Why/How did you decide to become an Indie author?

[munboy]

Like others have mentioned...the slow, plodding nature of trad-pub.

After years of struggling to learn how to write a novel (including 2-3 bad books that will never see the light of day and 3 years writing and revising what would eventually become my first published novel), I didn't want to go through the process of finding an agent or acquisitions editor...wait for them to find a publisher interested...go through months and months of revisions and edits...then more months and months for the publisher to fit my book into their timeline. It can literally take years. I didn't have that kind of patience...and even though I was still pretty stupid about the ways of self-publishing, I put it out there anyways...just to say "Hey, I wrote a book...it's pretty good...Maybe read it?" (Nobody did for a very long time  )

[tired1680]

Been writing on/off for ages, but never really finished anything. Then I started reading a bunch of webnovels online on Royal Road in 2017 and had so much fun, I decided to write my own. Then, having fun, I wrote a 2nd novel in a different series. At some point, I turned around and realised I had a novel and novella.

I had read Rusch's blog a while ago, had a rough idea that you could publish online. I decided to edit what I had, fix some plot issues, clean out typos and missing words, etc. Self-edited it and then, having done that, threw it up on Amazon with a professionally designed cover. About the only thing I did right (no editing, no proofreading).

Surprised me when the first novella I threw up actually made more money. When the next book did too, I figured I'd just continue writing and publishing because I was making decent money and I had fans who were asking for the next book. I never really expected to be doing as well as I did and some days, I have to pinch myself.