The Evolution of an Indie Author

Two years ago today, I clicked on a button that changed my life.

Publish

I became an Indie Author with that single click.

I watched the world react to Emma's story. I heard every single cry of anguish. I read every single word questioning why I would end a book that way. I received every single email thanking me for exposing you to a story that made you feel .

I celebrated the positive reviews. And I cried over a few harsh ones. I typed my soul onto the screen, but wasn't prepared for the vulnerability of having others judge a piece of me. It made me question if I could truly do this, be an author.

But one of my closest friends reminded me why I needed to continue: Being a writer is who I am. I cannot make others love my work. All I can do it put everything I am into it.

I have grown as an author since I wrote Reason to Breathe nearly four years ago. My Indie version is still flawed, even after re-publishing it a half dozen times over the years. But the story is exactly what it should be. Honest. Real. The story of a girl who is trying to figure out where she fits in the world. And you welcomed Emma into your world with open arms.

Thank you!

Emma is as perfectly flawed as her Indie version. And not everyone understands or even likes her. She is written that way. I have learned a lot about who I am because of her. And I'm honored to have been the one to write her story.

In less than a year after releasing Reason to Breathe, I published Barely Breathing, and once again, you were there, waiting to continue experiencing this heart-wrenching trilogy. But this time, many more of you decided to take a chance on this Indie Author.

I haven't made it easy on you, forcing you to wait a year between each book. But when I write, I'm creating. And just like an artist blending shades together to portray the exact hue of blue, I immerse myself in this conceived world, revising my words until they have the intended impact. Elizabeth and I have been known to go back and forth for twenty minutes over a single sentence.

My words are my art.

And whatever impression they make upon you, all I care about is that they made an impression at all. And it seems that I have done just that because right after self publishing Barely Breathing last May, I was contacted and signed by my fabulous agent Erica Silverman at Trident Media Group, and then I was approached by Amazon Publishing/Skyscape.

All because I took a chance and clicked that one button.

Now, on June 4th, the newly edited version of Reason to Breathe will be re-released. (The story hasn't changed, I promise.) Followed by Barely Breathing on June 18th, and, of course, Out of Breath on July 2nd.

I cannot express how proud I am of Out of Breath. It is the perfect conclusion to this trilogy. That girl who was trying to find her place in the world must now discover all she has to do is believe in herself.

May is the last month I will be an Indie Author. The covers with the doors won't exist after this month. But my heart will always be Indie. I am too much of a free spirit to let that side of me go.

It has been my dream since I first began creating this story to see it on the bookshelves of a library and a bookstore. And now it will be. I will be in over 2,000 Wal-Mart stores all over North America in July! My heart swells just typing that!

To celebrate the release of the Amazon Published version of The Breathing Series, I have decided to reveal the last line of Out of Breath on my web site, www.rebeccadonovan.com, once the image on my author page, www.facebook.com/RebeccaDonovanAuthor, has been shared 3,000 times!

There are some of you who have witnessed the evolution of my career from the very beginning. Did you think this was possible? Did you know I would be an internationally published author in two years time? I could only believe...