Why I Love Being Indie

So, the wonderful people with #indiebooksbeseen directed me to this amazing post by Christina Rozelle called, 10 Things that SUCK (and ROCK!) about Being an Indie Author (Part 1).  What she has to say about Indie publishing is so spot on and expresses so many of the sentiments I've felt myself.

If you are an Indie author, or know one, or plan to be one, I would definitely check her out...she has so much to bring to the Indie table.

That being said, it is getting to be involved with people such as Christina that make being an Indie author all worth the challenges.  Coming together with her and all of the spectacular people with #indiebooksbeseen and those amazing bloggers who take the time from their busy lives to support the Indie life, make you feel part of a family.

I won't lie; self-publishing is like sitting on a bed of hot coals.  You keep thinking to yourself that if you just get off now, the burning flesh might be a bit salvageable, but then your skin heals over and you think you can hold out for a bit longer.  Every day offers another punch in the gut when you see you haven't sold a book or someone left a nasty review (or you don't have any reviews at all).  You wonder why you ever bothered getting into the business and maybe all of the traditional publishing people were right when they turned down your work.

These are the darkest of days.

And then you wake up one morning and find that you love the smell of your hot coal-burning-flesh.  That you can't wait to spend six hours on twitter bragging about how tremendous your book is or how everyone must read it or how everyone who is anyone already has.  You light up thinking of all the bloggers in the world who are bound to review your book any day now.

And do you know why?

Because you get to wake up every morning knowing that nothing stood in your way to publishing the masterpiece you worked so hard to perfect.  You didn't let the dozens (or hundreds) of NOs get you down.  You wouldn't listen when everyone told you to give up.  You had all the courage and faith you needed from the beginning, and to hell with the doubters.

You get to call yourself an author.  And it doesn't matter if you've sold 1 copy to your mom or a thousand copies to strangers; you are finally sending those characters out from under you bed and into the world.

For this reason, I love being INDIE.  Without this world, I wouldn't have had the strength to trust my novels.  I would have forever listened to those who turned me down, telling me I wasn't good enough.

Self-publishing opens up so much more for authors.  We GET to choose what stays or what goes; we GET to pick out our covers and fonts and word choices; we GET to be free.

Because we are INDIE-pendent, and we are INDIE-vidual and we are INDIE-structable.

Don't lose hope.  We are in this together!

Check out Christina's amazing post Here