Indies Rock!

OUTBACK LOVE, an Indie Novel

Once again it is time to talk about Indies, both the Indie authors and those great <grin> Indie books we write. Just sayin'...

For those who are not quite sure, Indies are those writers not published by the big traditional publishing houses. Some Indies are published by small independent publishing houses or epubbed by the authors themselves. Hence the term, "Indie."

Contrary to what some people think, Indie is not a derogatory term. In fact, we Indies wear it like a badge. Being an Indie means we have to do all the hard work ourselves. The writing, rewriting, editing, re-editing, formatting, re-formatting, marketing, etc. You get the picture.

We Indies use our family members, best friends, Beta readers, paid editors and even our pets (dogs, cats, birds,etc.) to help us get that Indie book into the best shape ever.

Indie family members and friends soon learn to run the other way when they see us coming. "No, no, no! I'm not going to read your book one more time!" We quickly learn to bribe others to read our books, just to check for that elusive misspelled word or, heaven forbid, the wrong word. Babysitting? Sure! Mow your lawn? Sure! Buy you a beer? A whole case? Sure! Buy you a bottle of wine? Vintage wine? Sure! Anything to get someone to read that book one more time.

Indies have a big advantage over traditionally published authors. We do? Of course! We Indies write those books we have to write. We write those books that don't fit in that perfectly formed hole. Our books cross genres. A paranormal romantic comedy? Sure! A historical romantic horror thriller with a touch of comedy? Sure! We write those books that spring from our hearts and our souls.

Being an Indie is a scary thing at times. We Indies write the best books we can possibly create/conjure/birth and then put them out there for the whole reading world to read/analyze/love and sometimes even hate. Then we follow it up with another Indie book, and another, and another. We're determined souls if nothing else. We believe in the stories we write. We believe there are readers out there who will love those stories. So we keep writing, believing and offering our Indie books to others to read.

These are great times in which we live, because we Indies have the opportunity and ability to epub our books. Amazon/Kindle, Barnes&Noble/Nook, Apple/iPad, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, Smashwords, Goodreads, etc., all list Indie eBooks for readers to sample and hopefully buy. A few years back eBooks didn't exist, so this Indie thing is pretty darn new. Isn't it exciting? Think of all the great books available at just the click of a button.

I not only write Indie books, I read them too. Lots of them. Frankly, I've come to the realization that Indie authors and Indie books rock! Yessiree, Indies Rock! I keep adding Indie books to my Kindle and read them as fast as I can. Is it an addiction? Definitely! I love the diversity of Indie books. I love the excitement of reading something new and different, something that isn't a repeat of the books of yore.

If you haven't read an Indie book then you need to start now. It's a grand experience. Many Indies, me included, offer one or more books for free so readers can try out a new author. Isn't that cool? It's a free sample so you know what you're getting.  Other Indies offer one or more books at $0.99 for the same reason. A book for a buck? You betcha! On the whole, Indie books cost less than traditionally published books, because we Indies have a lower overhead in epubbing our books. We can afford to offer our books at lower prices.

Not all Indie books are free or $0.99 for the very reason that books take months and often years to write. Plus, Indie authors often have to pay for book covers, editors, marketing, etc. In addition, we do want/need to make some money now and then. You know, we Indies do have bills to pay and we like to eat now and then too. So you'll find that many Indie books are priced in the $1.99 to $4.99 price range and sometimes more. Compared to traditionally published books, it's still a bargain.

I'm not suggesting that readers switch from traditionally published books to Indie books. Of course not. We all have our favorite traditionally published authors that we'll never abandon. Just as readers are willing to try new traditionally published authors, readers will hopefully be willing to try Indies too. I guarantee that you'll love the experience.

Now just as a warning, I don't guarantee that you'll love every Indie book you read, just as you don't love every traditionally published book you read. All I ask is that you give Indies a try. I know you'll find many books you'll love and many new favorite authors.

In the event you're not familiar with Indies, at the bottom of the column to the right on my blog you'll find a link list, Indies Rock! I hope you'll try out some of their Indie books. Please keep checking back because the list will be growing. I won't be able to list all Indie authors, hey there are bunches of us, but at least it will be a starting point. Just to confuse you, some Indies authors are also traditionally published authors too.

If you're on Twitter you'll note that a lot of Indie authors add the hashtag, #BuyIndie, on their tweets. I use that hashtag and another, #CelebrateIndies. Now I'm adding a new hashtag, #IndiesRock! I hope other Indies will use that from time to time too just so our readers can find our books.

I hope Indie authors and/or Indie readers/reviewers will add comments below. Authors please feel free to add a short blurb about your book(s) and include a link to your blog/web-site. Readers/reviewers please feel free to mention Indie books or authors you love and/or links to your blog/web-sites. In future posts I hope to interview some of those great Indie authors. You see, another unique thing about Indies, we Indies support Indies. Isn't that cool?

A note to Indie authors/readers/reviewers: Please email me a link to your blog/web-site, comment below or Tweet me if you want to be added to my "Indies Rock!" list. Some of you will find that your link has already been added. I know that I'm forgetting a bunch of you, so please help me out here.