The Trials of an Indie Author

This week I want to take some time to talk about my life as an Indie Author. All my life I have dreamed of being a writer, a filmmaker and a musician, and to some degree I have achieved all of these goals. It has not been easy though, and to date my only directing credit has been on a very bad short film made some years ago, but this is something I aim to rectify sometime soon.

 As I was growing up it seemed the only way to succeed in any of these areas was through the mainstream, big corporations. If you didn’t have a major record deal, a big name publisher or major studio backing then your chance of success was slim.

 Then along came the internet, and in many way it leveled the playing field for all. Now as a filmmaker there are unlimited distribution and funding options, as a musician you are able to upload and sell your songs on iTunes or Amazon alongside the biggest names in the business. As and author the kindle and kindle store have really changed the nature of publishing. Now an author can upload their work and sell it to potentially millions of customers.

 The problem is that this means there is a massive sea of books being uploaded everyday, some are fantastic, and some are God awful, and many are somewhere in between. With all of these constant uploads the chances of someone stumbling across your book is almost impossible. 

 This means that a self published author these days has to really be both the author and the publisher. Without the huge marketing machine and budget it can be difficult to point people towards your work. I use things like Twitter and Facebook, and for my first book, ‘Beneath’, this worked really well. The book hit the the top of the bestsellers list in it’s category within two weeks and stayed in the top ten for two months. Sales of the book have been consistent, and though not wealthy, I am earning money from the book.

 My second book seems to be taking longer to get going. I don’t know whether this is due to it being a short story collection rather than a novel, but as yet I am still waiting for ‘dark county’ to achieve the success of the first book.

 All of this self promotion takes up time. Endless hours spent on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads and the like. Another good tool is having a website and a blog (like this), writing these blogs also eats into your time. I am a stay at home Dad, while my wife works, but looking after a 17 month old takes time and energy. So just lately I have been feeling the pressure, with all of these other things to do I find very little time or energy left to write. I also suffer from bipolar disorder, meaning my motivation tends to fluctuate. Lately I have found my self getting stressed and depressed at how little time I get to write. Then I sat back and thought about it, I was the only one putting pressure on myself to write. I felt that because I can’t manage that regimented 4 hours a day writing that so many authors do, I was in some way failing.

 You know what though, I am not. I have released two books in three months, and am well over a quarter of the way into my second novel. If that isn’t success I don’t know what is. I enjoy writing, and when I find the hours hear and there to do it, what i am producing is good, probably better than if I was forcing myself to stick to a regime. I know that a lot of the writing courses and book, and other writers out there would always advise aspiring authors that they must write everyday, and with a routine. I am now going to impart my own wisdom.... Don’t worry about it, write when you can and enjoy what you do. There is plenty of time to become successful, but the first step is writing because you want to, not because you have to.

 I hope this helps some people out there who have been getting themselves stressed over the time they spend writing. Relax, it’s only writing.