Ladies & gents, welcome back to the
YA Indie Blog Carnival!
Today’s main attraction:
Why Indie?
Why indeed.
It was the summer of 2010 and I had just gotten my brand-new-to-me iPhone. While loading it up with a bunch of super cool apps and pointless games (i.e. Angry Birds), I was the most excited about the Kindle app. Over the course of the next several weeks, I became slightly…um…obsessive about checking Amazon.com for new reading material and their oh-so-enticing “also-bought” feature. While browsing around on there I stumbled across Amanda Hocking’s My Blood Approves and I thought, “$.99 for a book?! I’m all over that.” So I bought it and consequently ended up buying AND reading the next two books in the series within the space of 24 hours.
So in the beginning, I guess you could say that reading Indie mostly had to do with price point. They were the books that fit within my miniscule book budget. As I kept reading throughout this last year though, reading Indie became less about the dollar signs and more about the quality of the work that exists among Indie books, networking with authors, the awesome community that’s risen up around the Indie publishing movement, and the idea that one is no longer dependent on anyone else but themselves to make the dream of becoming a published author a tangible reality. These are the reasons I find Indie so appealing and why I read it. Actually, my love of Indie books is one of the reasons I started this blog. I haven’t come across a lot of blogs who feature Indie books — though I’m sure there are a bunch I’m just not aware of. One of the things I really want to do with this silly blog is to help Indie authors by giving them another avenue to spread the word about their books and to give my readers a little heads-up about some awesome Indie reads.
To readers who are a little shy about dipping their toes into Indie waters, let me just clear up a couple common misconceptions about Indie books. Yes, Indie books are cheap, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the quality of the work is lesser than a traditionally published book. Are there some real duds out there in Indie-land? Of course there are, just as is true with traditional publishing. Just because an author is traditionally published with an agent, a well-designed marketing campaign and a huge advance doesn’t mean their work is going to be awe-inspiring. I’ve read a ton of great Indie books in the last year, some of them penned by my fellow blog carnies; books that are not “Oh, it was good for an Indie” but books that are excellent regardless of the publishing method.
Another misconception that some hold about Indie authors/publishing is that these are the writers who couldn’t hack it in traditional publishing. While at times this may be true, while the writers just may have had a hard time finding representation, etc., a lot of authors are turning to Indie publishing as their FIRST choice. Why? There are actually a lot of reasons why authors would choose Indie over traditional publishing: control over their final product, owning the rights to their final product, and a possibly higher profit margin since they don’t have to deal with a million middle men. Sure there are downsides to Indie publishing such as the fact that the self-published author is in charge of EVERYTHING regarding their books — marketing, PR, design, maintaining a web presence, editing, etc. But despite that, the pros to going Indie are pretty appealing, are they not?
Anyway, never fear. I’m stepping down off my soapbox now. But seriously, if you haven’t picked up an Indie book, I suggest that you give it a go. Perhaps check out a book from the blog carnival authors listed below:
So why do you read/not read Indie?
Dani
P.S. – Remember to sign up for the July New Release Giveaway Hop for the chance to win some awesome books!
Love hearing about your book buying compulsion, Dani–you’re not the first person I’ve heard say it, either. And yes, Indie has changed so much in the last few years–mainly because we’ve been forced into change (I for one am all for it!) Great post!
Yes, I do have a book buying problem. And having a ton of super affordable books literally right at my fingertips is a dangerous, dangerous thing…lol.
I love the price point of indie books. It’s kind of jaw-dropping, but makes everything seem affordable!
Yes, it’s kind of jaw dropping when you go back and look at your Kindle library and how much you spent on books in a month….even $.99 books add up after a while. “But it’s ONLY $.99.” 😉 lol
Hi Dani,
I loved your post today. I was really touched and inspired by your words. They really tugged at my heart as an indie author. I felt like I had my own personal cheer leader as I was reading your words of wisdom. Thanks for the awesome post, encouraging words and promotion of everything indie!
Amy Jones
Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy
Sure thing! So glad you were encouraged!
Dani,
It’s nice to hear your perspective. Especially about the quality of the stories told, regardless of how they’ve been published. Also, like Amy says, it’s nice to hear you speak about the misconceptions out there. It’s like John Locke says in his new book, some thing like, it’s interesting that independent publishing is the only business where a person invests their time, sweat and energy into it and it’s looked down upon. In every other business it’s admirable.
I’d never thought about it in John Locke’s terms before, but yeah, it’s sadly true. Here’s to breaking down those misconceptions.
What a well-written, insightful and downright amazing post! You ROCK, Dani:)
No….YOU rock 😉 Thanks M
It is wonderful to read about others who are as passionate as me about a movement so empowering. I’ve accomplished a lot of things in my professional life, but not one of those achievements have been as meaningful as getting reviews and/or messages from people who love my humble story as much as me. Without Indie, this would not have been possible. It is obvious you understand the significance of allowing the reading masses to decide what gets read rather than permitting a choosen few to control book selections FOR the reading masses.
Thanks!
It’s such a revolutionary idea…letting the readers decide. And the thing is, it shouldn’t be. We should have been deciding this for ourselves all along. now with Indie, we finally get to have a say. Go Indie! 😉
As a writer who couldn’t ‘hack it’ in the traditional realm, let me just go on record as saying that I am so glad I went indie. Sure, I would have liked the distribution and mentoring that (I imagine) comes from a regular publishing contract, but that’s about it.
Being able to have complete control over the cover, title, fonts–you name it–actually turned out to be incredibly important to me.
People come to indie publishing for a variety of reasons and I am just thankful for this outlet that did not exist before!
Thanks for being a supporter and cheerleader of indies!
Cyndi
You’re welcome! I agree that although the resources of the big houses might be nice to have at your disposal, the amount of control you retain over your work as an Indie would be too great to pass up. Glad you decided to go Indie and that you’re here with us in the Indie Carnival!