We’ve given you a lot to mull over in recent weeks. From Intellectual Property and Copyright to an overview of your book distribution options, our posts have covered a lot of the nitty gritty details of self-publishing.
But self-publishing is also about being part of an amazing community that can help keep you motivated.
You, as indie authors, are vibrant, innovative, and whip smart. What better way to celebrate your commitment to author-centered publishing than by learning from what other indie authors have done? Here’s a compilation of blogs and interviews from some extraordinarily successful members of our community as they share their self-pub experience!
1. Ernest Dempsey, author of the Sean Wyatt thriller series.
Dempsey wrote a great, succinct blog earlier this year about his return to a lifelong dream of writing. His experience with self-publishing was a bit trial-and-error, but he has a great perspective!
2. H.M. Ward, author of young adult, new adult, and contemporary romance.
Ward has sold 4 million books since debuting in 2011. Although her experience is not typical, her recent blog post is just sassy enough to re-inspire any indie author with doubts about their work.
3. Dave Ramsey, author of Financial Peace
Ramsey gave an interview with Michael Hyatt about his experiences selling his first book out of the trunk of his car. Having learned about the pitfalls of debt the hard way, he was compelled to share his knowledge with other people – whether or not a traditional publisher wanted his book.
4. Darcie Chan, author of the Mill River Recluse, a novel.
Few authors of literary fiction achieve a lot of success by going the indie publishing route, but Chan is one of those few. Although she attributes much of her success to luck and has now gone toward traditional publishing, this interview provides an interesting glimpse of why she made the choice she made.
5. Ingrid Ricks, author of Hippie Boy: A Girl’s Story and other memoirs.
Ricks has a fascinating story to tell about finding her voice after growing up in a restrictive Mormon household and is a great example of someone who turned to self-publishing because she just had to tell it. That story has recently been picked up by Berkely, a division of Random House. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have a lot of information about her self-publishing experience, but this press release will give you a pretty clear idea of her experience and motivations. Also, be sure to click on her name to check out her website, which has some fascinating information about her journey!
Although these successful indie authors write in a number of genres and categories, have different levels of experience, they all have one thing in common: they wrote and self-published because they couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
What’s your story?
Having written all my life (short stories, poetry, novella, two novels and finally the ‘Book that Wrote my Life’ a DNA shaped book that traces the history of Western Ideas (in poetry!)- called Involution- An Odyssey Reconciling Science to God, which I self-published) today for the first time I moved from writer to ‘author’ with the first ever acceptance of a short story for publication by someone else. Today was probably the day to ask me!
I cannot boast of any great financial or popular success, despite a number of critical accolades in reviews and two awards (runner up ‘book of the year’) for a self-published book almost nobody has heard about, so I suppose my story is simply about the loneliness of the long distance author. It has obliged me to examine what fed this compulsion (in the face of nothing but publishing failure) and my blog http://involution-odyssey.com/blogscribe/is rewarding me with readers who really ‘get’ what I am about, and see through words to depths.
As I am somewhat on ‘last leg’ of the adventure (73) if I have anything to encourage others it is probably only self belief, and being willing to expose raw nerves. The indie author fraternity has helped in the past two years with rare generosity, and friendships that understand that writing is always about soul, and meet as fellow souls, all seeking one another.