I recently came across the term “Indie Author” while researching more avenues for self-publishing and promotion. While I personally like to avoid labels, in the world of writing and publishing genre and identification are so important. It shows that the author understands their writing and where it fits in with traditional publishing. It’s a much nicer label than “self-publisher”, which has so many negative connotations. It used to be if someone told you they had self-published a book you would smile, nod and maybe even ask politely “about what?”, all while feigning interest in something that hadn’t been “good enough” to be published. It’s not the case anymore. With print-on-demand companies it’s become so much easier to create a professional looking product that can sell.

The bottom line is: If you write a good book, that is well edited, and tells a compelling story you can definitely break out of traditional publishing and into the world of independent publishing and achieve success.

Does that mean you can write the first draft of a novel, print it and hope it will sell? Nope, not at all.

You have a lot of revising, editing and reading to go. You need friends that can help you out with the things you aren’t as good at. For example, in the 3rd full revision of ‘Inked’ a reader of mine pointed out that I had the word “isle” every time I meant “aisle”. I had 11 readers, who weren’t me, from various walks of life. I was able to learn what readers with wide ranging literary tastes thought of the book and the character. I made tons of changes based on what readers thought, and honestly sometimes I didn’t. Their feedback was invaluable to the end-product. There’s also the fact my boyfriend did the cover art for my book, and it turns out he was better with Photoshop than I was. My sister took the picture and her friend is the model. It’s become quite the family project.

All of this was so much work, but the easy part was getting out the first draft in one month by participating in National Novel Writing Month. It seems that the line between the traditional idea of self-publishing and “Indie Authors” is the amount of work. I don’t laugh, scoff or demean traditional publishing, it makes it a lot easier on the author, but I think it’s nearly impossible to break into. I heard an agent speak at a writer’s conference in July and she said that she would have turned down the book “Bridges of Madison County” because she didn’t like the language it was written in. Now, I haven’t personally read Bridges, but it seemed to be a very popular book. You have to wonder how there are so many published, famous authors with rejection letter piles up to the 50’s before they were “discovered”. It’s just the way traditional publishing works, and if you want to turn your wheels in the system for months or years, as some of my colleagues have, that’s one option. Taking control of your own book, your own writing, your own future and making something of yourself is also another option.

Just remember that it’s not easy. I have tons of email in my inbox right now I should be responding to. I have organizations and business partnerships that need my attention. I have more self-promotion to do. I have a short story to edit for a literary magazine, and another to write for a friend’s collaborative collection he wants to self-publish. NaNoWriMo is only 22 days away, and I’ve got a region to Liaison and a new novel I’m plotting. Oh and yeah, I’m also broke because any money I’ve earned from pre-sales has gone straight back out into the book.

But it’s so worth it. I have written, edited and loved this book from the moment it was idea in my head. Now, I have a revised, finished and printed book. I can throw all the passion I have for this story behind bringing it out to the public.

So, am I an Indie Author? You better believe it, and I think that’s a really good thing.

I’ve been planning my next novel for months, and it has usually served as an escape from editing/revising Inked (you know, those moments where you just can’t read your own writing again or you’re going to burn it all?). While I had planned on starting to write the book before NaNoWriMo this year, I have been far too busy. So it looks like I’ll be going ahead with the first draft of “Jake” in November. (As a side note, I think picking a title for my books is harder than writing them sometimes.) Though, I do plan on making this book about 65-70k words. So, let’s see if I can do that this year.

So, why am I frustrated?

Because I have been mentally planning out Jake for months, and YESTERDAY I got a new idea for a story. And after having unsolicited inspiration strike, I dreamed that I wrote the new story all night. I hate having a productive dream night. I wake up so tired and worn out, but having nothing to show for it. I craft, plot and write all night, and then wake up to find out that SURPRISE – I didn’t actually do all that work.

Back to my dilemma, it seems like the smart thing to do would be set aside the new idea, and continue forward with Jake. Well, yeah, except this exact same thing happened last year and I took the new idea and ran with it, and now I have a completed, edited, revised, soon-to-be-published novel.

Ugh, I have a few days to decide, but I have to start seriously plotting the new one if I’m going to actually persue it.

Quick rundown of the two ideas:

Jake  has spent his life trying to live up to the status quo, but after his wife leaves him he moves in with his gay brother.  Through the eclectic  people who share his brother’s house Jake experiences what love, friendship,  and living life should be through new relationships.

Or

A male character has spent his life immersed in music, and when he meets the first girl of his dreams in highschool he has to come out of his shell to try to show her his feelings. The story would follow the character through his 20’s.  The style of the book would be like a written mix-tape, and the chapters a kind of verse, chorus, verse structure. I love the concept, I just don’t know if I have enough time to prepare to write this. I could make it my 2010 project, but I’m  excited about the possibilities that come with such a unique idea.

Anyhow, I should decide soon. Any thoughts from readers?

I’ve recently discovered Twitter. It’s an excellent resource to reach out and meet new people, but honestly as a writer I can’t fit what I have to say in such a tiny box. So, I decided to create a wordpress blog for the more wordy days.

I have a lot going on in my personal and writing life.

I am self-publishing my debut novel Inked. It releases on 10/20/09. It has been a very interesting, frustrating and rewarding process. I have a lot to say about the self-publishing business, as well as the ups and downs of writing, editing, revising, editing again and revising for the billionth time before settling on a final product I was confident enough in to publish.

NaNoWrimo is going to start in less than 30 days, and for the past 3 years I have been a Municipal Liaison for the Seattle area. I moved to Atlanta, GA in September and will be traveling home to volunteer again this year.  NaNo is such an interesting experience. It’s truly about the people to me, more than the deadline at this point. I’ve reached the 50,000 word-in-a-month goal 4 times now, and I feel I could do it over and over again, but it’s honestly the people I  met at the write-ins that make it worth it. If it’s something you’re contemplating, or would like help with feel free to contact me I have a lot of hints and tricks.