Friends and family have often asked me – why indie? Why don’t I try to get published with a traditional publisher? That way I would have more help. Well… it is a complicated answer.
#1 Primarily I don’t want to let go of control. I want the final say on how my books look/feel. I created Rubicon Fiction so that I could have control over the work. That means I have to do my own marketing, but authors at traditional or even small press publishers still have to do their own marketing. They may have help, but that doesn’t mean their exempt, particularly with social media. Yet, they have to answer to editors and people that decide what their book’s cover should look like or deep changes in plot and character to fit a particular mold. I don’t.
But, that’s not the only reason. The other reason is because I can and it makes sense economically. Check out the latest report from Author Earnings:
Indies are taking over. While hoping I can move to a small press some day – I don’t really have to. I can continue to publish my own work – Sherri Jordan-Asble and Lynn Michaels – and except to do well in the market.
Traditional publishers have been slow to figure this out. I get that they are trying to save brick and mortar stores, but the cost of that is going to be their authors that decide they can make more money on their own – and they can!
So, while the big boys try and figure all of this out and ignore their potentially fastest growing revenue stream, the indie authors will just keep doing what we do. It didn’t concern us initially to be competing against tradition, or we wouldn’t have done it.
The main new insight I’ve seen in this report indicates that although I’m on the right path, that maybe I should be taking a more serious look at the audible market. Hmm…
Lynn Michaels Writes 