Benefits of the Indie Life

Wednesday, June 12, 2013


Today is the second Wednesday of the month. Can you believe it? Anyway, today is the day we indie writers share our experiences and offer encouragement to each other through the generosity of the Indelibles.  

Now, more than ever, I’m grateful for the flexibility that taking the indie road has afforded me. On the traditional segment of my journey, I had some input in the design of my books, in that one publisher asked me about my vision for the cover and the other gave me a questionnaire to complete. All the covers turned out really well and I’m grateful for that. I know there are writers who’ve been stuck with covers that don’t fit their characters or the story concept and have had to suck it up.


Since going indie, I’ve been blessed with people who take my vision and execute them well. I’ve also had some niggles when things didn’t work out exactly the way I conceptualized them. The indie life has given me the opportunity to learn different aspects of the publishing business. Sure, it’s time consuming to learn how to make covers and market and promote, but for me, it’s well worth the effort. I’m not an expert at making covers, but I know what I like—simple and elegant. The cover of my latest book has been through a metamorphosis and is now on its third cover, which I like very much.

Another thing I appreciate about the indie life is the ability to make changes at any time. Last night, I was scanning through a book and found a question sign that shouldn’t have been at the end of a sentence. I’m neurotic about editing and having a clean book, so of course, I jumped on that right away. Could I do this with one of my traditional books? Nah.  And there’s also the fact that I’m making more money with my self-published books than all the combined royalty from the traditionally published novels.

With all its challenges, I’m loving the indie life.

What about you?

See the other writers who've taken the Indie Road here

23 comments:

  1. Yes! I so agree with you. In author interviews I'm often asked why I chose to take the Indie route. The truth is it never even occurred to me to do anything else. I'm a bit of a rebel at heart and between the flexibility and opportunities to direct my own destiny with self-publishing, I knew this was the only path that made sense for me.

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  2. I agree that control over your covers and the ability to make changes are great benefits to being indie!

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  3. I completely agree with you about all the control the indie life offers. While I haven't published my book yet, I'm having fun on my indie journey.

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  4. loving this indie life series so far. Gives me insight and perspective on what to expect when I decide to go down that path myself.
    Nutschell
    www.thewritingnut.com

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  5. When you have control, you can change things that aren't working much quicker than a publisher will change them, if at all.

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  6. I am JUST like that when I find an error in one of my books! Even if it's tiny, I have to fix it and upload a new version as soon as possible! (With the print version it's harder, especially if you've already paid for extended distribution through CreateSpace and don't want to have to pay again. In that case, I just have to pretend it's a traditionally published book and accept that the few small errors are there...)

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  7. I think it would be horrible to be stuck with a cover I didn't like. I'm glad you have the flexibility to choose!

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  8. I like that idea of being able to fix things as soon as you discover them!

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  9. Hi Joy *waves*

    Creative control sounds like a good reason to go Indie.

    .....dhole

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  10. Complete control is definitely a plus of the indie life! It can be overwhelming, too. I'm glad you're having fun with it. :) Have a great month!

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  11. I agree with your reasons. I love the freedom to make changes to my books if I spot a typo (without having to wait for someone else to do it), change a description or cover if need be, and have it all be my own concept. Once I found out more about indie publishing (and that trad pub doesn't market for you anymore), I didn't consider any other way of publishing my books.

    Rinelle Grey

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  12. It's great that this path has worked out so well for you. Reading this makes me want to take the plunge and go Indie myself. Great post, thanks for sharing your experience.

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  13. Marquita, some books just don't fit in with traditional models and so it's way easier to manage for the self-publisher.

    These reasons have worked for me, Mike.

    Sandra, I've heard enough horror stories about covers that don't match characters at all. Thankfully, I haven't experience that, but I had a couple episodes of having scenes spliced and dice and not put back together properly.

    Continue to enjoy, Sheena!

    Nutschell, like you, I did a lot of scoping out of the landscape before I made the decision.

    So true, Diane.

    Rachel, I think that's been the worst part for me. Even after publishing, I read the books again, just in case. No matter how small I MUST go back in and fix those errors. I'm thinking that it's good to wait a while for print, by which time all the errors have been caught. My approach now is to make some money on the ebook to subsidize the print version.

    I'm enjoying that too, Emily.

    Trust me, Deniz, it makes life a LOT easier.

    Hey, Donna. The only downside is all the other stuff that also must get done and won't do itself.

    J.R., true that. I have stuff that's left undone for way too long. I tell myself that I'm only one body and I'll get to it eventually.

    Rinelle, thanks for visiting. The ability to change stuff without being a bother to someone else is why I learned how to do the formatting myself. I didn't think I'd be able to do it, but it wasn't hard to learn.

    Julie, thanks for coming by. I like learning new things and some books I don't think I'll be able to sell traditionally (like Distraction) so that helped me make the decision. It's been well worth it.



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  14. I'm glad you're learning a lot and have so much control over things.

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  15. Medeia,

    I learn something new each day, which is great.

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  16. The ability to fix an editing mistake is a definite perk of indie publishing! Having control over your own work is wonderful.

    Happy reading and writing! from Laura Marcella @ Wavy Lines

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  17. Creative control is nice. Plus it's great to know just what goes into the making of a book.

    Happy Weekend!

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  18. As long as it's made the process of writing rewarding for you, that's the main thing. And your books are so worth it. I'm so glad to have got the opportunity to read your work.

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  19. There are definitely some great advantages to being an indie!

    BTW I started Christine's Odyssey last night and I'm loving it so far - such a powerful story!!!

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  20. So true, Laura.

    Carol, I've learned some valuable lessons.


    Thanks much for your kind words, Maria.

    Jemi, you can say that again. Happy the book is speaking to you. :)




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  21. Very cool. I didn't really know what the "indie life" meant until reading this :)

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