yeah, I didn't do anything.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

It's like you were in this moment of transition in the world, it was just like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

And I think you have to listen to that as a writer. I don't know if you guys feel the same way, but it's like you might have like your plan of like, oh, I I have to do book two or whatever it might be, but you gotta listen to those moments of inspiration because in my experience, they don't like, you know, you can't like map it on to a different thing. It's just it, you're you're energized about what you're energized about it, and you're either gonna use it or lose it. And so I was like, okay, this is this is my week. This is how I'm spending my week. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

This had to have been very recently, though. Like, when did it come out? It was uh May 16th, so not even a month ago. Yeah. Like pitch it, pitch it now, because it's that's recent. Let's promote that.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

It is okay. So the name of the book is Shades Drawn, a twisted and timely novella. And basically, it like I said, it's Black Mirror um Meets uh Leave the World Behind. I don't know if you've seen that movie, but anyway, yes. So it's Black Mirror Meets World Leave the World Behind, and it takes place in the spring of 2026, right now, and it's from the perspective of a little boy who's seven years old, and like the US-Iranian war broke out, and so him, I know, I'm sorry, like I said, it's messed up, and um, so him and his mom and his uh grandfather with dementia go into hiding, and they spend the next two years like kind of just trying to avoid detection and living in squalor. And basically, something happens that kind of breaks his whole identity and his world open, and I'll just leave it at that. It's it's a very quick read because, like I said, it's a novella, so it's like 80 some odd pages. That's insane. There was like a long pause, and I was like, oh no, did I know like wow.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

So, yeah, like what and Jenna, initial reaction when you heard that.

SPEAKER_02 5:17

Um well, my initial reaction was why are you punishing yourself? Like the world's already fucked up as it is, and that sounds real fucked up.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

I know, I know. That's what I'm saying. It's like I felt I felt messed up writing it, but I'm like, I'm I'm doing it, I'm going for it. Very different vibe than than my YA book.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Oh my god. What's incredible? My first when you were saying this, my first thought was how badass it is. And this just speaks to like you as a writer, that like you get that idea, and you're like, yeah, I can write that. But like that you just like leveled up and you're like, Yeah, I can do that. Cool. I could do that, I could do it. That's what makes me want to read it, honestly. Cause I'm just like, because if if for some reason I was struck with an idea like that, never, but like you get an idea. I would be like, oh, that would be good if somebody wrote that.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Yeah, you know, I I guess I have to credit my ADHD for that because I can just go into a tunnel and not really consider if I should be in said tunnel. So yeah, that was kind of my perspective going into it.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

Well, I really shouldn't say why would you punish yourself? Because it's like the books that I write are always they're like pretty dark.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

So yeah, yeah, it's it's true. And you guys like do such creative stuff and like make up fake things and magical. Like, I couldn't do that with my imagination, but that's what I don't know. I just think it it it definitely speaks volumes to you as a writer that you're like willing to take that. And you like it's so important to also something I feel like we've never really chatted about this in depth, but like when you get those moments of clarity, like I don't even want to say inspiration or like it's like clarity. It's just like, oh yeah, like this is the idea, and you you strike because I'm somebody who doesn't strike, like I'll think about it. You struck and you knew that you had to get it out now because it's for right now, it's topical. It had to come out, it had to be a novella and it had to come out right now.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. I mean, the relevance of this topic, I sure hope this time next year will be obsolete, right? Like this whole US-Iranian war, oh, it's done, it's over, it's in the past. But right now, I mean, who the heck knows what's going on? I certainly don't know what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 7:57

Wow, yeah, that's so timely. And I think when you're looking at like the themes of so many other books, you're like, oh yeah, like I can see how that's a commentary on XYZ topic, but like being bold enough to be like, yeah, that's exactly what this is, and it's not, it's gonna slap you in the face and you're gonna deal with it as like a reader. And I think that's a very, yeah, like a really bold approach with writing. And I think, oh, wouldn't it be so freeing if we could do that like all day, every day? It'd be like, I'm just gonna I'm throw my carrots to the wind and I'm going to write exactly how I want to write it and what I'm gonna write about.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

I don't want to say plan, but like what how do you feel about indie publishing? Is that something that you're like, I am an indie publisher, like I want to say indie? Do you query? Do you like have something you want to do for the next book? Or like so.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

