It used to be that new content kept readers returning to blogs, etc. I don't know if that's true anymore, but if it is, here's a free one you're welcome to use.
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10 years an Indie Author.
By
Marti Talbott
© 2019
This past July marked my tenth year as an Indie Author, but my writing life began long before that. Before I retired, I had three finished novels, Seattle Quake, 9.2, The Promise and Broken Pledge, all of which I had submitted to traditional publishers who kindly sent me a file folder full of rejections.
One day I discovered “Mighty Words,” a website that let authors upload manuscripts and allowed readers to post reviews. Seattle Quake 9.2 had just made it to the top twenty when suddenly, Mighty Words disappeared never to be seen again.
Writing was in my blood, so after I retired, I wrote a Scottish short story called Anna, and made it free to read on my website. I found Public Bookshelf, a website that allowed me to post the story with a link to my site, and began to write more short stories about my MacGreagor Clan. By the time my short stores numbered twenty, I was getting over 10,000 views on my website a month.
By the time Amazon started their upload program, I had three novels and twenty short stories ready to go. Of course, I wasn’t the only one. Hundreds, maybe thousands of authors frustrated with playing the traditional publishing game, discovered they didn’t really need a publisher. Not only that, Amazon paid authors 70% while trade publishers only paid 10% at best.
Those were the good old days. Unfortunately, the more polished and professional the competition became, the more I realized I needed to improve. What? My books weren’t perfect? Far from it. Today, those early books and those that followed have seen multiple proofreads and edits as late as just last year. Even now, someone tells me that on page 36, line three there is a typo. It’s frustrating, but it’s all part of the game.
Between July and December of that first year I sold 777 copies of my books. I discovered more sales outlets such as Apple, Nook, Kobo and eventually Google Play.
The next year I added more books and sold over 24,000. Writing and publishing an average of 4 books a year, my highest was 56,000 in 2014. And then – the good years were gone. The competition steadily grew, promotion became more difficult as well as expensive, and one or two bad reviews meant certain tragedy for many a new author.
To date I have written over 50 books, updated the cover arts multiple times, changed my blurbs until I found something that tempted readers to buy, and tried dozens of ways to find new readers. In the end, the path I took to become published was well worth it. I can safely say that people all over the world have read my books, and that’s a very gratifying feeling.
Find out more about Marti’s books at martitalbott.com
