Five Things I LOVE About Being an Indie Author

And Five Things I Hate

FIVE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT BEING AN INDIE HORROR AUTHOR
(And four things I hate.)

*Disclaimer – this isn’t me hating on traditional publishing in the slightest. This is purely my experience as an indie author. There are pros and cons to both types of publishing.

Things I Love…

1. The creative freedom to write whatever the hell I want.

With traditional publishing, there is often parameters placed on what you should be writing. If your book doesn’t fit a trend or niche, the chances of it getting picked up by a publisher are slim-to-none. If you self-publish you’re able to write the book YOU want to write, not the book the market dictates.

2. The community and the connections.

A significant part of being an indie author comes down to the connections you make and the community you find yourself in. In the indie community, in my experience, these connections and friendships are easier to forge as you’re able to interact more closely with other authors and professionals (editors, cover designers, etc).

3. You have the final say in all creative decisions.

This is a big one for a lot of authors. From choosing the editor you work with, to the cover designer, to choosing whether you go for Kindle Unlimited or ‘wide’, it’s all your decision. I’ve seen authors with trad publishing contracts hate their covers and not be able to do anything about it, for example.

4. Interactions with readers.

Getting your book in front of the right readers is, perhaps, the hardest part of being an indie author. However, the relationships formed with those readers are a lot closer, in my experience. I know many of my readers by name. I know which other authors they love.

5. Deciding your own deadlines (and release dates!).

As an indie author, I make the decisions about when my books will be released. I make the deadlines for myself. I know what I need to do, by when, and whether that’s do-able. If it isn’t do-able, I have the ability to change the deadlines, no problem. It may seem like a little thing, but we live in a busy world, and we all have busy lives, and deadlines can be tough to make (and even tougher to change).

Things I Hate…

1. MARKETING.

I’m not going to lie, I seriously hate it. It sucks! Getting your books in front of the right readers is a minefield. Do you do Facebook ads? Maybe Amazon ads? Newsletters? Who the hell knows. If you’ve figured it out, please share your magic with me. Being an indie author means you have to be a Jack of all trades. You can’t just write the book and hand it off to a publishing company for them to do all the other stuff that comes along with publishing a book. You have to figure that shit out for yourself. And it’s difficult, and there aren’t enough hours in a day.

2. The stigma of being ‘self-published’, or ‘indie published’.

I could write essay after essay on this and the reasons behind the stigma. However, that’s something for another day. All I’ll say is this, self-publishing (when done right) is not the ‘easy route’, it’s not a ‘cop out’ (I’m looking at you Jodi Picoult). It’s hard AF. You are your own team. You do EVERYTHING BY YOURSELF. Yes, there’s some absolute crap self-published, but don’t tar us all with the same brush. Some trad books aren’t all that great either.

3. The financial side of things.

Being an indie author is an expensive thing to do, especially initially. You have to pay for the editing, the covers, the computer, the writing programs, the marketing courses. It all comes out of your own pocket, and that can be tough if you don’t have a previous backlog of books to fund your next one.

4. Trying to garner publicity for your books feels icky.

Asking people to buy your book is not fun. It feels gross. None of us like doing it. When we recommend our own books on social media posts, just know that we’re cringing too. It’s part of the game. And I believe I speak on behalf of all authors when I say we hate it!

5. It can take a while to find your community.

At the start, you may not know which authors to approach. Which ones are the ‘good’ ones and which are just using you to sell their own books? It can be impossible to tell. Relationships aren’t forged overnight. It takes a while to collect a community of authors who are mutually supportive of one another. You want to surround yourself with people who make you a better author, those who inspire you. Trust your gut on this one.

In Conclusion..

I love being an indie author. Like anything, it has its upsides and downsides. The major downside is the ability to get your book in front of readers. You’ll never have the same marketing budget as a big traditional publishing house and that’s just that, so you have to try and find your own way to help the right readers find your book. I am truly thankful to be part of such a supportive community. The indie horror space is genuinely one of the best spaces online.

Whether you’re indie or trad published, I’d love to hear about your experiences.