Tag: indie publishing

Ed’s Casual Friday: Happy B-Day, IU

In lieu of a full-on post today, I just want to say Happy First Birthday (give or take 24 hours) to the Indies Unlimited site which you find yourself looking at this very moment.

The phenomenon known as “Indie” authorship is, when you get down to it, still in its infancy. The possibilities opened up by e-books are a quantum leap from anything that has ever been available to writers before. It has never been anywhere near this easy for someone to get something they have written in front of a huge readership, in a form that is wholly equivalent to what a massive publishing house can produce. Continue reading “Ed’s Casual Friday: Happy B-Day, IU”

You Asked for It: Melody Stiles

A while back, Indies Unlimited ran a post asking readers if there were topics they would like to see discussed here. The one I chose to address comes from Melody Stiles, who asks:

“Why is there still such a stigma, even among writers, about self-publishing?”

I’d figured I would take a stab at this one, as I can admit “self-publishing” does carry a bit of a stigma for me, or at least it does under that name. Continue reading “You Asked for It: Melody Stiles”

Do Your Due Diligence

I’m sure you have one of those relatives who forwards scary emails to you. Sometimes it’s about how you should always check the back seat of your car when you get in, in case a rapist or murderer is hiding there. Sometimes it’s about how some Internet virus is going to wipe your hard drive and steal your identity and all your hubcaps. It’s frustrating because the warnings are nearly always bogus, and the person who sent the email would have known that if he or she had just bothered to go to Snopes.com before hitting “send.” Which you know because you checked it out at Snopes.com yourself, didn’t you? Continue reading “Do Your Due Diligence”

Trad. vs Indie, a Personal View – Encore

Author John Barlow
Author John Barlow

[John’s on hiatus, so let’s revisit his post which started it all. Enjoy. – The Editors.]

I’ve been lucky as an author. Without ever making it onto the bestseller lists, I’ve managed to keep going as a free-lance writer since I quit my day job in 2004. Work as a journalist and ghost-writer has helped to make ends meet, but writing books for traditional publishers has been the main focus of my energy.

However, I recently began to ask myself whether it still made sense for a mid-lister like me to keep chasing traditional book deals as part of the professional mix of a free-lancer? As the indie revolution gains momentum, more and more writers are thinking of jumping ship. Last year I indie-published a humorous novel to test the water, using a pseudonym. The experience was strangely enjoyable, so with my latest serious work of fiction, a crime mystery, I’ve gone totally Kindle (and Kobo etc.). Here are a few thoughts on my experiences on my trad-to-indie switch. Continue reading “Trad. vs Indie, a Personal View – Encore”