Marketing is a big problem for indie authors only because it takes so much time. But there are ways to make that work, and one thing I’m finding is that word of mouth seems to work better than anything else. Plus, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to put effort into marketing the first book. Well, depending on genre I guess. For example, mystery readers like to see series, so marketing pays off there, if you have more than one book out. I know one author friend also hired a marketing business. Of course then you have money going out before much comes in.

But other than the validation of having someone ‘big’ say your story is worthy of their time, I do like the complete control that comes with doing it myself.

Reminds me of a woman who put together an art festival and told me only artists who would be in museums twenty years from now could display their work. I asked her how the board knew who would be in a museum in the future and she said ‘I decide’. So maybe, even with large publishers, it’s all arbitrary anyway.

One is that I’m looking for validation from a publisher. I think I need someone to say, “Yes, this is a good story and I can sell it.”

The other is that I don’t know much about marketing except that it’s a lot of work. If I were to self-publish, I’d have to learn every part of the business and do it myself. I know authors who work with established publishers have to do most of their own promotion these days, but I still think I’d like an experienced partner to guide me should I ever get to that point with my writing.

I admire anyone who has the gumption to plunge in to the publishing world to get her words out there.