Happy Indie Author Day: Why We Love Indie Authors

by | Oct 7, 2016 | Book Marketing Basics

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In honor of Indie Author Day tomorrow (Saturday, October 8), I wanted to take some time to explain why I love indie authors, and by extension, why I do what I do.

I remember a long (long) time ago, I read a tiny piece in the New York Times about a company called FatBrain. At that time they were experimenting with a printing system called POD (print-on-Demand) which would essentially only print books as they were needed. I became so curious about this process that I began researching FatBrain and this new process. This way of printing was destined to revolutionize the industry, but few in publishing realized it at the time. Because I had always longed to get published, I took a gamble and published this way for my first book and I soon realized that this was going to be something that would forever change the way publishing worked.

Back then, the big New York publishers didn’t pay it much mind. In fact, most kind of thought it was just silly – even vanity to publish this way. But people had stories to tell and soon, FatBrain became iUniverse which was (at that time) one of the leaders in self-publishing.

Within the first two years of this new self-publishing revolution, what started out as nothing – soon grew to 500 books being published each day in this country. Now, however, that number is much higher – 4,500 to be exact. Clearly, we have stories to tell.

It’s taken a long time for self-publishing to go from the little step-child who wasn’t quite invited to the party – to being called Indie Publishing and is now the coolest kid on the block.

We have been fortunate over the years to work with many great authors. We occasionally work with those represented by a traditional publishing house, but by far the majority are independent authors who write phenomenally. We’ve worked with several bestselling authors, and in turn bestseller books. And we love the independent spirit of these indie authors and do everything we can do to empower them to succeed.

It’s too hard to mention everything we love best about Indie Authors, so here are some of the top reasons we love you, and why we continue to do what we do:

  1. Independent Spirit – Indie authors tend to follow their own path and work hard on their own to not just write and publish the books, but market them aggressively.
  1. Take “No” Prisoners Mentality – The word “No,” phases all of us, but as a rule, indie authors don’t let the word “no” stop them. If I stopped marketing a book every time I got a “No” or “No, thank you” response, I’d be out of business. Instead, we thank them and move on to the next person and continue to ask for placement, for reviews, for interviews… you get the picture.
  1. Being the “Little Guy” Isn’t Intimidating – it’s empowering – and in fact it’s so hip to be the little guy, that being indie is the new black.
  1. Think Outside the Box (or the book) – some of the most fabulous new trends have emerged from the indie world. Think: the eBook tsunami, eBook bundling, just to name two.
  1. Take Delight in One Another’s Successes – of all of the industries, authors are always the most supportive. They rally around each other, offer and share ideas. They’re just flat out the coolest.
  1. Their Ideas Matter – no matter the odds, people are still publishing. They are on fire about their ideas and want to share them with others.
  1. They want to change the world – one book at a time.

So here’s to you, Indie Author. Revel in your independence, revel in your creativity, and revel in the fact that you are out there, doing your own thing. You may not be famous and maybe your book won’t be made into a movie, but the mere fact you wrote a book, and published it – it’s pretty darned impressive.

Happy Indie Author Day to you all!

 

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