This post is a test to see what I can do with this software I’m trying out. I’m curious to see if I can use all the required keywords to rank higher in google.

Let’s begin, shall we?

What’s it like being an independent author? Well, for one thing, you’re your own boss, and you have creative control. You’re in charge of your own writing career and if you have some funds, you can hire people who offer author services to help you out. What kind of services? Someone who can help you produce a quality product like a professional editor, personal assistant to keep you organized, and a promotional company to hype you in the book market. Mind you, most indie authors do everything themselves. 

You can still be an indie author if you’re with an independent publisher. Most of the time, they work with you for your cover and editing, but you’re still on your own for promotions. Part of promoting means creating an author website. If you’re handy with that type of thing, you’re lucky! Not everyone is and that’s part of the process, discovering what you’re good at and what you may need help with. Publishing and being indie tend to go hand in hand unless, for some miraculous miracle, you were scooped up by a traditional publishing house/ publishing company. Mind you, your life is not a bed of roses either. 

Sure, it seems like the dream. Getting that contract and screaming while printing it out and steadying your hand while you sign away your life. There are many stipulations when it comes to contracts. All of a sudden things change. You don’t have control of your cover, your words, or pretty much anything. Sure, you may be selling more books, but at what cost? You’re doing events you didn’t want to, but now you’re under contract and have to oblige, you’re writing like a mad person to keep up with deadlines, and suddenly, all those Stephen King movies about crazy writers feel like they hit a little too close to home. When was the last time you changed out of that robe and took a shower? 

Everyone has a different experience, so hey, maybe things are better than this. Feel free to let me know in the comments. I’m very curious if anyone has experienced what I described. I’m mainly kidding, and my imagination runs away with me sometimes. 

The dream of every indie author is to have published at least one book. Whether that book is published on their own, with a small press, or a fancy publishing house, authors have to accept they are in the publishing business. It’s not good enough to say, I’m just going to stay locked up in my room and come out when I have a draft. Oh no, you’re a publishing author now, and there’s a whole business side to things. Writing and publishing become a vicious circle. You write you publish, you write some more, you publish again all in the hopes of being discovered. The hope is what keeps so many people going. I’ve met indie authors who have published over 30 books and yet no one outside of their circle knows them. Are they failures? Absolutely not. They’re champions in my books. Anyone who sits there with their nose to the grindstone is incredible. 

It takes dedication to sit there and churn out a book. Not everyone can do it. Think back to English class. If a two hundred word essay was a pain, just imagine what it’s like to write a book that’s 104,000 words. 

When I first wrote A Raven’s Touch, it was almost 200,000 words. I had an editor who helped me scale it back to half that amount, but it was a chunk of a book. I think most first time authors make the mistake of overwriting. It’s so easy to do and again, that’s why you need an editor. When I wrote, A Raven’s Revenge, I scaled it back and it clocks in around 55,000 words. 

Being an indie author is more complicated than most people realize. Once you’ve written your masterpiece, you have to tell people about it. That’s where most people have problems, they’re introverted or they’re just not sure how to go about promoting. I’d highly recommend getting a promotional company to help you out. It’s painful to have your product not selling when you’ve put so much work into it. Once you get on your feet you can start to do things on your own. It’s a long road and some help along the way is never a bad thing. 

I could go on and on about this topic, but I don’t know if I’d stop! What’s your experience like? Are you an indie author in the making or have you already published?