Independent Authors Are Inspiring

I have been working with a handful of authors over the last several months, and today, as I was working on a book for an author, I got really inspired. I spoke to this author a year or so ago and she had an idea for a book and I told her about my experiences and shared some advice (we also spoke about InDesign since she was considering using it to format her book). I think I heard from her briefly a few months later when she had another question, but mostly hadn’t heard from her until a few weeks ago when she reached out again. She was close to finishing her book, but wanted to hire me to help fine tune things and make sure she was ready to go to print. I was so happy for her that she had attempted to format on her own and delighted she’d asked me to hep finalize her book (she had a great initial start by the way – I was really impressed)!

In one of her emails she happened to mention her and the illustrator were learning together. And something about that really pulled at my heart strings. I knew she was learning the ropes with self-publishing, but to then have the illustrator in the same ropes just really made me reflect on how amazing self-publishing really is. A writer and an illustrator came together to create something new. They both know there is a learning curve, but are giving each other a chance to learn and grow. It just feels like the start to something amazing. I thought “man, if they’re doing this good on the first book, imagine where they’ll be on the next book…or book 5?!”

All authors, like any trade, start out “green”. They have to work hard and learn the ropes. An author is usually “born” when they write something and then they want to share that something with the world. Whatever their reason or motivation is, they either have to go through the difficulty of finding an agent and getting traditionally published, or they decide to cut straight to the chase and self-publish.

This author had an idea, wrote it down, found an illustrator and then had to do all the other numerous steps to bring this book to life! Most people have no idea all the steps this truly involves. Here’s some of the main work that is required to get a book self-published, although I’m sure I’m leaving some out:

• Writing
• Finding beta readers
• Editing
• Illustrating or hiring an illustrator (in some books, like picture books)
• Cover design
• Formatting
• Marketing (this is HUGE!!)
• Printing or arranging print-on-demand (POD)
• Reporting taxes and income
• Shipping (for those who have inventory)
• Selling and/or doing in-person events

That’s a really streamlined list and is a massive undertaking. Even if you you hire people for certain steps along the way, it’s still a ton of work and at very least, you’re managing each step. For each step, you’re investing your time and/or money.

Whether you’re an author, an aspiring author, or just someone who loves books…think about that list.

Read it again.

Think about each step and what that entails.

Then think about how anyone who is starting out is going to probably know little to nothing about any of it. It’s a LOT of work!

While I’m an author, and I also had to go through all those steps knowing very little, I did know about the design, formatting and some marketing (which is quite a large chunk). That in itself put me ahead of the curve. And I still feel like it was a lot for me to accomplish on my own. But working with these authors who knew even less and yet here they are creating beautiful books…I’m just in awe.

Each author client I’ve had has wowed me with their amount of hard work and dedication. And every author is really inspirational to me – and even more so the ones who have self-published. To take a little idea in your head and turn it into something you can share with the world is truly magical. And I don’t mean magical because it’s done instantly and easily, I mean magical because each book is a work of passion and true love. Authors know that all their hard work might go unnoticed. They may pour hundreds of hours and dedication into something that could very well only reach a small audience. Not every book will become a best seller, yet authors continue to pour their hearts into their work.

So for all the authors out there, especially those independent ones, thank you for creating such wonderful books to fill our world with stories that can last a lifetime and beyond. Keep working on those dreams and keep sharing those dreams! Each one of you inspires me to keep going myself.