Being an independent artist comes with lots of challenges. The easy part is doing the art.
The rest is where it gets funky. As an indie author, I’m not simply a writer, but a business. Ergo, as an authorpreneur, I also handle finding cover artists, editors, beta readers, marketing resources, publicity resources, and the like. If I want to be seen and further expose my work so I get more sales, these are all important elements that can’t be ignored.
Fortunately, I’m not the first to choose this path for my life. There are many other indie authors and other independent artists in the world today. Because we’re all on similar journeys, many things that have worked for one can and do work for others with necessary variations.
In other words, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Multiple ways to do things are out there that apply to all the independents.
A key element of this to consider is that we’re not in competition.
Writers, artists, and creatives aren’t competing
In the crowded indie author market, I’m just one of many writers striving to get attention for my work. I work to gain readers and sell books to earn a living.
Yet I’m not competing with other writers. That’s because there’s more than enough room for all the writers and the work they’re putting out there to exist.
My work isn’t to everyone’s taste. But let’s face it, one-size-fits-all seldom, if ever, fits all. Even in the generalized genres of sci-fi and fantasy, there are a ton of sub-genres. When you get right down to it, each is its own unique, separate niche.
Ergo, I’m not competing with any other author. That’s why I continue doing swaps and joining book promotion groups via BookFunnel with other indie authors. This offers multiple opportunities for us to support one another.
This also applies to other writers, artists, and creatives. What you make won’t appeal to everyone. Hence, you’re not competing. As communities, it’s helpful for independents to work together to better advocate for one another, for representation, and for other means to improve the world around us.
Together, the creative community does best in harmony with one another. That doesn’t mean blindly agreeing with each other, nor accepting everything that’s called “art” is art. So, what is it? It’s seeing the power of being a community of creatives doing good rather than fighting one another in false competition for this, that, or the other thing.
There are many different programs available to indie authors and other independent artists. These come with various costs. Yet when you’re building your artistic business, you need to learn elements way beyond your art.
There are programs like BookFunnel that can help grow mailing lists, offer free tastes of your work to draw more readers, and help engage members of the community to build and grow together. There are podcasts where other independents share their experiences, what they have learned and are continuing to learn, and more.
Then there are classes, programs, websites, webinars, and other options to help you learn what you don’t know. I know how to write, edit, and format eBooks and paperbacks. I even know how to create, record, edit, and engineer audiobooks. Marketing, publicity, and making the most of social media? Calling this daunting is an understatement.
Fortunately, people have already done this work, so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Sure, they might charge you to learn what they know, but good information has value. Having resources available means you don’t need to start anew or reinvent the wheel to learn the parts of the independent artist’s business that you don’t know yet.
Now comes the part I’m working to learn and get better at.
Budgeting for knowledge
While many of the tools necessary to produce my books for online sales are free, there are still costs involved.
I still like to pay a cover artist to create my book covers. Editors are not free, and it’s absolutely necessary to hire someone to edit books. These costs vary depending on multiple factors, but as an indie author, they must be budgeted for.
What about learning new marketing skills? How to publicize myself better? New sales avenues like doing direct sales? Fortunately, other indie authors who came before me have learned ways to address this and I can learn from them. No need to reinvent the wheel.
However, I do need to budget so that I can make the most of the options available to me to grow, learn, and expand my knowledge base. With that, I can make more of my authorpreneur business and take my writing to the next level.
I’ve only just begun my journey as an authorpreneur. Sure, I have a dozen books now (as of June 2024). But more are coming. To make the most of this, I need to look at the available resources and learn how to use them more effectively for my benefit.
It’s always good to know that there are lots of resources available. It’s also helpful to recognize that you seldom need to reinvent the wheel.
Thanks for reading. As I share my creative journey with you, I conclude with this: How are you inspired to be your own creator – whatever form that takes?
Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.
Of course. The pen is mightier than the sword, after all. The world is a crazy place. Spend any time on social media, watching or reading any news outlet, or doing anything anywhere and you’ll be inundated. There’s no end to the number of things happening in the world at large that suck. It can…
Make the art, create the recipe, write the book, pursue the creativity – do it for you. Sometimes I doubt myself. I began writing fiction – mostly sci-fi and fantasy – when I was nine. In fits and starts, I continued to write over the years. Then, not long ago, I started to write full-time….
Sometimes tropes should be broken. What is a trope? In the literary sense, a trope is an often used, even over-used theme. Perfect example – the heroine in a horror movie who runs away, only to trip while running and be brutally murdered. These are many and varied, but comfortable and familiar. The elder wizard…
There are multiple ways to write your book. When it comes to the art of writing a book, there is no One True Way™ to do it. There are nearly as many ways to write as there are genres to write in and topics to write about. You, as the artist, get to choose your…
Maybe, maybe not. I know that I do. I’ve self-published a dozen books, sci-fi, fantasy, and Steampunk. As of this writing, I have 4 completed books I’ve edited that need to go to an editor. I have 3 unedited, complete books and am nearing the end of a 4th. The new series I’ve been working…
The Discipline to Make Art Takes Conscious Work Whatever the art, consistency is a matter of discipline. Photo by Rachel Loughman on Unsplash I’ve been writing fiction since I was 9 years old. Over time, my work has been both consistent and sporadic. For almost 2 decades, I wrote sporadically. Some of that was also…