So I think I did everything the wrong way, actually, turns out. So like really, like I attended a like writer's conference after I had published my book, self-published my book. And it was only then that I realized like at every single possible step I went against what the guidance was, and I didn't even know. And I'm like, well, crap. So basically, as far as like publishing goes, I so my YA Dystopian Sci-Fi, I did try to query like a little bit, but I'm basically impatient as hell. And like the manuscript was 110,000 words, maybe 115. I can't really remember. And then people were like, okay, you gotta cut 20,000 words. And I'm like, no, I don't like that's like a bare chunk of the book. I don't want to cut that. So I kind of just and then they were like, oh, because it's already published, we'll have to take it down, totally rename it. And I'm like, but why? It doesn't even make any sense. Anyway, so I feel like it's possible I would try to query agents in the future, but if I'm honest with you, I I kind of feel like they just have like this idea of what mainstream wants. And I don't think they're really, I don't know, are they branching out a ton? And are they actually appealing to like like more distinct tastes? I'm not sure. It kind of seems like they want everything to fit into like a mold that it has been in for however long. Like, hey, YA books should not be longer than 95,000 words. Why? Who the heck says so? Like, you know, it just take the take the idea. And also the concept that, well, we would have to take it off and rebrand it because, like, if it's not selling well as an indie author, it's not gonna sell well with us. And it's like, how do you figure? You have like this like massive system in place, distribution networks, brand power. How the heck is an indie author's success indicative of the book's potential? I believe that it is not at all because I actually am like, so I'm a marketing professor. I know how to sell. I can like hustle my ass off. I call it pimping, I call it pimping my book out. And um I I've had a really difficult time. And so frankly, like if I'm having a hard time and I'm perfectly comfortable putting myself out there and like having people tell me no constantly, like, how do indie authors stand a chance? It kind of just seems like the whole system is like stacked against them.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

I completely agree.

unknown 11:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

And it's like, why do you, I mean, they don't really want indie authors to succeed. Like that's the whole point, right? Like, yes. Why why would it benefit them?

SPEAKER_00 11:55

I so think you're right. Yeah, because they want, you know, obviously they want their cut, so they want you to need them. And that's like part of, you know, like I knew eventually we're gonna get to scams, but I swear, like, I think that's why there are so many scams, because there's such little information about what things are like in this industry if you're coming in as an indie author, that you don't know to be wary of all of these different things. You don't even know what like the foundation of this industry is. And if you Google it, you're gonna get a bunch of spam and like you know what I mean? So I think it's like intentionally just behind this veil, so that people can't really figure out how to go about it.

SPEAKER_02 12:41

And it's like they well, I think the you know, the common theme is just like gatekeeping. But it's like not just a I'm gonna gatekeep like my tips and trick. It's like, no, they're like gonna gatekeep the entire freaking thing. But yeah, I think what's most intriguing from you know, seeing and like talking to so many different authors is that and and some that are traditionally published, some that are both, some that are only indie. And it's always this feeling of what you are the most comfortable doing. And some people, it's like I am uncomfortable doing this whole entire thing. I want like Jesus take the wheel kind of moment, and like let them do their thing. But others are like, I'm a little bit more comfortable, like having a bit more risk, having a bit more like transparency, trying some new things. And some people are just like straight up like risk averse, and that's totally fine. Like in some areas of my life, I'm absolutely risk averse. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, don't make me do that. Um I think that's the beauty of what's happening now on social media, and you know, there's this quote that like book talk kind of like ruined publishing. I'm like, nah, it it's changing it. And yes, like we're trying to, you know, steer a giant vessel and like change the trajectory of a ship, and it's taking a while, but at least now there's more of us like shoving it the other way.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I saw your post about like like book talk uh, you know, ruining the publishing industry, and I'm like admittedly very out of the loop. I joined social media when I published my first book in August. So like I haven't been on social media an entire year. So I'm like really out of the loop. But like, what do they even mean by that? But in what way would book talk have ruined, like, I know we I know that you don't agree with it, but I don't even understand how people are thinking that way.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

They're worried that the quality isn't there, i.e., someone isn't dignifying or like isn't labeling something as good. So it's kind of like the like I have an art history background, so it's the what is considered good art. And is it only the proclamation of it? Is it the right people in the room saying it's good art, or is it someone looking at art from a different angle and saying, I get it? And there's really no correct answer, but I also think that as uh Western civilization, we have a really hard time learning from past mistakes and we love to repeat ourselves. So I think this is just another opportunity for the publishing industry to understand that trends are moving, moving faster, books are coming out faster. Y'all gotta get on board and try something different. Yeah, like have an imprint that is like low barrier to entry, fast moving, doesn't take two years for your book to come out.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Seriously, so much happens in two years. Yes. That's actually another reason I I just went ahead with indie publishing because like you know, you can't get anything through in less than that. That's like the shortest possible window is two years. And so, like, think about how much happens in two years. Are you even gonna be interested as an author in promoting said book in two years? Like, you might have moved on to something totally different, you know? And then you're having to like relive like that specific stage in your life. And I don't know, it just seems kind of wild to me.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

Totally agree. I think it's Kate. I don't know what your topic for today is, but this is a really interesting one.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

And this is why we just chat. I know.