Indie Books and POGs

Last night, I found my old POG collection.  If you grew up in the 90s, chances are you also collected the little round pieces of cardboard that were apparently meant to be a game but really ended up just being shiny little circles we accumulated and hoarded like Smaug’s treasure in The Hobbit.

As I was looking through my old POGs, I noticed one had a ghost on it.  I thought, “Oh, that’s cute.  I should take a picture of it with Cemetery Tours.”

So I did.

But I didn’t stop there.

Slowly but surely, my little idea to take a picture with the ghost POG became a full fledged POG and indie book photo shoot.

This isn’t the first time I’ve taken pictures of several (not all) of the indie books I own.  I have a whole photo album that I’ve dedicated to the #IndieBooksBeSeen movement on my Facebook page.

#IndieBooksBeSeen

There is a rhyme and reason to my madness.  Despite the fact that we call ourselves “Independent” authors, the truth is we are very much a community.  No one works alone.  We have editors and graphic designers and reviewers and marketing experts.  And we have each other.  As independent authors, we support each other 100%.  That’s one of the first things I learned about the community and one of my very favorite parts of being an independent author.  I never expected the warm reception or astounding support system when I first published Cemetery Tours, but it’s there.  And it’s so, so, so amazing.

There are several ways that authors support each other.  I have friends who Tweet and Retweet.  I have friends who share dozens of Facebook posts.  I have friends who review every book they read.  Me?  I definitely try to review at least every indie book I read.  But I like to take pictures.  It’s my favorite method of communication.  Funny, for a writer, I know.  But there’s a certain love to a beautiful image that words really can’t express.

I take pictures because these books need more exposure.  I want each and every one of these authors to know the same kind of love and praise and success that their traditionally published counterparts experience.  I want them to be interviewed and reviewed by Entertainment Weekly and fly to the top of the New York Times Bestsellers List.  I want independent books to become mainstream.  And I think they are well on their way.

 

 

Being Independent

Last night, I got to see two of my good friends whom I haven’t seen in ages.  They also happen to be independent artists.  We had a good long talk and several laughs about the self-employed life.  I realized that all the weird things I experience in my day-to-day life aren’t exclusive to authors.  All independent artists go through ups and downs on their way to establishing a career.

That conversation got me thinking, “Hey… I could write a blog post about this.”  So without further ado, here are the ten best and worst things about being an independent author/artist.

The Ten Best Things About Being An Independent Author/Artist

1. You work for yourself! You get to work from home or wherever you want! You are your own boss! You make your own schedule! This is pretty much the best gig ever.
2. You keep all creative and legal rights to your work.  Forever.  Done.
3. No deadlines!  Okay, well, you need to make your own deadlines and it is VERY important that you keep them.  But still!  I’d rather set my own deadline than abide by someone else’s!
4. You’re able to give every project the love and attention that it deserves.  This isn’t about the money for you.  You’re not looking at your manuscript and thinking, “Will this make me a lot of money?” You’re looking at it and thinking, “This is worth it no matter what, because it’s a great story.”
5. You get the opportunity to learn a LOT.  I never, in my wildest dreams, thought I’d be essentially running a business for myself.  I certainly never thought I’d be publishing books.  But I’ve learned and grown so much in the past two years and you know what?  I’m really proud of myself.  It’s a great feeling.
6. Have I mentioned the royalties that you will be getting for the rest of your life?  Unlike in the traditional world, you don’t just get paid once for one book.  One book can make you money every month of every year.
7. You get to write what you love.  You don’t have to wait for an agent’s or publisher’s approval.  If you know that you want to write a book, and you know that you can write it well, go for it.
8. The independent community is WONDERFUL.  I’ve met so many amazing and supportive people through my career as an independent author.  You want to know these people.  And not just fellow authors.  I’ve made so many amazing friends all around the world who are book reviewers and they’re just the best.  Again, you would not believe the overwhelming love and support.
9. You learn that nothing is impossible, that you are capable of so much more than you think you are.  Those barriers and obstacles that you think exist?  All in your mind.  Nothing is insurmountable if you set your mind to it.  Believe me.  I’ve been there.
10. You are making your dreams come true.  And that’s incredible.

