The Ongoing Journey of an “Indie” Author

It would be funny, if it wasn’t a little… demoralizing. The conversation starts off well enough:

“What do you do?”

“I’m an author. I’ve written five books.”

“Oh wow! That’s amazing! How did you manage to get published? I hear it’s kind of rough out there.”

“I self-published. I’m an independent author.”

“Oh…that’s cool.”

Then comes that awkward moment where you see the admiration slowly fade away. It’s replaced with a smile and a nod…and a look that says: She can’t be any good if she can’t get a publisher to take on her work.

When you say that you’ve self-published, people tend to think of poorly formatted, unedited manuscripts, and ugly covers. But with the advent of various mediums, such as the Amazon platforms, authors have found the means to publish quality work. These pioneers have slowly begun to reverse the stigma attached to being an independent. That being said, even an indie author needs to collaborate with others in order to produce a marketable book. At minimum, they will need to consult with beta-readers; and if the budget allows, a proofreader, a copy editor, and a designer are highly recommended. And then there is the small matter of marketing and promoting.

In my experience, the marketing component is the hardest part of all. It requires not only creativity and aplomb, but hours and hours of dedicated time on social media, interacting with potential customers, participating in blog tours and interviews, and well…truthfully, trying not to pester your friends and family with requests to LIKE, SHARE, and spread the word. Unbeknownst to many readers, even if one chooses the “traditional” route, publishing houses rely on the author to assist with sales these days. There’s just no escaping the task.

Given the fact that I’m still working at my day job, I try to utilize social media platforms that have proven to give me the best results. I started this blog and am so grateful for those who have joined me here. During my time on Facebook, I had over 1,500 followers; but due to that site’s policies and algorithms, it wasn’t productive or cost effective. I’ve had more success on Goodreads, and less so on Pinterest and Instagram. Recently, I joined the ranks of other authors, traditional and independent, on BookBub. I’ll have to see how that goes, but of course that entails more pestering. If you are a reader and utilize that site, please follow me on BookBub. And yes…please spread the word.

Thank you!