Chronicles of an Indie Author

If there is one thing that I enjoyed most about the beginning of my career as an indie author, it was finding the people of like minds who were diligently trying to achieve the same goal.

We were all writing and searching for success.

Yeah, success. One thing I noticed about the groups of authors in my circle was that we wanted more than just to write the book. The gargantuan success that it is to write a book is not to be pushed aside, but a good amount of us wanted to make an actual living doing it. And many have.

Several authors who I met when they were writing their first book are now making a decent, or better than decent living off of their books. They work hard at more than just writing to make this happen. When you are an indie author, you are more than just a writer, you are running a business and that means you have a lot more to do than just write. After a while you might make enough that you can delegate some of this work to an assistant or hire for some services, but in the beginning, for most people, it’s just you. More on that in another post.

I keep saying back then, and it’s hard to believe that it was only ten or eleven years ago that this was such a different world. We, as like-minded people after the same things, rallied around each other and supported the heck out of each other. Today, it’s sort of still like that on a smaller scale, but definitely not like it was.

And the readers! You guys, the readers were, and still are, amazing! I am still friends with so many that were there at the very beginning. When we first began, in the new era of indie publishing, readers loved that they could connect so easily with authors. The readers are the reason that we write, and to get so much love for our work on a constant basis was something that I can’t really even put to words, which is saying a lot for me.

Between the authors and the readers, I had found my tribe.

People I’d never met in real life. These amazing people were the reason that I began to have the little bit of success that I did. These were the people who were there for me through the ups and downs of my career. They became part of my personal life too.

I will never forget this one moment. I was sick and hadn’t been online for a few days. Now, before we get all crazy about my amount of time online, I spent a lot of time on social media networking and marketing my books. It was just what we had to do. So anyway, I don’t know how she got my phone number, but a fellow author called me and after an awkward, introduction since it was the first time we had spoken on the phone, she told me she was worried about me since she hadn’t seen me online.

Dude… Someone I never met in actual, real life, was worried about my welfare. And she is one of my best author friends to this day.

I have so many stories that are similar to that one.

In real life, I am an introvert. Granted, an extroverted introvert, if there is such a thing. I’m very good with people and like being around them, but I highly value my alone time and need the alone time more than anything. So, to find a whole tribe of people who would eventually become MY people, is a blessing I am thankful for.

It is hard to be an author and not be part of the community of people in the book world, be it other authors or readers, or both. It is necessary to be present and network with those who read your work, those who potentially may read your work and those who are write in the same market as you.

I’m not saying that everyone will become part of your tribe. But some will, and those will be the ones that matter.

Part 3 will be coming soon. If there is something particular you’d like to know about being an indie author, feel free to drop a comment and let me know.