Our Gift to You: Knowledge and Author Humor

snowflake holiday shopping timeHere at Indies Unlimited, we’ve been taking pride in supporting the indie author community for more than six years. We’ve won accolades and honors, and those are great – but that’s not why we do it. We do it to help others – to prevent them from being preyed upon by vanity presses, and to save newbie authors from struggling to figure out how to publish.

Everyone at IU – minions past and present – works for free. And not only do they work for free here on the blog, but many of them put themselves out there and give self-publishing seminars free of charge. This is, indeed, a wonderful community.

And speaking of free – yes, IU is free, but we do incur quite a lot of expenses each year maintaining this monstrosity of a superblog. If you want to help out, you can donate through PayPal, or you can simply click through on a Thrifty Thursday book (or a book in the sidebar) and then make some purchases on Amazon. Every little bit helps.

In the spirit of free – here’s a little something I put together this year to help authors. I hope you enjoy the video – and all of us here at IU hope you are never “that guy.”

Happy Holidays to you and yours.

How to Produce a Professional Book from BiblioBoard Library on Vimeo.

A Self-Publishing Book Worth Reading…

for love or money by susan kaye quinnThere are so many books out there about publishing and marketing and writing and…well, it can get a little overwhelming. Whose advice do you follow? Which author is right? I’ve read a fair few since publishing my first novel in 2011 and one I recently came across was a total revelation. I found it really helpful and inspiring, so I wanted to share it with you.

For Love or Money by Susan Kaye Quinn is well worth a read. In this book she unpacks the difference between writing books you love and writing books to earn money. I didn’t even realize there was a difference, but there really is. Continue reading “A Self-Publishing Book Worth Reading…”

Dear Indie Author: Please Write as Fast (or Slow) as You Want

write fast or slow pixabay clock-92130_640Earlier this week, Huffington Post published an article by Lorraine Devon Wilke addressed to “Self-Published Authors,” asking them NOT to write four books per year. It was a long article, but the gist was: no one can write four good books per year. Not you, not I, no one.

Horse puckey. I thought the indie community had hashed this all out years ago, but here it is again: the old “If you’re fast, you can’t be good” chestnut, raising its hoary head once again in the form of a clickbait article on HuffPo. Just because I don’t write four books per year doesn’t mean I think it’s impossible. I can’t run 100 meters in under ten seconds, but Usain Bolt does it all the time. Continue reading “Dear Indie Author: Please Write as Fast (or Slow) as You Want”

Indie Book Blunders: A Reader’s Moment of Doubt

quotes by famous authors about bad booksI need convincing. I need convincing that it’s worth my while continuing to read books by independent authors.

Before you start shouting, ‘Defector, defector’, hear me out, please.

My Kindle has been one of my favourite purchases (I pretty much take my Kindle everywhere). It’s up there with my ice-cream maker (seriously, home-made ice cream is to die for, seriously), my MX5 (oh, I’m so in love with my car) and my latest bicycle (yes, I’m the female version of a MAMIL).

My first task upon receipt of my beloved Kindle was to download books onto it. Where to look? Amazon, of course, but via Facebook friends, I found some interesting book groups: groups frequented by independent authors, who, I discovered, were keen to give readers free copies of books in return for an honest review. Excellent! It wasn’t the free books that attracted me, I hasten to add (by this time I had, in fact, gone slightly beserk on Amazon, and my bill that first month of Kindle ownership was a bit…ahem…and caused raised eyebrows and dropped jaws on Mr S) but avenues leading to a source of potentially good books. Continue reading “Indie Book Blunders: A Reader’s Moment of Doubt”