Furthering my recent posts on the independent publishing and ebook movement that is strongly gaining momentum, I thought I’d write about April Hamilton. April is an author that is spearheading a large part of the independent author movement.
April defines indie authors as:
An indie author is an author who has decided the mainstream publishing industry has little or nothing to offer, and has made the conscious decision to bring his or her work to a readership independently. If you are publishing and promoting your work yourself, without the intervention of any corporate middlemen, whether the product is a hard cover, paperback, Ebook, Kindle™ book, podcast, or online serialization, congratulations: you are an indie author.
April’s methods are a lot like my own, only she has been at this longer and is enjoying greater success from her efforts than I am so far. It’s encouraging for all of us to follow April’s example. She began by publishing her two novels as Amazon Kindle editions and subsequently released them as trade paperbacks through Amazon’s CreateSpace. This limits her to a US readership, but subsequent other ebook versions of her work are available everywhere. And if you don’t mind using amazon.com and copping the shipping and exchange rates, her trade paperbacks are available everywhere too.
Based on what she has learned, April has written The Indie Author Guide. I have a copy of this myself and can assure anyone that it is a very valuable addition to your library if you’re planning to go the indie author route.
April is just one example of the success that can be gained from indie publishing. Like all other indie artforms (music, film and so on) only a few people ever see real success. A few more will see moderate success. But compared with the rounds and rounds of rejections from the traditional publishing houses, moderate success off your own hard work is a fantastic achievement. And there’s no reason to stop submitting your stuff to trad houses while your other work is making a dent in the indie world. It’s a free market out there.
The main thing is to get good at what you do and believe in yourself. The more you write the better you will get and the more feedback you get, the more you can improve your craft. What better way to get feedback than to have your work out there in all the various forms available these days?
April is very active in promoting the indie author movement and has written several articles along with her guide book. She’ll also be doing some webinars soon on the subject. Check her website for details and be encouraged.
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