From the Indie Side (44 page)

So if you liked the book, leave a review. It
doesn’t have to be detailed or eloquent. Ten minutes of your time
will make a world of difference to these authors who are trying to
get discovered!

Q. Where can I find more stories by these
authors?

A. Visit their websites, listed on the
following page. In addition to listing their existing books, many
authors have an email subscriber list that is used only to notify
you of upcoming releases.That way you never miss a new title by a
favored author. Or, simply go to your favorite online bookseller
and search by the author’s name.

Q. How can I help support independent
authors in general?

A. Let’s say you’re an independent author.
You’ve spent evenings, weekends, lunch hours writing a novel—and
you think it’s pretty good. You go through revision after revision,
you hire an editor, and you solicit feedback from beta readers, all
to make sure the book you put out there is perfectly polished and
professional. You hire a cover artist to give it just the right
feel, work with a formatter to get it ready for prime time, and
then you hit the publish button.

Now, what do you want?

Odds are, you really just want people to
read your book
. You probably don’t expect to be a bestseller
(though you may secretly wish for it), or even to make that much
money on sales, but
you want someone to hear your story
.
Unfortunately, that’s a lot easier said than done. At last count,
there were precisely six trillion titles available on Amazon alone;
how is anyone going to notice yours? The problem is not just
encouraging the reader to buy your book when they see it. The
bigger problem is, How do you get your book to show up on their
screen in the first place?

As mentioned above, there are usually two
answers: word of mouth, and reviews. Readers will know about your
book if a friend tells them about it, or shares it on Facebook, or
writes about it on their blog or on a site such as Goodreads. And
reviews drive search algorithms; each review gives a book a little
boost, pushes it a tiny bit higher than the sea of competing
works.

So what can
you
do to support
independent authors? When you find a book you like, tell your
friends. Share it on Facebook or Twitter. Leave a review (even a
short one). Look up the author’s other works; if you liked one,
you’ll probably like others. And finally, consider sending the
author an email to tell them you enjoyed their book. That kind of
feedback and encouragement can mean the world to a new author.

Q. Will there be a
From the Indie Side 2
?

A. That depends in part on the reception this
volume receives, but in short: we hope so! So keep your eyes
peeled. And if you have any additional feedback on this volume,
please feel free to contact me (David Gatewood) at
[email protected]
.
Thanks for reading!

Michael Bunker (
journal.michaelbunker.com
)

Peter Cawdron (
thinkingscifi.wordpress.com/books/
)

Kate Danley (
www.katedanley.com
)

Sara Foster (
http://www.sarafoster.com.au
)

Anne Frasier (
www.annefrasier.com
)

Jason Gurley (
www.jasongurley.com
)

Mel Hearse (
melhearse.com/fiction/
)

Kev Heritage (
kevheritage.com
)

Hugh Howey (
www.hughhowey.com
)

Ernie Lindsey (
www.ernielindsey.com
)

Susan May (
susanmaywordadventures.blogspot.com
)

Brian Spangler (
writtenbybrian.com
)