It was the best of times, it was the worst of times- An Indie Author’s Journey

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be an author? Have you, like so many others grown up with the desire to have your name in print, on a vibrant book cover sat on your own bookshelf displaying your name for all to see? Even if the only person who truly gets a thrill out of seeing that name sat there staring back at you… is you?

Well I had that dream. And for me, along with swathes of other talented self-published authors, I made it a reality. And I’m here to tell you that like so many other things in this world, it’s addictive.

Taking the plunge

Now I realise that the word ‘addictive’ in itself has many negative connotations, but I want you to forget all that for a moment, because whilst there are negative components to what I’m about to write in this article, there are so, so many positives that inevitably lead to a series of thrills. Namely: Writing the words ‘The End’, opening a box that contains your very own paperback in hard copy for the world to see, and reading a review from a stranger who took the time to read your words.

So where did I start? Is it clichéd to say ‘In the beginning’? Or should I just say ‘a long time ago’? Either way my journey began with my first ever book: ‘Welcome to Eden’.

It was Easier back then

The world was a better place back then, I didn’t really know about the nuances of being an author, publishing and the like, so I wrote a book, edited it as best I could, drew up a cover on my iPad and uploaded it to Amazon through KDP. You should know what KDP is already but I’ll come back to it later.

I uploaded my book and there it was, available for the whole world to read. My words. My precious words. And then people bought it. I didn’t know about advertising or getting my name out there, I just let it happen and in the first few months the book had sat there and made hundreds of pounds all by itself! There were people reviewing it and book clubs reading it, and all the while I was doing absolutely nothing for it. That’s why I say the world was a better place back then, because that’s just not how it works any more.

The Itch

But where did I start? I was working cleaning windows by myself, and that meant a constant need for entertainment. Namely audiobooks. In a ten hour day I could sometimes finish a whole book and it’d never take more than two days and I fell in love with the LitRPG genre.

The books were long, the series’ longer and the same small group of narrators seemed to pop up giving me a familiar voice to listen to. I listened to The Land, Life Reset, Awaken Online and so many more amazing series’ every single day.

But then I wanted to tell my own stories.

Following Welcome to Eden I went on to publish the Freedom Online series, and then branched out to other genres, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Historical Fiction and more, but the more I wrote and the more I diversified the more I learnt.

And the more I realised that being an author is hard.

It’s Tough

At almost two million words published right now, I can safely say that being self-published is somewhat like being a one-man band. You write, you make a cover or arrange an artist, you edit and get editors, you research tropes and what the readers expect of you and then you become your very own marketing director. Because it isn’t like it used to be, and it’s still getting more difficult.

I’ve had books that have released with a full-blown marketing campaign that have fallen on their faces. I’ve had books pull their own traction and I’ve had books that I’ve brute-forced down readers throats until they’ve been rated and reviewed on Amazon over and over.

If you want to know which one works best, sometimes you need to flip a coin.

No I’m not saying it’s luck. My father always said: “the more I practise the luckier I get,” and it’s true. We grow, we learn and we adapt, but above all the harder we try, the better the results (almost) always.

But back to KDP. That’s the platform Amazon provides for self-published authors to upload their books. It’s the biggest platform and in my opinion, easy to use. And then you can enrol in their very own KDP Select. What this means is that readers who pay for Kindle Unlimited get to read your book, and you get paid on a ‘pages read’ basis. It’s a good deal for everyone, but it comes with an exclusivity contract.

Going Wide

And that’s where I changed things up in 2024. I left some books exclusive to Kindle and available in Kindle Unlimited – the ones best suited to that readership – and then took the rest ‘wide’. So I could then sell my eBooks on every other platform, including my own website with total control over everything.

Now I’m not saying this has or is going to change the world, and Amazon is certainly the biggest player in books, eBooks and audiobooks, but sometimes it feels like you really need to be in control of your own destiny.

So that brings us up to today. I’ve self - published for many years, written many, many words (some of them are even the same words), lost and gained, and inevitably landed in a place where many others have: I write because I love putting words on a page, telling stories that I enjoy, and in the small hope that someone out there enjoys my stories too.

If you’re reading this as a hopeful new author, don’t be put off; the rewards can be great.

But if you’re a seasoned veteran in the craft, keep doing what you’re doing; the masses can be silent, but out there someone is reading and smiling.