The business of indie publishing

 This week I've been doing a lot of research on business topics for independent publishers.  I'll turn 70 in a couple of months' time, and I reckon I've wasted long enough trying to get discovered by the mainstream publishing industry.

No-one there has ever shown more than lukewarm interest in my projects, yet the feedback I get on them from my local writers' circle is generally positive.  So I'm reckoning the reason the mainstream industry isn't interested has more to do with its risk aversion than the quality of my work.

Handily, I do have an independent way to check that quality.  I recently won a Free Read of one of my manuscripts from The Literary Consultancy.  The novel I submitted to them is being edited now, and when the report comes back it will be a useful reality check on my writing and editing skills.

Delving into the business side of indie publishing has been eye-opening.  I joined the Alliance of Independent Authors, and the private Facebook groups for members are worth the membership fee alone.  So are the free ebooks and guides on making a living as an indie author.

One of the things which has staggered me most is the way dozens of authors casually state that they're making a thousand dollars or more a month from their indie published books.  These are mainly authors I don't know, and when you realise that many of them are earning at least £12,000 a year, they're earning as much, or more than, the average mainstream author.

The other thing that's become clear is how much of a business it is if you want to do it well.  There is first the choice of where you publish, on Amazon only, or on other channels.  Two things surprised me about this.   First, Amazon is dominant mainly in the US and UK, but there are many other markets for books published in English.  Someone posted yesterday that there were 15 million Indians who buy books written in English.  Someone else suggested that China is another big market to be discovered.  So the first decision an indie publisher has to make is whether to publish exclusively on Amazon, or whether to "go wide".  The Association of Independent Authors recommends going wide, and I'll be doing that.

The thing I thought I'd struggle with was marketing.  The big surprise there was that the most effective marketing is the book itself.  Everybody says that the things which sell books are: a good story, a great cover, and good metadata.  All these things are within my control, and don't require me to go out shouting "buy my book" to people.  Even setting up an email list is a way to converse with readers rather than shout "buy my book" at them.

When I started my research I had no idea how to do a great many things, but reading the dozens of free ebooks I've downloaded from experts, plus the comments on the Facebook groups, has taught me so much.  I've learned tips on how to avoid snags with the publishing process by reading dozens of comments where it's gone wrong.

Making a success of indie publishing will be a lot of hard work, but at least I have a good idea of what's involved now.