The Pros And Cons Of Being An Indie Author

I’ve been a self-published author for 12 years. Here are my thoughts on the pros & cons of being one!

The Pros

#1 You don’t have to wait for anyone to gatekeep your book.

When your manuscript is edited, formatted, and ready to be published you can hit the “publish” button and release it out into the world.

#2 Your stories are fully yours

There’s something beautiful about knowing an indie author’s book was untouched by a team of editors altered to entice a larger audience. Indie authors get to retain their original story and in most cases they are quite good.

#3 You’re not in the query trenches waiting on replies from agents

I’ve pitched to agents in the past and while I welcomed the challenge at the time, I realized after a year of doing that I’d rather have my books released and readers can find them eventually. Publishing my own books over the last 12 years or so has been a very freeing experience. I wrote stories I may not have written had I been trying to write for market.

While querying one’s book is sometimes worth it, at times it can be disheartening for authors who wait for years to get represented, seeing rejection letter after rejection letter. I’ve seen writers give up. Not that they should! Sometimes you have to decide your story is worth it even if the mainstream market doesn’t see it.

Indie authors can publish their books whenever they feel ready to with no pressure to impress the powers that be.

#4 You can attract a diverse readership

This is one of the coolest things about being indie. Your readers often come from a variety of backgrounds. Without target marketing and a big audience, it’s interesting to see who ends up reading your books and feeling a connection with them.

#5 The potential for unlimited income

While indie authors are notoriously underpaid for their work, some manage to reach a larger audience and sell thousands of books.

When you’re represented by a publisher, your royalties are usually lower than self-publishing on Amazon. The earning potential is essentially unlimited.

The Cons

There are none.

Just kidding! Of course there are some cons to being an indie author. I’m not saying these affect me personally, but some indie authors may relate to the following points.

#1 You make less money than traditionally published authors (Usually)

There are exceptions. Some indie authors are able to make an income solely off their writing (Hence the unlimited potential of self-publishing on KDP), but most do not. Traditionally published authors still make more money than most indie authors. If you’re not in it just for the money then you won’t find this disheartening.

#2 Low readership

While many indie authors find a lot of readers to support their books, many find it difficult to find people who want to read their stories. We write to share our stories with the world, so this is important to us. The truth is that you will gain more readers over time (I have!). It just takes a little patience and some clever marketing.

#3 People not seeing you as a real author

Aside from your parents, sibling(s), or that one kind cousin/aunt/uncle/friend, most people you know won’t really take your writing seriously if your books aren’t in stores. There’s still a stigma to being self-published. Many readers don’t care that much about how you published your books, but some will.

That can limit how many readers you get for your books. But that’s OK. It just means you’ll attract really cool people who appreciate indie books and are willing to take a chance on an author who isn’t well-known.

Thanks so much for reading today!