The following is a guest post from Merry Farmer and the first entry in February’s Self-Publishing Writing Contest. Click here to vote for the winner of this month’s contest. Want to help out your fellow indie authors? Consider entering March’s contest!
I once took a train trip from Orlando to Philadelphia. I was moving back home after attending the University of Central Florida and I’d always wanted to make a long voyage by train. The trip was 24 hours as opposed to a two and a half hour flight. I reserved my own little roomette that had a huge window. What unfolded was one of the most enjoyable travel experiences I’ve ever had. I got to see the landscape gradually change from tropical to Southern to Mid-Atlantic. The changing view of America flashed by my window to the steady cha-chunk-cha-chunk-cha-chunk of the train speeding across the tracks. It was literally hypnotizing. And it was also the best night’s sleep of my life.
I’ve been a writer since I was ten years old and realized one day that I didn’t have to wait for the teacher to assign a creative writing project to write something. But traditional publishing never appealed to me. Imagine my joy then last year when the world of Indie Publishing blew wide open. Suddenly it’s possible to write what you love and take it directly to the readers. No agents, no endless waiting, and the only rejection is from the readers themselves not buying your book. It’s a kinder, gentler rejection. But I still write my books, I still revise and have them professionally edited, and I still set them free into the world on my own terms and watch them fly.
So far my first two novels have soared out of my hands … and up into a nearby tree to sit there and roost a while … enjoying the view … hanging out … taking a nap.
Indie Publishing is like taking the train from Orlando to Philadelphia. It’s not a quick trip. No one is going to self-publish their first novel one day and have millions of dollars in sales tomorrow. It takes a lot of work to sell your baby to more than just your friends and family. And it takes planning. You have to be in it for the long game.
I have a strategy. My debut novel, The Loyal Heart, the first in a trilogy, hit the eBook markets on September 30th of 2011. I smiled and told all my friends … and now I’m waiting. What am I waiting for? The second book in the trilogy, The Faithful Heart, was published December 24th of 2011. And then I went on a massive media blitz and spammed everybody on Twitter and Facebook and Goodreads and shouted from the rooftops, right? Nope. I’m still waiting.
When the third book in the trilogy, The Courageous Heart, comes out sometime this Spring, then I’ll act. Then I’ll trumpet the entire trilogy. Then I’ll have postcards printed up to send to everyone I know, to take to as many writer’s and reader’s conferences as I can sign up for, and then I’ll be bugging you all to do guest posts on your blogs.
And then do you know what I’ll do? I’ll go write something else. It’s all about the writing. Always writing.
The beauty of eBooks, even more than the accessibility they give us as authors, is that they don’t go away. They never go out of print. They never get yanked off of shelves for not selling enough and they never have unsold copies mailed back to the publisher, doomed to feed a hungry shredder. I’m not entirely convinced that they’re immortal, but the whole indie publishing format gives us something that traditional publishing only offers to the top few. It give us the ability to plan long-term strategy. Time and again I’ve heard the advice that if you want to be truly successful as an Indie Published Author you need to be marketing multiple books at the same time. You need to have series.
Great, I say. Bring it on! I fall in love with my characters anyhow, so why not write as much about them as I can? Where my strategy diverges from some of the loudest advice givers is that I don’t see a problem in doing the actual book-by-book publishing now and marketing later. I will have multiple books for sale someday, five by the end of 2012 if I stay on target. In the meantime, I’ve got The Loyal Heart, The Faithful Heart, and a plan.
Self-publishing is a journey by train. It takes a long time. There are a lot of stops along the way, you might spend long hours staring at nothing, senses numb as it feels like the world is passing you by. You might wonder why you’re taking the scenic route. But every mile brings some new wonder. Every step is an adventure. And in the end if you hang in there you’ll reach your destination.
About the Author: Merry Farmer is an award-winning author of Historical Romance and Romantic Science Fiction. Her debut novel, The Loyal Heart, a swashbuckling medieval romance with a modern kick, is now available. She also loves writing about History and hot guys for her blog and lives near Philadelphia with her two cats who keep pestering her to write them into her novels…or maybe they just want to be fed.
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