What Inspired Me to go Indie - #PoweredbyIndie

This month Amazon is celebrating great writing by their indie authors by promoting indie books! For this occasion, I wanted to share my indie author publishing story and give shout outs to people who have been pivotal in my journey! So, I will begin with confessions!

Yes, I was inspired by Stephanie Meyer.Yes, I want to be a rock star breakout indie author like Andy Weir.Yes, I will settle for the likes of … okay there are too many to name.Yes, I wrote over 250 query letters.Yes, I felt dejected when I got only 10 who requested more material.Yes, I felt even more depressed when none of those wanted my work. Oh, wait, there was one, but he wanted a stand-alone I could make into a steamy romance. What? 
Okay, so, all that said, I still believed in my books, and had enough people tell me my stories were good… okay so maybe it was only 5… but they were really good ones, so I took the leap and self-published. Is it hard? YES! Do I want to stop? Heck, NO! Why?
 Yes, I have characters in my head that talk to me.Yes, I love writing about fictional people.Yes, I love weaving a story that supports a good value or lesson.Yes, I love it when a reader tells me they liked my book.Yes, I love it even more when someone says my book helped them.
But, I have a complete series with a decent amount of 4 and 5 star reviews (woo hoo!). I have one young adult novella and another due out in December! I am making plans for next year… so hang on for what’s next. My Being Me fans want to read something about Zack and I’m listening!
The first person I want to highlight is author, editor, and indie book guru, Jo Michaels. I was connected to Jo through my editor (who I will highlight later in the month). In addition to multiple indie publications, Jo runs Indie Books Gone Wild, an editing, proofing, and formatting service for self-publishing authors. Jo also has tons of tips for indie authors on her blog at http://jomichaels.blogspot.com/. Jo not only inspires me to write great books but pulls me back from the edge of the cliff when I’m ready to jump (metaphorically of course). Jo has done all my beautiful formatting and graphics (like the one to the left from Drops of Sunshine) for the interior of my books. If you’ve read the Being Me series or the amazing Drops of Sunshine, you’ve seen how awesome her work is!

You can find Jo Michaels at www.writejomichaels.com, Facebook: facebook.com/writejomichaels, or Twitter: @WriteJoMichaels.

You can find more #PoweredbyIndie Amazon authors at https://smile.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=15426558011&ref_=pe_390220_209873340.

Find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TriciaCopelandAuthor,
on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/authortriciacopeland/,or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/tcbrzostowicz.
 
The first book in my series is now free!
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/638973
https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/is-this-me
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/is-this-me/id1118070449?mt=11
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/is-this-me-tricia-copeland/1122161771?ean=2940153040332
 
Happy reading!
Tricia