Now that I’ve made the life of an independent author seem like the bee’s knees, here are…

The Ten Worst Things About Being An Independent Author/Artist

1. You work for yourself.  I know, that was a good thing too, but hear me out.  You have to have a LOT of self-discipline to make this work.  That’s something I’ve really struggled with.  I get distracted so easily.  I’m a procrastinator.  I can be incredibly lazy.  I get addicted to Netflix.  I’m the world’s easiest-going boss, because let’s face it, I’m not going to fire myself.  I can do whatever I want.  And that’s a really dangerous mindset to have when you’re in business for yourself, especially when you’re just starting out.
2. The age old, “Oh, you didn’t want to go with a real publisher?” To which my response is this.
3. Self-marketing.  I hate it.  It’s the worst.  Do I think everyone should read my books?  Of course I do.  Do I like telling people to do so?  No.  I really don’t.
4. You wouldn’t believe how many people will come up to you and say, “I have this great idea for a book.  You should write it!”  That might not be an indie thing though.  That might just be a writer in general thing.
5. Because you’re self-employed, you will meet people who think that you’re free all the time because “you don’t actually work.”  This is a hard one because yes, technically, you can take time off whenever you want, but you’re going to have to make the lost time up later.  Just because you work for yourself and work from home it doesn’t mean you’re not working.  In fact, you can be working all the time and you still probably wouldn’t get everything done that you wanted to.  Working for yourself is crazy hard because it’s just you.
6. People will ask if they can buy your book at Barnes and Noble, to which the answer is, “No, but you can buy it on BarnesAndNoble.com.”  Hopefully, sometime in the near future, Barnes and Noble will stock independent books.  In fact, I think if you go through Lightning Source, they will.  But most indies are not in bookstores.  And that’s a bummer.
7. Money.  I know I said that you’re not doing this for money, but the truth is going into business for yourself is an investment.  You need money.  I worked for two years in a dental office all the while trying to write and get my little company up and going.  And money will be tight.  For a LONG time.  I’m about to publish my fourth book and money is still tight.  But I’m hanging in there.  I’m saving and I’m investing.  Hopefully, in the long run, it will be worth it.  I think it will be.
8. Self-Marketing gets another mention because I just really hate it.
9. You know, I actually can’t think of anything else.
10. Being an independent author/artist is awesome.

What do y’all think?  Did I leave anything out?

PS – Go read my books. Self-Marketing.  Blegh.

 

Indie Author Pride Day

Happy July 1, everyone!  In just a few short days, America will be celebrating its independence.  Today, however, those of us in the book industry are celebrating our own independence.

It’s Indie Author Pride Day!

Once upon a time, you had to have a contract and a big publishing house in order to write books for everyone to read.  But now, the dream of becoming a published author is coming true for writers everywhere, and not just those select few.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love those select few and the books that they write.  They’re the ones who inspired me to begin writing in the first place.  Meg Cabot, JK Rowling, Rainbow Rowell, Suzanne Collins… All heroes in my eyes.  But my fellow independent authors, those who go to work for themselves every day, those who make their own dreams come true, they’re my heroes also.

I get asked a lot whether or not I considered traditional publishing.  The answer is, “Yes, of course.”  But ultimately, I decided to go the independent route because I wanted to be in charge of my own work, my own deadlines.  I also knew that if I didn’t love and believe in my books enough to give them 110%, then why should I expect anyone else to?

I love my life as an independent author.  I love that I get to write the books I want to read.  I also love that I get to help and encourage other aspiring authors to make their dreams come true.  I love this community.  Everyone is kind and accepting and supportive.  I can’t imagine a better workplace environment than the one I find amongst the independent authors.

Finally, and this might seem a little self-congratulatory, but I’m proud of myself and I’m so very proud of my books.  I’m proud of all the things I didn’t know that I would or could do.  I’m proud that I believed in myself enough to take the chance, and I’m eternally grateful to my loved ones who believed in me and supported me when they really had no reason to.  In fact, they probably shouldn’t have.  I hope everyday that I make them proud, especially my family.  I hope I make their love and support worth their while.  I hope I prove I’m worthy of that support.

I love you all.  I’m so proud of all you, writers, photographers, dreamers, readers… Your futures are so bright!

Indie Author Interview

Huge thank you to my friend and fellow author, Melissa Zaroski (author of the amazing Davenport Manor series – if you like vampires and romance, I highly recommend her books) for featuring me on her blog!

http://davenportmanor.net/indie-author-interview-jacqueline-smith/

You can find Melissa on GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7255267.Melissa_Zaroski

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/melissazaroski

And on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavenportManor

https://www.facebook.com/MelissaZaroski

The 2014 IndieVengeance Day Scrapbook

Over the weekend, I had the honor of participating in IndieVengeace Day. A group of Indie Authors from all over came together to read, sign, and share their books.  I had such a lovely time with this talented and amazing group of people, and I’d like to share some of the pictures with you today!

Such a great and talented and hilarious group!

Day 1 of the event was held at a Cafe Brazil.  For the record, I highly recommend the grilled cheese.

The room looked amazing.

We even got our own place cards.

I reconnected with some dear old friends.

Me and the lovely and talented Tracy James Jones.

Some of us read stuff that we wrote.

Scott Morgan.

Ben Ditmars

Amber Jerome-Norrgard

Stacey Roberts

Yours Truly

All in all, it was a great night.

