indie writers | Ruth Nestvold

A hugely successful indie author, Russell Blake, summarizes the ways it just ain’t easy here:

http://russellblake.com/things-ive-learned-to-myself-as-a-newbie-writer/

I especially appreciated this:

That’s different than I thought when I started out. I kind of hoped that the old canard that you wrote a great novel, sold it to NY, and then sat back and got rich, was true. That you only needed to produce a little work over the years, and could devote lots of time to thinking great thoughts, traveling the world, observing, etc.

Maybe for a few of the very top earners who’ve been doing this for decades and can command seven and eight figure advances. Of which there are fewer than 100, by my estimation. But for the rest, and certainly for the self-published, it’s a job, just like showing up to work at Pixar or Disney and creating content is a job. If you don’t put in the time, your slot goes to someone else, and the world keeps turning, only without you getting paid as a writer.

Even for those who are already successful, being an indie writer is not a ticket to success. But it is a ticket to a job that can be successful if you keep putting in the work.

Luck and success to all!

I have another Christmas present for my readers: Stories on the Go: 101 Very Short Stories by 101 Authors. For this one, my contribution was very small, as you can gather from the title — less than one percent. 🙂 This is a mutual project from a whole bunch of indie authors who hang out on Kboards, including Hugh Howey, Toni Dwiggens, Lisa Grace and many, many more. All of the stories are flash fiction pieces, under 1000 words. We have Andrew Ashling to thank for doing most of the editing, with some help from various beta readers among our ranks, and Scarlett Rugers for the cover.

Here’s the description:

This anthology aims to be a showcase of recent indie writing.

Hugh Howey launched the idea on Kboards, a forum for Kindle readers, but also the meeting place of an active community of indie writers.

The result is this anthology of 101 very short stories by 101 authors.

To make it more attractive for you, the reader, we set ourselves a limit of a thousand words. You should be able to read each story in under five minutes — on your desktop computer, laptop, or tablet at home or in the office, but also on your smartphone, on the go, while you are commuting or waiting at a coffee shop for your significant other to arrive.

We included as many genres as we could. We hope that maybe, with only five minutes of your time on the line that would otherwise be wasted anyway, you’ll be tempted to venture outside your comfort zone and try out some new genres and new authors.

Enjoy!