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.
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.
A Platform of Sorts 