Why I Love Indie Authors!

When I noticed that Terri Guiliano Long, author of In Leah’s Wake, plus a huge supporter of both book bloggers and Indie authors, was doing a Celebrating Book Bloggers event, I knew I was in.  Why? In case you missed my earlier posts, Terri has been a wonderful support to me as a baby book blogger and an entrepreneur. I have truly grown to adore this woman whom I have never met, speak with mainly through email, yet the goodness in her heart is evident in her support and offering a hand up to those working their way through the mire of the Indie publishing world, both as bloggers and/or authors. As I have gotten to know others in the Indie world, although Terri is a special character, I have seen that a large chunk of Indie authors who share her warm, welcoming, supportive traits to others going along the Indie path.

 

OK, back to the topic at hand…why do I love Indie books?  I have to be honest; my first intro to the Indie world was because anyone who has known me for a tiny amount of time knows I am cheap! As I was wandering around the Amazon pages, I saw that I could get books for cheaper than those of the traditional publishing houses, sometimes even for free, and figured I would give them a try. Heck, what did I have to lose? Once I did, I was hooked! I couldn’t believe that I was getting books that, in my opinion, were of the same or higher quality as ones that were being charged huge bucks for.

My deep commitment for Indies really started when I started to research the Indie process. For the committed Indie author, it isn’t a process for the faint of heart. As a business person, I am always fascinated by differences in practices and I determined that with Indie publishing the author is responsible for the whole shebang, not simply authoring a book. There is no big publishing house staff to edit, produce, market or sell their books. The author manages the whole process. For those who truly throw their heart and soul into bringing their books to market, that to me isn’t a task to take lightly.  I have always said that for the Indie author, their book is a small business. How intimidating can that be? Yet indie authors have the courage to face this challenge on a daily basis in seeking out ways to get light shed on their books.

Recently, I was speaking to someone about the impact of the Indie publishing world on large publishing houses. It is also my answer to those who have closed minds about reading Indie authors. We are seeing some large publishing houses now using the Indie publishing world as the minor leagues before offering contracts to successful Indie authors. These authors, after successful sales of books, are offered contracts for the successful book(s) or for future titles. Let’s not forget to mention that we are now seeing large publishing houses compete with the Indie world for spots on popular best-seller lists, including the New York Times and USA Today. So, the old adage of what came first the chicken or the egg turns to what made these authors successful…their writing or the traditional publishing house contracts.

Now, does that mean that all Indie authors fit into these criteria? No, but I can tell the reader of this post that I have given just as many one and two star reviews to traditional publishing house authors as I have Indie authors. The reverse can also be said. In a world, where dried up, cookie cutter, overproduced authors are shoved down readers' throats as a result of powerful marketing campaigns and sales staging, I have had the pleasure to read fresh, new and eager authors through the Indie world.

So on a final note, in the Naomi Blackburn world, why would I pay $25 for an overproduced author’s novel that I am paying more for the traditional publishing houses’ overhead when I can pay $5 or less for a high quality novel without the overhead?!?!