The following day found us all in Allen, Texas at Savour Tasting Room and Social Club.

There were balloons.  A lot of them.  Which is okay, because I really like balloons.

It was a bit windy, so I had to tape down my name tag and even my flowers.

But overall, the day went splendidly.

Reading a ghost story and there are orbs in my picture… Hmm…

I’m so honored to have spent the weekend with these amazing, wonderful authors.  To find out more about them, please visit their personal websites!

Bed Ditmars: https://benjaminditmars.wordpress.com

Julie Frayn: http://juliebird.ca

Tracy James Jones: http://tracyjamesjones.wordpress.com

Jeanne McDonald: http://www.jeannemcdonald.com

Scott Morgan: http://www.write-hook.com

Amber Jerome-Norrgard: http://amberjeromenorrgard.com

Stacey Roberts: http://www.trailertrashbook.com

Cinta Garcia de la Rosa: http://cintascorner.com

Melissa Zaroski: http://melissazaroski.com

Susie Clevenger: http://www.susieclevenger.com

Love you all!  Thank you for an amazing weekend!

How Not To Let Marketing Ruin Your Life

I used to believe that formatting my manuscript for Kindle was the worst part of life as a independent author.  While it’s undoubtedly the most frustrating, it’s far from my absolute least favorite part about this path I’ve chosen.  No, my least favorite part is trying to get people to read and buy my book.

(Yes, this is all stemming from the fact that I have a promotional deal going on right now.  No, this is not a scheme to get you to buy it).

I hate telling people what to do.  I hate asking for favors.  I much prefer to keep to myself, do everything for myself, and let other people do whatever the heck they want as long as no one gets hurt.  Unfortunately, marketing is all about self-promotion and asking other people to do stuff.

“Buy my book!  Read my book!  Rate my book on Goodreads!  Review my book on Amazon!  Please, please, please, please, PLEASE?!”

At first, everyone is really excited and eager to help you out because hey, you’re really cool!  You wrote a book!  But then you reach the three month mark and the newness and excitement starts to die down.  That’s fine.  I don’t need bells and whistles.  However, I do still need sales.  All the people I know and love have already bought a copy, so I reach out via social media.  But it’s really hard to convince people to buy your book, especially when you’re an indie author!  Why?

A) You have about a million other Indie authors promoting their books too.

B) Come on, of course the author thinks it’s going to be good!  I myself rarely buy books just because the author asks me to.  I’ve  bought a few, like one about Scotland, but that’s because I really love Scotland.  I’ll also download any book that’s free.  But my interest still needs to be sparked.  Just telling people to buy your book isn’t enough.

December has been a really slow sales month for me, and I won’t lie, it’s been a little discouraging.  Does that mean I’m going to throw in the towel?  Of course not.  But I have noticed that my obsession over marketing and trying to get the book out there more has started to interfere with my life, and that is not okay, especially so close to Christmas!  The happiest time of the year!  Well, when there’s not any ice, that is.

Instead of making fudge and going Christmas light watching and singing carols, all I think about is, “Okay… how do I sell X amount of books by this date?”  And that is not what I want!  I want to enjoy life!  I want to enjoy the holidays!  Yes, it’s important to stay focused, keep working, keep writing, and keep trying to get the word out there as much as I can, but it’s also vital to bear in mind what’s really important in life; family, friends, running barefoot through a pile of leaves, playing in sprinklers, love, laughter… All that is infinitely more important than worrying about how much money my book is going to make me this month.  I’m still going to keep writing and put out the sequel and my next trilogy regardless.

This whole indie author thing isn’t easy, but I do believe, wholeheartedly that it’s worth it.  I consider myself lucky to have found something I’m passionate about.  I love writing, and I’d love it even if I wasn’t trying to make a career out of it.  I write for fun in my spare time. It’s funny, because I’ve always heard that getting paid for something has the potential to take the joy out of it.  It’s weird, but it’s kind of true.  I love writing for fun and I loved writing Cemetery Tours.  Yeah, getting paid for it is great, but I much prefer the process of writing than the process of selling.  As does any author, probably.

On  totally unrelated topic, it’s still cold and icy here.  I actually drove to Target today (without hitting any poles!  Yay!), and I learned that when you drive with two inches of ice on top of your car, the ice tends to break and then slip ‘n slide right off your car and crash right into the street, startling not only you, but also the poor innocent drivers around you.  I live in Texas.  I don’t think these kind of things through.  I’m not sure I even own an ice scraper.  I ended up chipping away the giant slab of ice frozen around my antenna like a giant record away with a tin of gingerbread that I’ve had in my car since Thanksgiving.  Classy, I know.

Anyway, this article might actually be one of the most accurate things I’ve ever read in my life:

http://yestotexas.com/10-reasons-texans-hate-cold-weather/

Stay warm, everybody!