Post #1 - My Experiences as and Indie Author Series

Post #1

My Experiences as an Indie Author and Publisher: 

This is the first step in a new direction for Richard Nurse. I have always written under a number of different pen-names prior to April of this year.  While not abandoning those pen-names, I have decided to take on the challenge of pleasing both my current readers, while at the same time reaching out to a totally new audience.

Without divulging my pen-names, I have decided to put out a series about both myself, and my experiences as an Indie Author and Publisher. If you immediate question is why am I doing this, it is partly because this is what is running around in the grey matter on the left side at the moment.  This is also how I prefer to write.  When a idea, or story takes command of my main thought patterns, I simply have to sit and let it flow out of me.  Sometimes it is just a short little piece, as this started out to be, and sometimes it takes on a life of its own, as this now has.

We all learn, or at least we are supposed to learn, from our mistakes, and from the mistakes that others have made.  (Of course this does not include the members of either house of the Congress of the United States, nor does it include the leaders of our financial markets.  They are far too intelligent to make a mistake, and if they do, it must have been caused by the other party, or some unknowing common citizen of this once great country.)

Okay, I’m off of my soapbox.

My intent for this series: by placing my experiences as an average indie author and self publisher, out for all to see, is to open a dialogue. A dialogue that will not only help me become a better author and or publisher, but one that will help others who might just be beginning, to avoid similar pitfalls. 

My plan, for this is to be quite unlike most of the self help blogs and promotional programs out there for indie authors today.  Instead of a Ra Ra Blog, “Publish yourself, and make Millions.”  I would rather put this out there for the normal writer who ends up selling their books for $0.99.  I am not exactly sure of the number of indie author’s there are on Amazon alone, but I know that it exceeds eight hundred thousand, and most of us can only dream of ever being in the top one percent or even the top ten percent.

A few of the areas that I would like to open up dialogue on are:

• ·         Doing your research before you publish
• ·         What are your goals as an indie author
• ·         What is your budget for your book
• ·         Copy editing and proof reading
• ·         How big is your audience for your gerne
• ·         Pen name or your own name
• ·         It’s not selling, now what
• ·         How to get reviews – I wish I knew…
• ·         Promoting yourself and your book/s

• ·         Believe in yourself and your book

Needless to say, comments are always welcome, and in fact encouraged.  If there are no comments, then you will force me to just ramble on, and there will be no dialogue.

Richard Nurse