Thinking of Self Publishing? Just DO IT!

Image courtesy of lusi (sanja gjenero), rgbstock.com

You've got nothing to lose. The publishing world is changing enormously at the moment and its becoming increasingly easy to get your own books out there.

If I hadn't gone ahead and self-published and, instead, waited for an agent to accept me, I'd probably still be wondering whether my book was good enough. Now I KNOW it is because of the fantastic response I've received from the awesome people who have bought it. Here is just a small sample of what some people said about Raven, my first book:

“Couldn't put it down.. willing to pay to get the next book in the series.. I thought it would suck kinda since it was a free title but it didn't and I was glad I downloaded it :)”

“Omg!!! This is the best book I have ever read. It was so detailed in everything that happened to Lily. This is the next big book.”

“I enjoyed reading.This book it.gives New.meaning.to.puberty. my preteen girls say they understand how Lily feels. Can't wait to read the rest of the series”

The best thing a reader said about Raven was that her heart ached for the main character, Lilly. I would never have known that my book had that effect on people had I not published it myself, would I?

The most important aspect of being an author is to have people read your book, right? If you're sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring, who is reading your book? Nobody. So why wait? If you're still holding out for an agent or a publisher, they are more likely to pick you up if you've already got a decent following, don't you think?

So get your book out there on Amazon (US and UK), Kobo and Smashwords. Send out as many review copies as possible, ask book sites to interview you, offer to do guest posts on as many different sites as possible and get your name known. Or pay to do a book tour if you struggle with time. There's loads of amazing tour hosts out there.

So what are you waiting for? Go for it! If you're considering making your first book free of charge, check out this post to see what happened after Raven became free. It was such a success that I made the first book in my next series, free too!

I actually wrote most of this post back in 2011 – now I've published a few more books (six in total – Raven, December Moon, The Lost Soul, Daisy Madigan's Paradise, The Ghost of Josiah Grimshaw and The Temporal Stone!) and I continue to gain great reviews from readers across the world. Of course with the good comes the bad and I do occasionally get negative reviews as well (fortunately only a fraction of the total) but I've learned to live with this. It's something every author must accept. So if you're still wanting to become an indie author, make sure you're strong enough to take criticism as well!

If you're looking or advice on self publishing, I'm always happy to help. Plus, if you're a woman (sorry guys!), I have a women's fiction blog called Fiction Dreams where I post about other authors and their books – I'd be delighted to feature you once you're published. Oh and I do post all things YA here on my YA blog (if you're a guy that's ok lol!).

If you've written your book and are now wondering about how to go about the cover, here's some advice from another author that featured on my blog some time ago. And here's a post from a (then) 12-year-old author Spencer Brokaw. How awesome is that huh?

If you're still wondering about going down the indie route, here's just a small list of some of the amazing authors who are all doing enormously well after self publishing:

1. Amanda Hocking
2. E.L James
3. Lisa Genova
4. Bella Andre
5. Nick Spalding
6. Samantha Towle

After writing this originally a few of years ago, I came across this very interesting post and thought it might back up my points.