Indie Author Advice, Inspiration, Success: Welcome!

Hey, friends ~

I took a brief hiatus from the blog that turned out to be, well, not so brief after all. What started with a plan to sell the house and move from one coastal community to another ended up being FOUR moves in less than a year. I know – crazy! Now that we’re settled – even if not completely unboxed – I’m back to writing about one of my favorite things in the world (hint, hint): indie publishing.

Welcome to the re-launch of Indie Author Lifeline!

First, a couple of questions to kick things off …

Have you written a book and tried, without success, to find it a publisher? Or have you published your book via the traditional route only to find yourself, startlingly so, without a publisher now?

Believe me, I get it.

After years of toiling over book proposals, and an equal number of years stalking, er, meeting with agents and acquisition editors, and sending out queries, I finally signed my first book contract in 2005. (Confetti may have been tossed … 😉)

Turning Point

Fast forward to 2011 – and five books later – and the traditional publishing contracts I was offered were no longer lucrative. Back then, the thought of indie publishing seemed to be for a rebellious few, but then I realized – I am the rebellious type. If you are still reading this, I suspect you are, too.

So, I began dabbling in indie publishing. Think: late nights and confusing jargon. Thanks to several people who threw me “lifelines,” i.e. lots of indie author advice, I soon learned enough to publish a few books, to republish my old ones, and to build a nice income, too.

Since then, many have asked me to read their work or to coach them through the process of indie publishing – and everything in between. I’ve helped a few. And I’ve failed many more (ugh). I finally realized that my desire to help writer friends was conflicting with my desire to sleep 😉 

Indie Author Advice, Inspiration, Success

That’s why I started this blog – to help more people get started in this crazy … evolving … addictive business. I want to help budding indie authors – like you – with the basics because that’s a GREAT place to start. I also want to inspire you with success stories from other indie authors – so that you don’t give up. We can’t have that!

I’ve created this blog to encourage us both on our quest to reach readers with our stories and messages. That’s what it’s all about, right? Well, that and making enough money to buy food, pay your mortgage, fly off to Italy, etc., etc. (Details! Details!)

Welcome to Indie Author Lifeline … here you’ll find plenty of practical advice, inspiration, and stories of success. (Don’t forget to read the next post, which will teach you the basics of how to publish a book on Amazon!)

Subscribe in the box on the right or below so that you don’t miss a post (I’ll send you the Amazon publishing quick-start guide when you do). We have lots to talk about 😉.

p.s. Why the tagline Write. Publish. Travel. Repeat? Find the answer – and a bit more detail – on my Why I Went Indie page.