Self-Published Only Club discussion

Please use this thread to suggest a future featured self-published author. If you are an author, please don't suggest yourself, but you're more than welcome to suggest another well-deserving author. As an author, you're also encouraged to go to the Calling all SP Authors folder where you can drop the link to your book(s)

10 months in and nobody has recommended a single indie author? That's a shame. I was hoping this thread might lead me to more fantastic indie novels. Since that's not going to happen, I'll recommend one myself.

Aino Lahteva self-published her debut fantasy novel Island Girl. #1 in her Strands of Existence series. One of my favourite reads of the year and certainly the most fresh and original.

Seriously, if you're looking for something new in fantasy, follow the link above and you'll find it.

Gary wrote: "10 months in and nobody has recommended a single indie author? That's a shame. I was hoping this thread might lead me to more fantastic indie novels. Since that's not going to happen, I'll recommen..."

I accidentally added several indie favorite authors' books to an earlier thread, for book-shelving consideration, not here. But here they are again, officially in the correct spot.

The Reality of Independent Writing
The Guy's a Loser Detective Agency
Medusa Defence
Red QueenRed Queen
Three from TOMORROW: a Tales from TOMORROW 3-fer!

Lincoln Confidential: The Goddess of Strife

Dead Links
Requisite Variety: Collected Short Fiction
Cape Heights Volume 1: A Day Time Tv Styled Soap Opera

And of these, the self-published author who would make an interesting feature is Roger Cave of Manchester, England. His Alec Fincham novels are extremely well-written military intelligence adventures. Though somewhat derivative of the cinematic James Bond, in certain episodes, they are overall more in line with Dale Brown or other military authors' works rather than Ian Fleming.

Gary wrote: "10 months in and nobody has recommended a single indie author? That's a shame. I was hoping this thread might lead me to more fantastic indie novels. Since that's not going to happen, I'll recommen..."

Uhm...By any chance, am I allowed to recommend myself as an indie author? I've recently re-written my first novel completely, and am now in the process of completely re-writing my 2nd book. Here's a blog I wrote of this ongoing process:

http://sky-fighters.blogspot.com/2021... ...You can also find it on Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... ...Cheers!

Uhm...Hi again.

I'm not sure here is going to pay attention to me enough to answer the questions I have, but here goes.

1: I am a self-published Indie author. Can someone like me become notable enough to be featured by Goodreads on a page like this?
2: Is it even possible for someone like me to become a notable author at all? If so, how does one accomplish this?
3: On this note, can any almost virtually-unknown author or any self-published author become a best-selling author?

Someone please, please tell me now: Is there something I don't know about all this? (Please pardon the song-pun, okay?)

P.S. I'd also like to know about converting my regular novel series into a graphic-novel series. Does anyone have any idea how I can accomplish this? Please?

Ross wrote: "Uhm...Hi again.

I'm not sure here is going to pay attention to me enough to answer the questions I have, but here goes.

1: I am a self-published Indie author. Can someone like me become notable e..."

Greetings, Ross.

Suffice it to say that if formerly self-published authors like Mark Twain, Amanda Hocking, and Andy Weir are any indication, then yes: Obviously"someone like [you] can become a notable author." To find out the paths it took for the aforementioned scribes to become household names, simply Google their biographies and take note of what it took for them to achieve "success" as world famous authors. It wasn't easy. Andy Weir, for example, was originally a computer programmer who'd been writing since the 80's before "The Martian" only became a hit this century. That's over 20 years of writing and holding down a day job before anyone knew who he was or took his writing seriously.

The thing I learned from Mark Twain, Amanda Hocking, and Andy Weir is that if you enjoy writing, keep doing it. But also realize that it's likely that you may have to lower your sights a bit from achieving a guaranteed five or six figure salary or silver screen adaptation immortality. Because fiction writing is basically done for entertainment purposes. And if the pandemic taught nothing else, more important things like health and safety take priority over entertainment (as even many professional writers' incomes took hits or put them out of business for a while).

So yeah, Ross, you can become a successful, notable author. For some, that can mean being "notable" on the college scene or some smaller stage, not necessarily in terms of "California Dreamin' " (Hollywood) or having a "New York State of Mind" (Madison Avenue). But for most, it's practical to have a day job, so to speak, with the realistic expectation that writing fiction alone probably won't make you rich or famous overnight. For most "rich and famous" authors, reaching that level was years, decades even, in the making.

And once you're "on top," it takes an even greater amount of work and worry to remain Number One or in the Top 10 or so, as new obligations emerge (like fending off competitors, bowing to the pressures of agents or publishers to write "what will sell" instead of what you may like, etc.). Here's an interesting article about what it's like even when you become "notable" and Hollywood calls with the offer for fame or infamy: https://www.theguardian.com/books/201... .

James wrote: "Ross wrote: "Uhm...Hi again.

I'm not sure here is going to pay attention to me enough to answer the questions I have, but here goes.

1: I am a self-published Indie author. Can someone like me bec..."


Great information and insight, James