Some have asked me why I chose the “indie” route to publishing my first book, Serpents Unwound? There seems to be some stigma associated with it. Personally, I think it’s a choice each author needs to make and one that they are comfortable with. By all means, if you want to take the traditional route with an agent and query letters go for it! That path wasn’t for me and here’s some reasons why:
My goal was to make my writing available.
My first novel was written as part of the NanoWriMo challenge and it was a blast! I had a lot of fun building characters and seeing them interact with each other in an environment of my choosing. I wanted to complete the project by putting it to print in the quickest way possible. For me, that was self-publishing through CreateSpace, Amazon KDP, and Nook Press.
I like to have control over my own projects.
Now, I’m not saying that working with others who have been in business of writing, editing, publishing, cover design and promoting wouldn’t have been beneficial. What I am saying is I find a sense of satisfaction doing my own work from start-to-finish. It’s part of the fun for me. It’s challenging and sometimes frustrating but that’s where I want to be. I may enlist some help on future projects but at the end of the day, it’s about controlling the choices being made about my work.
I’m realistic about sales.
Like anybody who sees the thumbnail of their book on major outlets of course I dream about selling hundreds of thousands of copies. Back in the real world…. that wasn’t the primary goal of writing the story. I write to satisfy my own creative desire. Publishing the book is the end result of that effort. Sales, while nice to have, isn’t a primary motivator for me though I’d love to have a huge following of people who enjoy my books.
I work full time and write part-time.
I have the demands of a full-time job in a pretty exciting field. Right now, I don’t have the bandwidth to meet deadlines and commitments set by other people. Being an indie author allows me to write and publish at a pace that is comfortable for me without any added pressures. The only deadline I plan on committing to is NanoWriMo in November. 50,000 words in 30 days! It was an incredible experience before and worth repeating even if it creates some late nights and coffee filled days.
So there you have it. Are you an indie author? What drove you to self-publish? What has been your motivation? I’d love to hear.
Image courtesy of thaikrit at freedigitalphotos.net.