Support An Independent Author (Me)

The release of the final book in the Through Eyes Like Mine series is a few weeks away. Edits are complete; proof copies have been combed through, tweaked and edited. I'm so close to the end of this project, so why am I still battling my decision to publish these books independently?

It might have been a conversation I had this weekend, and the implication that publishing my books on my own is a decision I made lightly; that I'm doing this with a sense of resignation.

How many agents have you queried?
How many presses?
How many rejections?
How many times have you been told no in regard to these books?

My answer: I've accumulated about thirty passes over a decade. Some think this is nothing. There are authors who finally get published after their 50th or 100th or 200th query. There are also authors who query agents, land with an agent, and their books still don't sell. There are books that get picked up by small presses and make a run of a few hundred copies. Some presses don't do much to promote a book, and their books quietly fade into obscurity. Some presses produce beautiful books, and some books have typos and ugly covers. There are small presses that print a small number of copies, and the authors never see a cent of the profit.

So, my decision to publish on my own makes sense to me, but I had to write this in order to remind myself.

I want people to be able to read my books. I want to see the books, to hold them in my hands, to read from them, and gift them to friends, and I want to receive royalty payments. I want to complete this series, and move on to other projects, and I'm willing to do the work to make it happen.

I hope you'll support indie authors. I hope you'll support me. Buy the books. Read the books. Talk about the books. If you are interested in the process of independent publishing, ask. I am working outside traditional publishing and it's scary, and I don't always know what I'm doing, but I know it's right for me, and it's right for these books.

As I wait on the release of I Tried, I'm still convinced independent is the way I want to go.