Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Thoughts on Being Indie-Pulbished

 

The latest in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series


In case you don't know what that means, it's another way of saying self-publishing. 

I've been published every way possible: New York publisher (my first published book), publishers who turned out to be crooks--and yes, there are still a few of those around, several small publishers (2 who died and others who decided to close their publishing houses; some were good and produced great looking books. 

Good friends talked me into going the indie publishing route and offered to do a lot of the work. Didn't take me long to agree. Every book I'd had published was re-edited and re-published, some with new covers, others I was able to get the rights.

Now, 47 of my books and 2 short stories are now indie-published. 

What are the disadvantages:

Some might say having to do my own promotion. Well, I got little promotion from any of the other publishers--my book on their website was the main promo. A few did other things, but not much.

Yes, from the honest publishers I did receive royalties on the sales, though sometimes many months later.

When I did a big promotion there was no way to tell if it had any effect on sales. Because I can check Amazon to see how sales are doing, it's very easy to see how well a promotion worked.

When I need more paper copies of my book I can do the ordering myself. I don't have to wait for the convenience of the publisher.

Though of course I don't have the backing of a big name publisher, nor do my books make it into bookstores unless I've made the connection some how, I am quite satisfied with being an indie publisher.

I'm one of those persons why has to write, and at least my books are available on Amazon for people to order and read.

Those are my feelings about being and independently published author.

Feel free to share your thoughts with me.

Marilyn Meredith who also writes as F.M. Meredith. 

1 comment:

Morgan Mandel said...

I was first published by a small press which was then sold out to another press. That second press ignored my books, as well as those of the other authors who were transferred over. Since I was getting older and didn't care to wait for another publishing house to decide whether or not to take me on, I went indie. Being an indie means you can make your own choices, such as on the cover or editing. At times it's hard to decide if the cover is okay and the writing is at its best. I first had an editor I knew. After she was unable to continue, I relied on author friends I could trust. Promotion is a problem, since there's much more competition out there now. However, as pointed out, it's a lot easier for an indie to see the numbers on the books sold.