Last week I posed the question of whether it's better to be an indie author rather than a traditionally published one. This week I am stating why indie authors should celebrate their place in the writing world.
As their title suggests indie authors have the ultimate freedom and flexibility over their career. They can choose the genre they wish to write in. Some authors write in several different genres under different names. They can decide the length of their books, they have control over the book's cover design and they can choose the price of their books. As pricing goes indie authors can alter it from various different prices, enabling them to do promotions by giving copies away for free over a certain amount of time. They choose the retailers that they wish to place their books with, ensuring their work has maximum exposure.
Being an indie author allows you to instantly upload your work. If a writer chooses to go down the traditional route, they have to wait months if not years to receive a response from agents. But if they had chosen the indie route their book could have sold thousands of copies within that time frame.
Going independent also cuts out the middle man. Indies can make much more in royalties than a traditionally published author. Just because this author has an agent and publishing house behind them does not guarantee a higher income. These types of authors may make more in terms of their advancement but both agent and publisher take a sum of their royalties.
The publishing world has changed a vast amount in the last few years and I am so glad writers now have the option of going indie. It's virtually impossible for new writers to go down the traditional path of publishing because no one is willing to take a chance on an unknown author. And if a writer is lucky enough to be published that way their publishing house might only distribute the author's books within the same country. As the author of two ebooks I have been lucky enough to sell copies world wide through the use of the internet.
And as for being an indie author myself, I wouldn't have it any other way.
What do you think? Are you an indie author? Has it brought you much success?
Thanks for the read LK - I'm a fairly green indie author having just self-published my first short e-book last December.
ReplyDeleteSo, I'm not only learning how to write but how to put it out there as well. A lot to take in.
Hi Pat, thanks for commenting. I wish you much success on your writing adventure/journey!
DeleteHello. I like the idea of doing things my way. I enjoy writing very much. It's enjoyable and I get to write the way I want. It's fun and a great pass time. I like it very much.
DeleteYes, I am one of those out of the box people - indie author, and I published my book:
ReplyDeleteWinter's Mystery-Time to Go Within:Spiritual Journeying. That combines, spirituality, psychology, poetry, and photography.
I took my own photo's and I call the collection "Nature's Healing Photos. There was so much to learn about dpi. It was hard to get the right pixel to create a clear photo. A friend allowed me to use her digital Olympus and it had a higher pixel that enhanced the photo. To put a color photo into a book you want it clear and sharp. So, having more pixels is great! I hired a teacher to instruct me with learning InDesign. Organizing the book and placing the poem and photos on the page in InDesign, became easier as I practiced. This Formatting made the page more attracted. Playing with positioning of the photo or poem became very creative for me.The book size that I used to set up my book was 6x9. I had the teacher help me with formating the cover that I designed. Then the spine and cover had required measurements. The teacher assisted me in putting them into place. The back cover was done before I put the book together. This is what readers look at before buying the book. The insider layout of the book got more exciting, because the book began to take on a form of its own. Before, I put my book onto the computer, I used a binder to organized the sections in my book, adding different pages as I saw fit or moving them. It was wonderful to hold my book and sign it for others. Marketing is the new learning and much creativity goes into putting my book out. Please. visit my website: http://www.reinventinghealthpublishing.com and see my book cover and learn more about this indie author. If anyone has questions on self-publishing, please, contact me at: patricia@reinventinghealthpublishing.com Thank you!
Hi Patricia,
DeleteThanks for commenting. You sound very interested in the photographic area of your writing career.
I am an indie author. You stated all the glorious reasons I decided to go indie. You make an excellent case for all us indie authors. The promoting gets a bit time consuming and you end up losing time that should be spent on the book. But as long as you balance yourself evenly its great. Ty for such a great blog. Please feel free to visit mine and leave creative criticism. I encourage it :-)
ReplyDeletehttp://imakemslookgood.weebly.com
Hi Lisa,
DeleteThank you for your kind comments. I will check out your blog immediately.
As a green person myself, I am enjoying the feedback and growth of my efforts for Fielder's Choice. It is a very American subject.. Baseball, the 60's, segregation and the South.. Which is always a heated topic.
ReplyDeleteI love being an indie author. My favorite parts are control over the covers and title, releasing books quickly, and choosing whatever genre and content I want.
ReplyDelete