The Top 5 Reasons Traditional Authors Are Going Indie

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      NDIE!     It’s probably not a surprise–we’re always hearing about authors who have previously published traditionally choosing to go indie.  But what is making them? When they’ve been accepted by the literary elites, and they’ve been given advances and have received the support of a publisher, what motivation could make them switch to publishing independently? The top 5 reasons we see authors going indie:   1. The “support” traditional publishers offer is no longer as relevant or valuable. Traditionally, publishers would give authors a nice, fat advance. Then they’d take the brand-spankin’-new author’s book, publish it, deliver it to the exclusive sales channels (the traditional bookstores, unreachable to anyone but publishers and the ONLY place anyone… [read more]

The 140-Character Twitter Novel

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              This past fall, the Guardian posted a great little article in which they featured 21 well-known authors using a Twitter post to write a novel. The challenge proved to be very provocative, funny, and interesting! A few of our favorites:   Ian Rankin: I opened the door to our flat and you were standing there, cleaver raised. Somehow you’d found out about the photos. My jaw hit the floor. Jeffrey Archer: “It’s a miracle he survived,” said the doctor. “It was God’s will,” said Mrs Schicklgruber. “What will you call him?” “Adolf,” she replied. Helen Fielding: OK. Should not have logged on to your email but suggest if going on marriedaffair.com don’t use… [read more]

Viva La Indie! ‘The Indie Author Revolution’ by Dara M. Beevas

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      It’s not a trend.   It’s not a fad.   It’s not deniable.   It’s the age of the indie author. Above: Dara M. Beevas. Photo by Bridget Marchesi I (Amy) live in a career (yes, that verb choice was intentional—I brainstorm about my authors in my sleep!) where I am constantly surrounded and inspired by creative, innovative, driven people who write books for hundreds of reasons and for innumerable audiences. One of the most inspiring authors I’ve come across? One particular author motivated to write for the audience described above—the audience of creative, innovative, driven people who just need to know how to navigate the crooked, difficult, and infinitely rewarding path of independent authorship. Last night, I… [read more]

The Best 10 Blogs for the Indie Author

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As we said earlier this week, it is so important for indie authors to be educated in all things publishing and writing related. On Monday, we gave you a list of books that you should have in your library. Yet, because the industry is changing on an almost daily basis (did you hear that HarperCollins’s sci-fi/fantasy imprint, Harper Voyager, will be accepting unagented manuscripts from October 1 – 14?), books, though tried and true, aren’t necessarily the most up-to-date sources of information. If you’re not following and keeping up with what’s going on in the blogosphere, you should be! Other than our blog, below are some fantastic blogs for the indie author on industry news, writing, publishing, and marketing:  … [read more]

Memorial Day Post: Six Influential Literary Contributors Who Died in 2011

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Happy Memorial Day weekend, writers! For most people, this weekend is a brilliant excuse to relax by a lake somewhere, eating a hotdog and sipping a beer at 1:00 in the afternoon. For freelancers like me, it’s an excuse to have a three-day weekend to catch up on a few editing projects. Many of us probably don’t let our thoughts linger too long on the original intent of Memorial Day, if it even crosses our minds at all. Memorial Day (originally “Decoration Day”) originated after the American Civil War, its purpose being to commemorate fallen American soldiers. Over time, it became a time of memory and commemoration in general, as families would use the time to visit the graves of… [read more]

A Guest Post from Indie Author Teresa Fritschi

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As shocking as this statement might be, I came to authorship by accident. Much as I discovered I had to start moisturizing my skin at 50, circumstance demanded I write. This is not to suggest I have the arrogance to consider my efforts of the same caliber of Elif Shafak, Molly Peacock or Paul Anderson. No, I am definitely not aspiring to be a novelist or biographer. Nor am I the next Seth Godin or James Altucher, though their understanding of the paradigm shift quickly invalidating the traditional publishing industry is invaluable. No, my writing is can be found in the NPR equivalent of Michael Feldman’s ‘Whad’YaKnow?’ category of ‘Things You Should Have Learned in School (Had You Been Paying Attention)’… [read more]

Welcome to Wise Ink

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Welcome to Wise Ink! So the journey begins! Welcome to our blog. I guess we should start with an introduction. The voices behind Wise Ink are two editors who work with indie authors in their day job (Dara and Amy). Indie publishing is our obsession and after long days in the office pouring over books and mentoring interesting self-publishers, we began brainstorming ways to come interact with even more authors. We’ve learned a lot and we think some of it might actually be useful. And so Wise Ink was born. Wise Ink was created to help indie authors through the process of writing, publishing, and book marketing. We want to share what we’ve learned because we have to believe that the mistakes… [read more]