Happy Anniversary to Me!

'What’s this?’ I hear you say!  ‘Two blog posts in a week from the Misfit?’

Well it had to be done really because today is my first anniversary of being an Indie writer.  Yes, one year ago today I launched my first book and within the next week I will have three out there.  Not bad going really.

I was totally unaware until yesterday that my good friend and fellow Indie author , Michelle Betham, had her first anniversary yesterday.  Read her blog post here.  We’ve been there for each other through thick and thin - celebrating one anothers highs and swearing at each other over the lows.  Really, you should see the emails we send!!

I think Michelle’s blog says it all - there is very little else I can add to it.  Indies are now a force to be reckoned with.  We’re not prepared to sit back and decide that somebody decrees our books are good enough to be published - we work hard at our craft, polishing our manuscripts until they are perfect and we keep on at it.  We’re not ‘one-book-wonders’, we’re full of stories waiting to be told.  Publishers really don’t know what they’re missing out on.  But, sadly, neither Michelle nor I are ‘A’ list celebs so that says it all really.  Bitter?  Us?  Hell, yeah!

But becoming an Indie writer is certainly not a decision to take lightly.  It’s a constant slog and, as Michelle says, writing the books is the easy part.  It’s the promoting and marketing, the guest blogs, the interviews, the constant need to look for a new angle to get your books talked about - they are the killers.

Sales can be slow.  Then you have a day when they’re sky-high and you can’t figure out what made it happen.  You wrack your brains to see if you’ve done something different, to see if you can repeat it - always looking for that elusive selling tactic.

I could never have got through the see-saw of emotions if it hadn’t been for Michelle or my lovely fans who have become friends on Twitter.  They are such a loyal and devoted bunch and have often made me cry with their kind words, encouragement or great reviews.  They really make it all worthwhile and I truly thank them for that.

I feel incredibly proud of what I’ve achieved in this last year.  When I look back to how close I came to being published traditionally, and then having to come to terms with the fact that my dream could be over, I realise that I had the strength and determination not to be beaten.

So today I raise my glass to Michelle and say ‘To us!  The Fabulous Feisty Indies.  Soul sisters, doing it for themselves!  Long may we continue our battle in this mad, mad world of writing!’

Make our anniversaries special and check out our books.  Chick lit, humour and a bit of raunchiness - you’ll find it all between the two of us!  Mine are here and Michelle’s are here.  Support an Indie today!

Oh and in case you hadn’t heard (!!!) my new novel ‘Completing the Puzzle’ is out on 6^th June and Michelle’s sequel to ‘No matter What’ (‘Illusions of Love’) is out later in June too.  Watch this space.

See we really do work hard!