YA Indie Carnival: Being an Indie

This week at the Carnival we are discussing what opportunities, advantages, etc. being an Indie Author has given us.  My mind is swimming with chaotic visions.  Usually, I don't have any problem writing on a topic.  But there is so much to say on this one.  Let's begin.

What opportunities has becoming an Indie given me?

1.  More Books:  Publishers will not allow you to put out very many books at once.  That's why Stephen King published under an alias for a while.  People knew it was him.  No one writes like King.  After a while he dropped the charade.  In an article, he complained about the publisher, saying his agent told him the publisher didn't want him to flood the market with his books.  So what do you do if you can write five books in a year and the publisher will only put out two? 

You can put them out yourself as ebooks or print-on-demand books.  Even King has some books out as Indie works now.  Awesome!

2.  Cover Control:  Back when I was writing with Harlequin, I was not thrilled with how they did some of their covers.  I heard a few writers complain, saying they hated their covers.  Even though we (as authors) were asked to fill out paperwork for the art department, we didn't have any real input on the covers.  You just had to cross your fingers and wait to see your books.  When the box arrived, you held your breath as you opened it.  Sometimes you were over the moon.  Sometimes you were depressed.  A great cover can be the difference between lots of sales and limited sales.

Now when someone tells me they don't like my cover, it's on me.  I do have control over it.  In fact, I produce my own covers.  A lot of work goes into them.  Someday, when I run out of ideas, I will probably hire a professional.  But, at the moment, I am enjoying the control.

3.  An Eye on Sales:  When you publish in the traditional way, you have no idea how your books are doing.  An agent might be able to tell you something, but they don't have immeditate facts.  Being an Indie Author means I can check the sales myself.  If sales drop, I am the first one to know.

Recently, Harlequin re-published two of my books as ebooks.  It drives me crazy, not knowing how they are doing.  I have no idea.  It will be almost a year after the first one went up before I get a sales report.  Until then, your guess is as good as mine.

That's it for me today.  Check out the other Carnies below to see what they have to say.

1.	Laura A. H. Elliott	2.	Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3.	T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series	4.	Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
5.	Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog	6.	K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
7.	Gwenn Wright, author of Filter	8.	Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.
9.	Ella James	10.	Maureen Murrish
11.	YA Sci Fi Author's Ramblings	12.	A Little Bit of R&R
13.	Melissa Pearl