Well, maybe. But only if you do the work and put out the best book ever. Sure, Amanda Hocking did it, but she also did her homework, created an AWESOME marketing plan and put out a quality piece of work. She also did something else. She made us all believe that we can do it too.
Last week I received an email from David Farland in the form of his "Kick in the Pants" article that comes around every week or so. He talked about ebooks and compared the statistics to publishing traditionally. It got me to thinking. I'm sooooo ready to be published. My book has already been under contract with a publisher. (Not my fault they went out of business and that I lost my contract, right?) I've also gone the rounds with query letters and tried to find an agent. They liked it, they just don't LOVE it enough to represent me. We've all heard THAT one.
Sooooo, why NOT try being an Indie? I'm creative. I know how to use Photo Shop. I take great pics. I know I can rock a cover. My book has been through several crit groups and survived. I've edited, revised, and gone through several rewrites. I THINK I'm ready.
*sigh*
Am I ready?
Do I have a webpage? Yep.
Blog? Yepper Depper.
How's my online presence? Well, I have over 1000 Facebook friends, belong to several writing groups, have my feelers out there in the writing community. I think I'm ready.
Okay, so I don't tweet like I should, but I can learn.
*gulp*
*deep breath*
Yes, I AM ready.
Anyone else wanna take the plunge and become an INDIE????? Come on. The water's not THAT cold.
*SHIVER*
Good fortune, you bold woman. I hope it goes well!
ReplyDeleteI'm not that bold, yet.
Good luck to you! I'm definitely considering it...
ReplyDeleteGood luck, Christine! :D If you're ready, go for it!
ReplyDeleteWell, my favorite online harp music store now offers downloadable music books that we can just print at home within minutes of ordering. movies walk around on MP4 players instead of VHS. Beloved handwritten letters got replaced with Emails. So yah, I can see things swaying that way. How do I feel about it tho? Well, instincts would have said "absolutely not--save the book!", however, i did just download that music yesterday... ;) Good luck!
ReplyDeleteYou know, I follow lots of blogs of other authors and several of them have gone the same route. They had someone interested in their book, something happened and they chose to go the way of the indie publisher. They may not be raking in the dough, but their sales are above average and they're writing more. And selling more.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to you!
I've been seriously thinking about self-publishing one of novels. It's been through the critique process, and several readers. All have like it. I've sent it out, received stellar feedback--along with one common comment: "it's not cost effective to publish a middle-grade, LDS historical fiction at this point in time." So what does that leave me? Let the fun story sit in my computer, or self publish. I've just been dragging my feet because--I don't know. I tell myself it's because I'm so busy. But maybe it's because I'm scared. Perhaps we could boulster each other.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with this. Since I'm seriously considering this path myself, I'll be watching!
ReplyDeleteYay, Christine! I'm in the middle of doing it, too! If anyone can pull it off, it'll be you! Your writing is fantastic and I can't wait to read you new book.
ReplyDelete