Guest Blog: Amy Tupper

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Guest Blog: Amy Tupper

Today's guest post comes from Amy Tupper, author of Tenderfoot. May I bid you a warm welcome to The World According to Dave, Amy. Thanks for a great post.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AN INDIE AUTHOR

I wrote a book last summer. I did it with no thought as to how to get published, remaining solely focused on completing the story. In three months, the first draft was finished. I began the editing process, assuming the next step would be to find an agent.

Then I stumbled across the now famous online conversation between Mark Coker of Smashwords and Joe Konrath, indie author hero. In the space of five minutes, the map I had for finding a home for my book and for my voice changed dramatically. Instead of waiting for a positive response to an agent query letter, for contracts to be signed, for a publisher to be found, for the book to acquire cover art and formatting and shipped to stores, a journey that might average two years, if I was lucky enough to be chosen, I could do it myself. I could self-publish in as little time as it took me to format and upload my own word document.

Suddenly, my eyes were open. I had stumbled onto a fantastic secret! Only it wasn't a secret – it was knowledge posted all over the Internet, there for the taking. My quest as an indie author began.

It turns out in order to be an indie author, you need a whole new skillset, involving computer skills and networking. There is formatting to be done as you coax Word into submission and then convert it to multiple file formats for different ereaders. Creating or working with someone to create a piece of art known as a book cover. Opening up accounts on various online bookstores such as Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Google, Xinxii, OmniLit/ AllRomance, and many smaller publishing sites. There is research about tools and the publishing marketplace to be done. There is a Facebook fan page to be set up, a website or blog to be created (and maintained), and the learning of a whole new language on Twitter. There are author accounts to be set up on Goodreads, LibraryThing, Shelfari, and communities to be joined like Kindleboards, Facebook author groups, and many other websites. Then comes the reviews. There are many ways to get your book out in front of readers, but all of them equate to time on the computer; setting up another profile, tweeting, or emailing book bloggers. Because to be an indie author, or Author 2.0, means you have a web presence, that you are accessible to readers. All of which mean a thousand little daily tasks on email and the web, any one task potentially the tiny snowflake that starts an avalanche where your book is brought to the attention of a large numbers of readers.

For all these reasons, when I talk to someone about being an Indie Author and they get that funny look on their face where "self-published" evokes the stink of vanity presses, I laugh. If only it were as easy as handing $2,000 to someone and walking away! But no business in their right mind would handle all of the above for so little money! My guess is the amount of work I do on a daily basis equates to a part-time job, and if I could get away with it, a full-time job. And that's in addition to… writing another book.

My name is Amy Tupper. I write books. I self-publish books. I blog, I tweet, I network, I enter minutiae on a million different forms. Like my follow Indie Authors, I work really, incredibly hard to promote my work and get it in front of readers.

I am Amy Tupper, Indie Author. Please sample my book.

You can find out more about Amy at the following links:-

http://www.amytupper.net
amymtupperhttp://www.facebook.com/
www.twitter.com/amytupper