If this helps ONE indie, I’ve done my job: Introducing the Indie Author How-To Index

This is a part of the Indie-Pendence Blog Hop, which celebrates the exciting new world of indie and self-publishing. In lieu of throwing confetti in the air to celebrate with them, I’m offering an autographed copy of my novel, The Grimoire: Lichgates, to one lucky winner. Check out the rafflecopter at the bottom of the post for details.

But first, I want to tell you about a fun new project I started. Enjoy!

 

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When I started researching self-publishing last year, I had no idea what I was doing. I was like that meme with the scientist dog. Yes, even with the glasses.

All my research at the time focused on blog hopping and learning bits here and there. I spent hours debating as to whether indie was better than traditional. I hung out on J. A. Konrath’s blog a lot, visited various independent publishers, and watched forums. I was a lurker, but I didn’t feel I could contribute to the conversation.

There wasn’t a guide—well, not a free one anyway. I could pay for tons of them, sure, but how did I know they would help at all? I had to guess, and I made a lot of mistakes along the way. I made a lot of friends, too. Combined, my friends and mistakes taught me a lot, but I hit a lot of roadblocks to get where I am.

I’m not alone, either—that’s how most authors learn. Egregious mistakes. Some can’t recover from their mistakes,either…they say something stupid that blows up in their face or they publish a book before it’s ready because they don’t know better.

I decided I wanted to help out, to share what I’ve learned so far, but I wanted to do it in a free environment to help authors jump over those roadblocks. That way, everyone can just focus on writing better. Authors can produce better work and learn how to properly interact with readers on forums and in the comments on review threads so PR disasters don’t happen.

To make life easier for authors—and to help writers determine if they even want to get into the indie business—I came up with the Indie Author How-To Index. This is a step-by-step index with posts I’ve created in the past and a list of scheduled posts to help indies learn about the process, from writing to publication to PR.

Of course, I’m always looking for new posts to add. If you have suggestions, let me know. Feel free to add to the discussions, too, because I’m constantly updating the posts with new information people mention in the comments.

I hope this helps at least one indie out there. If this makes at least one person’s life easier, it was worth every hour I spent writing and researching the posts.

Happy writing, all.

—Boyce

 

The Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway