How I Became an Indie Author

I’ve been writing since I was sixteen…I think. It’s hard to remember when I started. My first story was YA, even though I didn’t know what YA was at the time. It was about two teens who go hunting for treasure. Modern day pirates were involved. I wrote about ten pages.

It wasn’t exactly a masterpiece and I have no idea what happened to it.

But I kept writing and writing, until finally, one day I’d written a full novel.

The Unofficial Zack Warren Fan Club.

I took inspiration from one of my childhood friends. He was a jock. Played baseball. Super popular. Everyone loved him, only I just didn’t see why he was so magnificent. Or how he could make anyone in a training bra and braces melt with just a cocky smile.

I never tried to publish the book. I had no idea what I was doing. Mostly I just read each chapter as I completed it to my aunt, who had gone blind as she battled a severe form of type 1 diabetes. She loved it. Unfortunately I never got to read the end to her. She passed away before I wrote the end. But it was her enthusiasm for the book that gave me the initiative to push forward. And one night, I was sitting in the living room with my mother, and she started talking about an old boyfriend.

I didn’t understand where the conversation was going.

Then she told me he self-published a children’s book. This was about three years ago now. I had no idea what self-publishing was. I wasn’t sure it would even work. So I kept submitting my book to agents, praying for the day someone would find love with a paranormal romance I’d written called, The Council, A Witch’s Memory. It wasn’t a big hit with agents. They liked it, and it was enjoyable, but just not what they were looking for at the moment.

I must have gotten ten rejections from people who really liked it, but not enough to snap it up.

Everyone was going through the Twilight craze, and I’ll admit I was too. I had some stiff competition. I figured I might as well give indie publishing a shot.

So one day in July 2011, I put my book up. Zack Warren. The first book I’d completed. It had a cover I made on PowerPoint, and it had never been read by anyone. Ever. Just read aloud to Aunt Cindy.

In December of 2011, after mostly forgetting about my book, I saw an article about Amanda Hocking, and how she shot to the top of the lists selling indie books. I logged in to the author website, hoping that I’d sold a few copies. I didn’t think I’d sell any.

I wasn’t being pessimistic, but the sheer size of the kindle store, and the amazing authors that had so many fans, seemed daunting to me. I had no idea how to market, or tweet, or even make a Facebook fan page.

I’d sold 569 copies.

I logged off. Then I logged back in thinking I must have logged into someone else’s account. Right. That’s not my account. Then I sat there, thinking that I had 569 page views. That seemed more like it. I was so excited. Readers had viewed my page!!!

After staring at the screen a while longer, it finally sunk in that I’d sold 569 copies of Zack Warren.

Holy freaking cow.

I called my mother at work, screaming into the phone. Telling her what had happened. She was just as shocked. I couldn’t contain my excitement, and spent the afternoon calling anyone and everyone I knew.

I think I may have told the mailman….

Anyway, after I realized people were actually buying my books, I put up Chasing McCree. The book that changed everything. I really felt like an author, something I’d never experienced before. I hoped that readers connected to it, the way I did when I wrote it.

I kept writing, and uploading books to kindle. I worked my little fingers to the bone. I started backwards, essentially. I put up a book, and then had to figure out what exactly I was doing as an indie author.

That is something I don’t recommend doing if you want to keep your sanity when you start out :)

And when people ask me how I did it, I can honestly say I’m not exactly sure. I think some of it has to do with luck…well, a lot of it. A lot has to do with luck. A good cover boosted my sales. I did a couple blog tours. But mostly I just interacted with people. I talked to them. I wrote emails back to readers that were five pages long. I was just being myself.

The most important thing you can ever do, no matter what business you are in, is to be approachable. Be relatable and accessible, not untouchable.

As my mother says, we all put on our pants the same way.

One leg at a time.

Self-publishing has been a blessing in disguise in so many ways. I’ll never stop writing, and I’ll certainly never stop publishing my books.

I’d love to hear from other aspiring authors, or established authors, about their adventure into self-publishing. Or publishing in general. And I love answering questions, so if you ever have any about self-publishing, or feel like a chat, I’m an open book. Just ask away ;)