Indie Publishing - Part 1: Why Indie?

As an author who has already published, somewhat successfully within a particular genre, it might be questioned as to why I chose to tackle my next project - as a writer of fantasy fiction - as an indie author.

I believe that part of the answer resides within the audience and market for my work. When I write technical or historically-based non-fiction, I am aware that I am writing for a relatively narrow audience. Reaching that audience is not easy, particularly when it's an audience that, for the most part, prefers to have books that they can see, hold and touch. There is an appeal to a paperback or hardcover volume that certain genres clearly prefer, and when I write for that genre I am aware that I need the help of a publishing house - one that can get my book on the shelves of book stores and market my book to that specific audience - to make the book successful.

When it came to writing fantasy fiction, on the other hand, I realized that as a minimum I would need to do my own research, and identify how best to market to this new, very different audience. My past success as an author, in a totally different genre, would likely be of minimal value were I to seek to market my work to a major publishing house. Unlike the technically-oriented audience I had written for in the past, I recognized that this audience was much broader and more diverse.

In my research into this segment of the publishing industry, I was therefore gratified to learn that electronic publishing has finally come of age. True, there are those who have tried and failed as indie authors, as is true for any genre of writing, but there are also indie authors who have excelled and made a mark for themselves within this segment of the publishing market. These were the authors who became my inspiration, and I began to follow their work, and attempt to identify what features separated a successful indie author from a less successful one.

I look forward to writing more on this subject next time.