Mistakes Indie Authors Make

Please stop doing these things.

I have been a published indie author for eight years now, and I love it. Being an indie author was a conscious decision on my part and one that I am happy I made.

Years ago, when I first started writing with the idea to put a book out into the world, the hot topic amongst writers was how to get an agent, how to query your book, and ultimately, how to break into the publishing world with your masterpiece. I too had this on my horizon. I spent many hours poring over the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook with the hopes of finding someone to represent me and my work.

I am a book lover, and really, what writer isn’t? (And yes, I know some authors don’t like to read. Don’t set me off on that one). It was through my reading I discovered authors starting to publish their own work through Amazon Kindle Direct. It was an eye-opener for me and something that felt right.

I have a friend who is a traditionally published author. She used to write for Mills & Boon and has over forty books with them. We would talk books over dinner, discuss writing over wine, and always, the thing I noticed the most was how upset she would get when she’d been told her book title needed changing, or the cover the publisher had chosen was one she hated. One time, she told me how they’d rewritten almost half of her book. She was heartbroken, and heartbroken to the point she hasn’t published since. As far as I am aware, she isn’t even writing.

It wasn’t the writing that had killed it for her. She loved that. It was the changes, the marketing, the idea that it isn’t your story, but more of a piece for someone else to sell. Art, creativity and the capitalist world rarely go together.

I never wanted to go through what she went through, and why would I?

It is hard to describe to someone what writing a true book feels like, and when I say true book, I mean writing the book we wanted to write. Not the book that was written to market. I have a friend at the moment who has been writing to market for a few years, and he hates it. All that creative enthusiasm has gone for him.

I brag that I wrote my book, Fractured, in ten days. It was a hundred-thousand-word book, and I hammered out ten thousand words a day for ten…

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