When it comes to deciding whether to publish traditionally or go indie, there are a lot of things to keep in mind.
The prevalence of E-books has made indie published books as commonly available as traditional ones. With this access, self-pub is often a better financial option for writers. Additionally, for the first time, authors have absolute control over the content, appearance, and marketing of their work. They’re constantly battling the self-pub stigma, and often run circles around their traditional counterparts and have legions of fans.
Yet none of these arguments really get to the heart of why so many people are now choosing to go indie.
It’s simple.
In indie publishing, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A “NO.”
If you’ve published traditional, or are trying to or are thinking about it, you’ll notice that there’s all sorts of motivational resources to get authors through rejections. There’s LiteraryRejections.com and its subsequent Twitter account (@litrejections). There’s QueryTracker, which has a comment feature that allows users to support each other amidst rejection from the same agent. Heck, there’s even a list of 150 motivational sites for aspirational writers.
These resources are there because EVERYONE says no in the traditional world. Even if your book is destined to be the next Harry Potter, I can guarantee someone will reject you. Many someones.
Agents, editors, publishers, they all can’t say yes. Even editors have heartbreak stories where they wanted to acquire a book and they were turned down by the sales or marketing departments.
Traditional publishing is all about finding that one “YES” amidst a sea of “nos.” While this is exciting and works well for many authors, the indie world is something completely different.
“No” is not in our vocabulary.
Instead, indie authors ask themselves only one thing: HOW?
How will your message best reach your audience?
How many blogs can you contact for your blog tour?
How will you plan your crowdfunding to fund your editing and printing?
How will you keep to your timeline?
How is empowering. It’s open ended, and allows you to find creative, satisfying solutions, and to produce a truly innovative product. It’s a question that, once the answer is given, makes you proud.
Indie authors, what are the “how”s you use?
