Thrilled to Join Indies Unlimited

melinda typingMarch 5, 2013: I remember it well. That was the date I officially started stalking Indies Unlimited. I was already familiar with the site and had periodically checked in, but that was the day IU got its own folder in my email account.

I had spent a great deal of the previous winter struggling with the decision to terminate contracts with my publisher and join the world of self-publishing. By spring, I knew that was the path I needed to take, but how? Kindle, Smashwords, Lightning Source, CreateSpace: It was all so confusing. Ultimately, I did the first thing I always do when starting a new venture: I made a list.

Then I did the second thing I always do when starting a new venture: I researched, Googling everything from, “What’s the difference between Lightning Source and CreateSpace?” to “What the heck is a Smashwords Meatgrinder?”

Indies Unlimited came up in the search results time and time again.

What, exactly, will CreateSpace do for me? I found the answer in Martin Crosbie’s post.

Contributor Lynn Cantwell provided a more recent CreateSpace update.

But what about Smashwords? I found answers in K.S. Brook’s post, Getting the Most out of Smashwords.

Kindle? Tons of information, and I started reading it all in D.V. Berkom’s post about Uploading Images and Text to Kindle.

You can see where I’m going with this. With three books to republish with as little interruption as possible and a new one on the back burner waiting for me to find it a home, I had a lot to learn in a limited amount of time. I scoured Indies Unlimited for answers, made notes, created folders, and finally felt confident enough to send my publisher the termination letter I’d been holding onto for weeks.

Since then, I’ve recommended the site to nearly every writer I know. Have a publishing question? Check Indies Unlimited. Have a print book under $15.00? Check Indies Unlimited for an invitation to post it.

Given all that, you can imagine how flattered and excited I was to receive an invitation to join the crew here. Nervous, too, I must admit. There’s such wonderful information here, what could I possibly have to offer?

What I hope to bring to the table is nitty-gritty, down-and-dirty plainspoken information regarding how to self-publish on a budget. I love to research, but even more than that, I love to share what I’ve learned.

That, I think, is the best thing about Indies Unlimited. It’s a welcoming place full of shared information for both readers and writers. And I’m very happy to be here.

Author: Melinda Clayton

Melinda Clayton is the author of the Cedar Hollow series, as well as a self-publishing guide. Clayton has published numerous articles and short stories in various print and online magazines. She has an Ed.D. in Special Education Administration and is a licensed psychotherapist in the states of Florida and Colorado. Lear more about Melinda at her Amazon author page

45 thoughts on “Thrilled to Join Indies Unlimited”

  2. Congratulations and a big official welcome to this most excellent community, Melinda, please allow me to introduce myself, I’m TD, the IU asset in Australia with the Sean Connery accent.

  4. Welcome, Melinda. Even though you will see me referred to at the “Evil mastermind,” remember that EVIL is just LOVE misspelled backwards. 😉 We look forward to your contributions.

  7. Loved your first post, Melinda. As a newbie to IU, I had a similar experience (alas not having to decide about terminating my publisher!) in needing info and almost always finding it here. Martin Crosbie is my hero for introducing me to IU and K.S. Brooks. Looking forward to more of your posts. What a lovely welcome from all your new colleagues!

    1. Thank you, Karen. I originally found IU through BigAl months and months ago, and I’ve learned so much from the posts here. It was really nice to have a reliable resource to help me learn how to do the things I quickly needed to learn how to do!

  9. It’s amazing how similar our stories are, Melinda! I began scouring IU this past summer. Now, I have a notebook dedicated to information I find on IU. LOL! I think if MORE Indie authors who are stuck with bad publishers knew about this website, they would have the courage to go out on their own, which is why I, too, spread the word about IU and the wonderful information here!

    1. I agree, Nicole. I think one of the hardest parts about terminating a contract with a publisher is feeling alone with no direction. But we aren’t alone, and we need to make sure to get that message out there.

  11. I am so looking forward to your posts, Melinda. Like you, I was stumbling around trying to learn epublishing. I was swimming in mud until a writer-in-the-know sent me to Indies Unlimited. It changed my career in misstep. That’s not a typo. No joke. I was misstepping all over the euniverse. We indie authors are so fortunate to have this site and the wealth of information that pours out of every single day. I am not a success, yet. But I hope one day to pop in say it’s so.

    1. Thank you, Jackie. It is a pretty amazing site – information on every topic, for free, in one handy place. And you’re writing, right? And enjoying it? In my book, that’s success. 🙂

  16. Hi Melinda, and welcome. 🙂 I’m the aussie without the Sean Connery accent. It’s so unfair, TD gets all the best lines. Looking forward to your first article. 🙂

          1. I’ve tried putting a pic in Gravatar but it only seems to work on some sites. Btw, call me Meeks. It’s my favourite nickname. 🙂

  17. Great to have you on board, Melinda. I’m looking forward to hearing your side of the story!

  18. You may have gathered that I’m invariably late to events and posts, even my own. I blame it on my age! A belated welcome aboard. It’s great to have you here and I’m also looking forward to hearing more about you.

  19. I wanted to wait until everyone was done to make sure no one used my schtick. Unfortunately, now I can’t remember what that was. But welcome! 🙂

  20. Welcome Melinda! Your post reminded me how much I too have to thank IU for. It was here that I read about ReadWave, which I joined a few weeks back, and because of that my little Readwave dolphin story called “First Brush” has been read by more thatn 2½ thousand readers in more 700 cities all over the world and has been translated into Hebrew and presented to the Japanese ambassador in Te Aviv. It not only won its challenge last week but by a bigger margin than any other challenge winner and helped get my novel selling better too. Thanks IU!

  21. Your persistent search for publishing information helped a lot of us in real time while you were doing it. Now that you’re at IU, even more people will learn all your secrets (er, book secrets).

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