In the first post of my Ask an Author blog series, I’m posing the question: Why would anyone indie publish when there are so many publishing companies out there who will do most of the work for you besides the actual writing of your book? Good question! It was one I had to answer for myself as well.
When I started writing my debut novel, A Heart to Cherish,* last July, I had a pretty good idea I was going to indie publish. After all, some of my favorite Christian romance authors are indie authors. I figured, if they can do it, why not me? As I wrote, I also researched self-publishing versus traditional and put a lot of thought and prayer into the decision. For me, I only had a VERY brief period of time where I considered one small press publisher.
So what is the difference?
When you indie publish, the buck stops with you. While you have creative control over every aspect of your book, you are also responsible for ensuring you are putting out a quality product. When you go through a traditional publisher, they make sure your book is edited, formatted, copyrighted, and has a genre appropriate cover. Since they are buying the book from you, you may have to make some creative concessions. For example, during the editing process, you may be asked to change things that you don’t necessarily want to, and you may not get much say in what your cover looks like.
Depending on the person, this can be a good or a bad thing. For me, this was actually the part that was a deal breaker. Even though I went into the process with a sense that indie was right for me, I looked into some Christian publishing companies in order to do my “due diligence” and examine things from every angle. What I found was that on most of their submission guidelines, they had something to say about the amount of Christian content that was allowed in what they would publish. I didn’t want to have to limit how much Jesus I put into my books based on someone else’s preferences.
The creative aspect of designing my own cover also appealed to me. Originally, I designed two covers that I loved that I let my friends and family vote on. It was so close that I decided to keep both of them and use one for Alex and Julia’s story and the other for one of the later stories in the series. When I got closer to the cover reveal, I felt a check about the cover. When I prayed about it, I went back to the drawing board and redesigned it…again! The cover that it has now is my third try, and I’m so glad I didn’t settle. I’ve had so many people comment on how beautiful the cover is. I wouldn’t have had that much say over the cover in traditional publishing.
Couldn’t the benefits outweigh the downsides?
Sure…for some people. I don’t want to knock what traditional publishers bring to the table by any means. There are plenty of people who have been successful getting traditionally published. You need to take a look at what those benefits are and whether they outweigh what you’ll get through indie publishing.
I attended an online Christian writing conference last November, and I learned that in traditional publishing, it can take years to have one book published. The favorite Christian authors I mentioned before? They both put out many books every year. I know they both have over fifty books self-published already. That’s pretty amazing, and I hope to reach that kind of writing stamina eventually. They probably wouldn’t have been able to do that waiting on traditional publishers.
But can’t the publishers get you into bookstores? Well…if that’s important to you, some of them can do that easier than others. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll stay there. Did you know that you’ll have to do your own marketing to keep yourself in the bookstores anyway? And by the way…you can ask a bookstore to carry your books as an indie author too. A friend of mine published a book, and she’s getting them in all kinds of stores–not just bookstores! Whether you’re indie or traditional, you’ll still need to market your book!
So why indie?
It’s really a personal choice for each author, but for me, it seemed right. I endeavor to be led by the Holy Spirit, and as I wrote my book and took steps toward self-publishing, I got each new piece of information that I needed. God was faithful to provide the people and the programs along the way. I learned so much from the first one, and I was able to publish it in eight months from the first word to release day. I pray that as I learn and grow as a writer and publisher, each new story will come quicker. Hopefully as they do, I will reach more and more people with stories of hope and encouragement and love.
Does that mean I wouldn’t traditionally publish if He led me to do so? Well, no. I always want to be led by God in everything that I do. If there is a story that He asks me to write that needs a traditional publisher, then I will do all that I can to make sure it happens. For now, I know that indie publishing is right for me.
So, what additional questions do you have about writing or publishing? Something about the process or my own personal author journey? Or did you read A Heart to Cherish and have questions about it? If your enquiring mind wants to know, I want to write about it! Let me know in the comments, and you may see your question in an upcoming Ask an Author post!
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