Guest Post by Skye Turner author of Alluring Turmoil
1 Book Lovers would like to thank Skye for guest posting today. Reas what her thoughts are on being an Indie Author~M
My Experience with Being an Indie Author
I’m an author. I have a book out and I’m “officially” an Amazon Bestselling Author, so I must feel like an author, right?
The answer is, I’m not really sure yet.
About five weeks ago, I released my debut novel. It’s being well received. Blogs are posting about it. People want to interview me. I have “fans”. It’s completely surreal and I find myself stopping a few times a day and asking “Is this real? This must be a dream, a very cool dream that I don’t want to wake up from, but still just a dream.”
I wrote Alluring Turmoil in a very short time. The story had been in my head for years, it was just a matter of getting it down onto paper, or in my case onto the laptop.
I’ve been an Indie Editor for a few years and I’ve done pretty well with it. I love getting to help other authors tweak their work. Before entering into the Indie world myself, I was under the impression you wrote a book and people read it.
Boy was I mistaken. Writing the book is one step in a very long list of steps that for every step forward, you take two steps back. As an Independent Author, you are on your own. You are personally responsible for promotion, writing, interacting with fans, editing, your cover, networking, and everything else that comes with it.
If you fail, it’s all on you. There’s no one else to point at and blame.
It’s very important to have a good team around you, to make friends. You need to surround yourself with people who will be honest, but not cruel, support you without jealousy, people you genuinely like, who genuinely like you.
I’ve learned a lot through this journey and I’ve had some serious joy, but also some pain and heartbreak.
I’ve learned that people can be cruel. Some authors can be very competitive and just downright nasty. I’ve learned that some people set out at the beginning of the day with the sole intention of bringing others down. But on the flip side and which I’ve experienced much more of… people can be uplifting. Authors and bloggers can become amazing friends and confidants. I’ve learned that the people I write for are not the negative nellies, but the people who take the time to interact with me on my Facebook page, who send me a message or an e-mail letting me know my work touched something with them, who leave me reviews and tell the world why they loved my work. (But not the one’s who send me creepy pictures and messages… I don’t really want those.) Those are the people I write for and those are the people I will continue to write for.
I have made amazing friends and I have some of the best readers around. I am very blessed, but do I feel like an “author” yet… not really. I’m still learning. I’m still growing. I’m still taking everything in.
When I no longer feel the need to vomit when I see I have a new review, I’ll let you know.
**Skye Turner is the author of Alluring Turmoil, Book 1 Bayou Stix.
