Guest Feature
Today’s guest post on about why she loves being an indie writer is by lovely author Patricia Lynne, whose novel Being Human was reviewed and featured on the blog in 2012. Today you can also find out about her latest work: Snapshot
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Patricia Lynne never set out to become a writer. In fact, she never gave it any thought during high school and college, but some stories are meant to be told and now she can’t stop. Patricia lives with her husband in Michigan, hopes one day to have what will resemble a small petting zoo and has a fondness for dying her hair the colors of the rainbow. You can find her at my website, on wasting time on Twitter and lurking on Facebook.
Why I like being an Indie…
When I first started looking into publishing and I found out I’d have little say in my cover, book title, and synopsis I was very worried. What if the publisher did an awful job in my opinion? There is nothing more horrifying than the idea of hating my own book because I don’t like the cover or I think the title is awful. I was also concerned about changes to the story. Publishers mold stories to fit the market and I didn’t want to lose my story just because of what was hot at the moment.
Enter Indie and self publishing. I would be in control of everything. My cover, title, and synopsis. I discovered writing the synopsis was a giant pain, but every word I picked out. Essentially, I am the boss.
Lately, I’ve been wondering about traditional publishing again. A few writing friends are considering submitting their stories to small publishers in hopes of benefiting from the editing and possible marketing a publisher might have. The possible help marketing is very tempting. I haven’t been able to market like I want to because 1) I have no idea what I’m doing and 2) I’ve been jobless so I haven’t had much money to spare for marketing. A publisher might be able to help with that.
But then I wouldn’t be the boss.
Honestly, that is the main reason I plan on sticking with being an Indie. As tough as it is to be the boss of everything, I do love having that control over my story. It ensures I tell the story I want and the story isn’t at the mercy of trends. There is nothing wrong with trends, but I don’t want to sacrifice the story I want to tell just to sell more copies. The world is full of readers, more born every day, I’m bound to find plenty who like my story the way I wrote it. From time to time, I may consider the idea of a publisher, but that’s just being sensible. As things change it is wise to reassess. Maybe one day a publisher will be an option for me, but I am doubtful. I love saying I’m an Indie too much.
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My name is Cyclop Blaine and I am a real person.
“You are mine.”
I am a real person: heedless of a childhood spent under the supervision of an old man I only know as Master.
“You belong to me.”
I am a real person: regardless of my teenage years bound by violence as the adoptive son of the Victory Street Gang’s leader.
“You will obey me.”
I am a real person: despite the visions I see in others’ eyes. Snapshots of their futures.
“You will cower before me.”
I am a real person: my life will be my own. I belong to no one.
“You. Are. MINE.”
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Want to know more? Check out the links!
asidefromwriting 
I completely agree – the control over your story and letting it be exactly what you want it to be is one of the best things about being an indie – the traditional book market does force things to be marketable and money-making, over the story, which isn’t always a bad thing, but also isn’t a good one when they are trying to spring-board off a successful book or series just to make money. If you just want to write, then indie is a great way to go, just tough for editing and marketing 🙂
A decent agent should certainly welcome anything you have to say about the design of the cover. Having them doing the marketing would be divine, though, wouldn’t it?
Yeah, I was really scared of submitting to agents and publishers and having them want to change the story too much. I understood I’d need to rewrite during edit, but I didn’t want to lose the initial story idea for the sake of making a buck.
You pretty much summed up my reasons for self-publishing 😉 I’m one of those authors who takes huge offense when people think my characters need to change and I would never want a publisher to tell me that or all deals would be off. I don’t write characters, they just tell me what they want to say and do, and I couldn’t change them if I wanted to. The best part of being an indie, for me, is that I can choose beta readers I trust to tell me when something doesn’t work, but who won’t trash my whole story just because it’s not ‘in’. Good Post!!
I love my beta readers for those reasons. Thanks. =)