Moonbeams-Werelove Blog Tour - Lakisha Spletzer

Just what is an indie author anyway? At a recent in-person event, this question was asked of those of us on the panel. We all chimed in, but the question still left me with much food for thought. Which brings me to today's post.

Over the past few weeks of the blog tour, I've met some amazing readers as well as bloggers who were kind enough to allow me to stop there. Becoming an indie author has been an amazing journey for me. It wasn't something I had originally planned on, but hey, I've got a bold spirit and usually game for trying new things.

I'll admit it, I wanted the publishing deal, the agent, the whole works. But when reality set in, and my constant research into the industry yielded valuable insights and lessons about writing and publishing, I began to tentatively consider indie publishing.

Back then, I knew it as self-publishing. Like many, I had some of the mistaken beliefs such as self-pubbed works were not as of good quality in the writing department and that being self-published meant they couldn't cut it in the traditional world of publishing. In other words, self-published = failure.

However, as I worked toward completion of my first novel, I met several self-published authors who began to change my mind. I still decided to go the traditional route and after several rejections (all along the lines of, "Nice story, but not what we want at this particular moment"), the idea of being self-published became more appealing. I've always been a bit of an entrepreneur so I leaped headlong into learning all I could about self-publishing.


It was about about that time that I discovered two things: Harper Collins' online slush pile, Authonomy.com and an ad for Createspace.com. I signed up with both after reading through everything on the individual sites.

I still use Authonomy as a testing ground of sorts for my novels whenever I'm looking for feedback. And one of the advantages to the online slush pile is that those who make it to the Editor's Desk are sometimes offered contracts with Harper Collins.

Being an indie author does require a lot of work because you have to do everything: finding an editor, finding a cover artist, marketing & promoting and networking. But in the end, I think the pros outweigh the cons, at least for me. I like the freedom of choosing my covers, how my novels are marketed and setting up events to promote my works. Being indie published isn't for everyone. If you take pride in your work, then you definitely can't go wrong.