The Happy Nerd: Some thoughts on Indie Publishing

I?ve been talking to a lot of independent authors lately, and one thing I?ve discovered about them is that they write a lot.

I started the "Indie Spotlight" feature here on THN because I wanted to showcase some of the hard-working writers who are bucking the old system and making the new one work for them.? But I also wanted to learn from them, to find out how they market their books, what drives them, and what makes them successful.? And the informal research I?ve done has uncovered a fact that I find particularly interesting?the more you write as an author, the more successful you?ll be.
Okay, maybe you?re thinking that sounds ridiculously obvious.? Clearly the more books you have for sale, the more you?re going to sell.? But I?m talking about something just a shade different.? I?m talking about changing the old model that authors have labored under for years, the whole ?one book a year? rule that I was taught when I first got into publishing more than a decade ago.? Back then, a writer had to be a pretty big name to convince his publishing house to put out more than one book a year.? Either that or the author could have more than one house, a situation with its own challenges.? But self-publish?? No way.? Back in 2000, that wasn?t even a serious option.? If a writer wanted to be truly prolific, he or she could try a pseudonym.? But good luck trying to get anyone to take your self-published stuff seriously.
Oh, how times have changed!? Indie authors have no qualms about putting out two, three, or even more books a year now.? The old fear that their readers might get turned off by so much output has been thoroughly debunked.? And doesn?t that just make sense?? Honestly, you finish reading a book, love it, and then have to wait a year or more for the next one in the series?? My own readers know the pain of that scenario.? My loyal, fantastic readers have been waiting for my upcoming book THE FOREVER KNIGHT for years.? I don?t want to offend anyone here, but the truth is only a small portion of that delay is my fault.? The rest of the blame lies within a sloth-like publishing system.? There?s one thing that all writers know?publishing equals waiting.

If you?re as old as I am, you probably remember how music was back in the 70s.? Forgive me, but I loved the 70s.? I was a kid, happy, innocent, and totally unaware that pretty soon, the freedom of musical artists to put out albums as often as they could would disappear.? Somewhere along the line, music executives decided that it would be better for artists to put out an album every two or three years.? Were albums better that way?? Maybe.? Maybe books are better when an author takes a long time to write them.? But I don?t think so.? Speaking for myself, the best books I?ve written were the ones that took the shortest time to write, because I was focused and inspired and had momentum.

So to the independent authors out there, let me borrow a phrase from the 70s?Keep on Truckin.? Let the books flow.? Don?t worry about the so-called glut of ebooks.? If you?re a writer, you need to write.

Source: http://happynerdjohn.blogspot.com/2012/09/some-thoughts-on-indie-publishing.html

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