Why I Went Indie

Today's guest post is from Jenny Hilborne, author of Madness and Murder, and No Alibi. Like a growing number of traditionally published authors, after giving it a great deal of thought, she made the decision to go the indie route with her newest release, Hide and Seek.  Here's why:

I can’t say I got tired of querying agents and publishers because I didn’t have to do it for long before I received my first publishing contract. I’m not a control freak. I don’t have a drawer full of unpublished manuscripts. The reason I went Indie is simply because the noise got too loud to ignore.

Two years ago, I saw my first thriller, Madness and Murder, published by a small press only one year after I completed the manuscript. I met my publisher at a writers conference in San Diego, spent thirty minutes discussing my book, and received a contract about 5 months later. The same publisher also signed my second thriller, No Alibi.

Book signings and other events followed. I connected with many other authors and started to hear the clamor about independent publishing. For a while, I rejected the idea, wrapped in my traditionally published bubble. As the noise and excitement grew, I got curious…and a little envious. I wanted the same kind of freedom to offer special promotions on my titles and play around with my prices, like all the other authors I'd befriended, some of them now bestsellers.

Here are some more reasons why I went indie for my third thriller, Hide and Seek: 

I’m doing all my own marketing for my traditionally published titles, and I’m paying 100% of the costs. On top of a full-time job and a 30+ hour per week writing schedule, I have to squeeze in time for promoting my novels. As a traditionally published author, I have to sell twice as many books than my independently published counterparts to recover my costs from all events and paid promotions.

I also don’t want to wait a whole year after signing contracts for my book to see print. While I understand that publishers have schedules, it’s a year of lost income while I wait. Not good.

The stories of success shared from some of my fellow (independently published) authors, encouraged me to give it a go. Many of them started out like I did, made the switch to indie, and haven’t looked back. They connected me with a great cover artist and interior formatter and gave me a little shove. I want to compare the experience, to have more freedom, to learn something new, and to work for myself for a while, maybe for good. I can’t make an informed decision about whether indie publishing is best for me unless I try it. I’m excited to see how it stacks up.

For more info about Jenny and her work, please visit her website.

The Decision

By Peg Brantley




Traditional or Independent?

How will one of my best friends in the writing world feel when she finds out my vision has shifted? Will she think I’ve abandoned my dream? Will she think that since I’ve redirected my focus to readers rather than publishers my talent is less? Will her nose suddenly begin to look like a pig’s snout whenever she hears my name? (Ugh. Didn’t mean that to sound ugly. Really. And she wouldn’t. But still.)

There is, beyond any doubt, the question of affirmation. When an agent champions you, and a publisher puts their money on the line, you know you’ve managed to convince some pretty key professionals you have what it takes. Nothing wrong with that. But for every worthy manuscript that goes to print via a traditional publisher, there are countless more, perhaps better manuscripts, that get rejected. I’m not the only one who has read some dogs, right?

But damn. What about when, as a writer, I’m done with the drama? When I decide I want to be truly self-employed and not subject to someone else’s idea of what might make them profitable? An employee driven to make the bottom line or risk losing his or her job? Haven’t we all had enough of that?

If affirmation is the thing (and for me it is), what are some of the other ways I can measure my value? Can you tell I’m an approval seeker? Yep, it sucks.

My dream, though shifted, remains as big and strong as ever. And now? The affirmation will come from readers—one at at time—that I’m so happy to meet now rather than later. Or never.

Come join me as I take this indie author thing on. My dream is muddled right now, but it’s clear in that I want to offer readers, when I’m ready, something they will enjoy.

What about you? As writers, what’s your dream? Is it for readers to get their hands on your story or a publisher to tell you you’re worth their investment?

And as readers, what are the things you’re looking for when you make the decision to buy a book? Is it the publisher? Does it matter to you if it’s a hardback on the bestseller list? What really, really matters? How do you separate the chaff from the wheat?



It’s all better with friends.