The Waiting Game

If there’s one thing you need as as writer, it’s patience.  Everything seems to be a waiting game and if you rush things, you come out with a subpar product. As an indie author, that’s an issue.  There’s still such a stigma to being self published, that we indie authors needs to make sure we’re putting out the best possible product so people aren’t picking apart our work and saying we suck and couldn’t get traditionally published if we tried.  I doubt that’s the case. Throughout my journey so far, I have made friends with several authors, both indie and traditionally published folks, and the majority of the indie pubbed authors have work that is definitely worthy of an agent and big time publishing house. I think people are going indie for many other reasons than just “no one is willing to publish what I write”.

The waiting game normally starts once your rough draft is complete. Many people put it away in a drawer for a couple of weeks or ship it off to a trusted writing partner/beta reader for first impressions. While they are reading, you’re stuck waiting. While some will twiddle their thumbs or bite their nails in nervousness, others will start up on a new project. Must keep those creative juices flowing, right? Others might take a break to fit in some reading. Always a good choice. While we’re so focused on our own work, reading often lands on the back burner and as previously discussed, frequent readers make for better writers.

After those drafts come back there are corrections and edits to make and several more rounds of the read and edit game. It can definitely take a while depending on who’s doing your reading/editing.  Again, use the time to work on other products or catch up on other things in life you’ve been letting slide because you were so focused on your book.

While you’re waiting, you can also use the time to start promoting. Work on your blurb and pitches. If your cover art is ready, do a reveal and get it up on Goodreads so readers can start to notice it.  If you are almost near the end of your edits, start a contest on Goodreads to give away a couple of ARCs. It’s a great way to get the book out there and get people excited.

So finally the book has been read, re-read and edited a million times. Now that you’re ready to publish, the waiting game is over, right? Wrong. Being a indie author means we wear all the hats and have to do all the promo for our book(s). Unlike traditionally published books, we don’t typically have reviews posted in magazines or newspapers before the book comes out. We are not as big a presence at conferences and the likes so the buzz about our books are due to our own promoting via Twitter or blog tours, etc. Because of this, sales are probably going to start off slow, especially if it’s your first book. If you’re using things like