Indie Publishing Can be a B*tch!
If you’ve been here before, you’ll know this already: my books are independently published, not because they aren’t good enough for traditional publishing, but because my weird little brain wouldn’t survive the hundred or so inevitable kick-backs before they were accepted for publishing.
Criticism, I can handle. 😏
But my own peculiar collection of issues means that each rejection would make me less and less likely to ever try again, and I’d probably not only give up trying to get them published after just a couple of rejections, but I’d also probably give up writing. Just the act of reaching out to them would have been excruciating for me.
That’s the reason why it’s taken me so long to publish anything at all.
I’m not telling you this for pity, but so you understand: indie publishing is a choice I made - and probably the only reason I even attempted to publish.
The great thing about it is that you have full control. Content, launch dates, edit decisions, book covers, advertising - you have the first and last say on all of it. Which is amazing.
BUT.
Yeah, you knew that was coming.
Unless you have a bunch of money to throw at it - and who has that! - it means that we, the authors, have to do all of that ourselves.
Okay, full disclosure: I don’t publish until I can afford to hire an artist for the cover art.
Still, all the marketing, social posts, publishing, editing - all that is on me.
And that’s okay.
I’m by no means an expert, but I’m getting better (at least, I think I am!)
Yet every time I have a new book coming out (Blood in the Water - 29-March-2026!), I face the same boss fights.
Amazon. A platform so complex that even the help guides confuse me.
Draft2Digital. Everything you’re uploading uses the exact same templates as last time, and the length is only one page different? Too bad, it’s still wrong.
Barnes & Noble. Yeah, I gave up on this one because I couldn’t even get the login to work, even with help from the site support. THEY couldn’t get me to log in either.
You get the picture.
I’m serious. I work in IT. I test code for software engineers. And I CANNOT FIGURE THESE PLATFORMS OUT.
I persevere.
And, finally, I have defeated them.
For the first time, I have paperbacks available on Amazon and Books2Read, because I FINALLY defeated those digital demons!
How long did it take, I hear you ask? An hour? A few hours? A day? Two days?
No.
No, dear reader, it took weeks.
Literal weeks where, in every spare moment, I was trying, failing and trying again.
The platforms are advertised as ‘easy to use’ - and they probably are. For lots of people.
Just not for me and my neurosparkly brain. ✨
Today - I defeated that demon.
It’s been kicking my arse for weeks, but tomorrow was the last day I would be able to set it up to meet my launch date.
And I did it. I won.
I’m off to take my victory lap.