No Regrets

Someone once said, “There is no such thing as bad publicity.” I’m not sure that’s true, but in this case I was very happy to see my name mentioned several times in The Chronicle, my local paper.

A friend of mine, Julie McDonald Zander, writes a column for the newspaper and recently called me. Her first questions were when and why I started self-publishing. I told her I started my business in August of 2013, but I prefer the term indie-publishing. Self-publish has the image of boxes of books stacked in the garage that will never be sold. I keep a few copies of my books to give to reviewers and bloggers, but other than that I have no inventory. I should have added that my books are sold in over sixty-five countries and on every inhabited continent. I’m trying to find a way to get my books to Antarctica.

I’ll be speaking this September at the Southwest Washington Writers Conference on using Amazon, Nook, Kobo, iTunes, and Smashwords for broader ebook distribution. I’ll also talk about how to use print-on-demand and audiobooks for greater reach. The conference is in Centralia on September 17th. If you’re interested you can register here.

Until recently, most writers went through agents and traditional publishers. During our conversation, Julie asked me if I ever regretted not going the traditional route. I told her that if I had waited to be traditionally published I might have one or two books out by now, maybe none. Later, as I reflected on my comments, it occurred to me that I don’t think of my work in terms of Traditional or Indie. I can still sign a traditional publishing contract. I just don’t pursue one.

By using indie publishing, I now make a living running my own publishing business and writing books.

No, Julie, I have no regrets.