Artboard 3

Become a Member

Take the Free Passion & Purpose Challenge!

GET INVOLVED!

Join the Mastermind

STOP Saying These Phrases if Your Want to Grow Your Business

Watching Your Competition Won't Help You Grow

My Morning Routine for a Successful Workday

10 Business Tools to Transform your Productivity

podcast episodes

MOST downloaded

CHECK OUT OUR PODCAST!

I'm Kelly - the founder of She Is Fierce! and your host on our blog featuring stories and wisdom from fierce women all over the world! 

Fierce Living

Why I Became An Indie Author

< back to blog home

Why I Became An Indie Author

I’ve dreamed of becoming an author my whole life. As a child, I would sit in my room and write for hours at a time.

Growing up, life took me down different paths and I sampled a variety of working positions. Finally, on January 1, 2014, I knew the time had come to get serious with my writing.

That morning is ingrained permanently in my mind. I was watching the CBS Morning Show with my Mom. A young family was featured-within a short time, both parents had lost their jobs.

 

The wife decided to write a book and publish it. After studying all the books on the New York Times best-seller list, she sat down to write her book.

Once she was finished with edits, cover artwork, and the full manuscript, she uploaded it to a platform called Smashwords. Her book sold 500 copies in the first day!

I was absolutely floored by the fact that she could publish a book herself. By the way, this author is Jasinda Wilder, and she  has become pretty successful since then.

I made a goal that day to publish my own book in a year.

But why become an indie author?

I wanted the freedom and complete control over my work. I wanted to be able to work as long as I needed to put out the best book possible.

I didn’t want to be on a deadline, constantly stressed that I may not get it done. The thought of pitching to an agent was pretty terrifying and I did not like the idea of having to work with a team that may not fully capture my vision.

I wanted to be able to hire buy or hire someone to design my cover, format my book and draw my illustrations. I wanted to be able to search and pick my own team versus having to work with in-house designers and formatters whose work I may not care for.

And as scary as it seemed, I wanted the challenge of building my own platform and promoting my own work.

What I didn’t want was to shell out big bucks to a publishing mill. I had researched these in the past, and the price always scared me away.  I also did not want to worry about my book being packed up after two or three weeks on the shelves due to low or no sales-the harsh reality of traditional publishing.

I pretty much wanted to cut out the middleman and fulfill my dream on my own terms.

My book was finished three months after my original deadline. Better late than never.

In March of 2015, I released Lithium Dreams And Melancholy Sunrise.

I was very proud of my poetry book, and went on to release my second book of poems in April, The Safety Of Objects.

I am currently getting ready to release my first children’s book. Don’t Eat Your Boogers (You’ll Turn Green)  will be released in November.

Have my sales been stellar?

No, but poetry is a hard sell-either people like it or they don’t.

Is my platform perfect?

Not yet, but I keep improving.

It has been a learning process, but I’m so glad I’m doing things on my own terms. This indie author wouldn’t have it any other way.


Carrie LowranceCarrie Lowrance is a freelance writer for hire and author. Since childhood she has dreamed of becoming a published writer. This year she finally made it happen by self-publishing two books of poetry, Lithium Dreams And Melancholy Sunrise and The Safety Of Objects. She will also publish her first children’s book, Don’t Eat Your Boogers (You’ll Turn Green) this year. When not writing, she enjoys cooking, baking, and reading. She shares her life with her husband, a one-eyed cat named Colin and a rabbit named Abbey who thinks she is a diva. You can contact Carrie via her author site www.carrielowrance.com.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.