5 Successful Indie Authors Share Their Thoughts on How to be an Indie Success

What’s the best way to find an answer? Ask the question. I like many other new indie writers asked myself day in and day out “Whats what can I do to be a success” But I was asking the wrong person.

So I set out on the internet and found “guru’s” when I should have been finding successful writers and asking them what they did to be successful. So that’s what I did. I found 5 successful writers on Amazon Kindle and I reached out to ask them what the number one thing a new author could do to ensure long-term success was. As a horror writer, I didn’t want to pigeonhole my success research. So I asked authors from a variety of genres. Here’s what they had to say.

Firstly I’d like to thank each of these authors for taking the time to answer a quick question, “Whats the number one thing you a new author can do to ensure long-term success in the industry?”

Vaughn Heppner–

Vaughn is a science fiction writer and he had this to say-

“Write the story. Put it up. Repeat, repeat, repeat…”

You can find more information about Vaughn here and find his books here.

 

 

Michaelbrent Collings-

Michaelbrent is a horror writer. He also writes screenplays for movies. He had this to say-

“Write. Churn out tons of crap. Write some more. Churn out slightly-less-crappy crap. Write more. Rinse, lather, repeat. And eventually, you’ll be doing work that gets you those likes and friends and follows… and also gets you the people who will support and ultimately buy your work.”

Find more advice from Michaelbrent here and his books here. More information about Michaelbrent visit his website here.

 

 

Jennifer Foehner Wells-

Jen is a science fiction author and she had this to say-

“The best thing an independent author can do to increase longevity and chance of success is to invest in their own work. That means hiring the same editors and cover artists that traditional publishers hire. Make your work indistinguishable from traditionally published work in every way. It’s a daunting investment when you’re starting out, but it can pay dividends in the long term. If you don’t believe in your own work, who will?”

You can find Jennifer’s books here, and more information about her at her website here.

 

Derek Murphy-

Derek writes young adult fiction and had this to say-

“Give your book away for free until you have a readership of fans; use the free book to build an email list. If you can’t get anyone to take the free book, or sign up to your list, then either you have basic problems with your cover or book description, or they didn’t enjoy the book enough to want to sign up for more (or you have a lame, vague optin offer…)”

You can find Derek’s books here and his website here. Derek also operates The CreativIndie website where he talks about publishing indie books on kindle and kindle unlimited.

 

Rafael Hines-

Is a suspense/thriller writer and he had this to say –

“For me, as a first-time author who started writing as a late night hobby purely for my own enjoyment, I didn’t expect to sell more than a few hundred to friends and family so success for me was simply posting my novel on Amazon and holding a copy of the paperback in my hand. Once Bishop’s War sales skyrocketed on their own I definitely re-calibrated my expectations, but only 18 months after self-publishing one novel the notion of long-term success in the industry is still an elusive target for me. I hope that when I release my sequel, Bishop’s Law, in the fall it will achieve the same level of commercial success (or even surpass it), but that is still to be determined.

One piece of advice I will pass on is to write with passion and for your own enjoyment and not for commercial success. It’s great for any author to have readers rave about your work, but do not allow yourself to feel in anyway unsuccessful if your novel(s) don’t immediately find an audience. It may sound cliché, but believe in yourself and keep creating.

A second is that if you are chasing commercial success you absolutely need to do your homework and deliver a polished product. That means paying for professional editing, a really fantastic cover, and having a strong platform on social media. Remember that writing is the easy part. The business side takes commitment and long hours that can often get in the way of writing your next novel.”

You can find Rafeal’s book here and more information about him on his blog here.

 

 

Thanks for reading. If you found this helpful maybe others will too! Share your thoughts in the comments.