Colleen’s Post:

There has been a lot of divide recently in this writing industry. Many have noticed and many have not. A lot of very serious accusations, a lot of arguing, a lot of “he said, she said” …

Source: What happened to this industry?

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My Thoughts:

I have been Indie publishing since 2012, during the good old days Colleen refers to. I remember when she published her book Slammed and devoured it in one sitting. I can relate to a lot of the things in her post. I hadn’t realized the industry turned so ugly, probably because I’ve been a little preoccupied with chasing my crawler all over the house. 😉 But I have definitely noticed that I published Silver Hollow in 2012 and it sold over a hundred copies within the first week. The feeling was bizzare and exciting. I rushed to write more of my stories for 2013. This last year when I released first Craving Beauty and then Wolfsbane’s Daughter, the response was a lot less immediate. In fact it was almost a night and day difference as far as experience goes.

In 2012 I had reached out to many of the Indie’s I knew, including Colleen for tips and advice. Everyone was quick to reply and willing to help each other out. Bloggers would read Indie novels without a problem. Now you’re lucky if they accept an Indie ARC copy, unless they reach out to you first. Not their problem, there are just so many books out there now. It’s almost impossible to read them in one go.

So I have noticed the shift Colleen talks about in her post. In some ways it was disheartening to me. I missed the simplicity of things when I first published and the friendships I made. And I’m sorry to hear that some people aren’t having such great reactions to the changes.

I took a year hiatus during 2014 and when I returned, I noticed there were double the amount of new releases. But I have been trying to reach out to my readers and fellow writers and bloggers, to adjust to the changes and learn new trends. I won’t give up because, like Colleen said, I write because I love to write. Even if I’m never an Amazon or NYT best seller, I’m happy to share my stories with you because they’re a joy to tell.

I wanted to share Colleen’s post and a little of my own experience for anyone out there in the same rocky boat. I hope that the state of things hasn’t been too discouraging for you. I also hope you don’t ever give up. The great thing about hitting rock bottom is we can only float back up to the top. Who knows what changes will come to the Indie publishing scene in the next couple of years. I can only hope that we will weather the storm together and come out better writers and people on the other side.

Have you noticed the struggles Colleen mentioned in her post? How have you adjusted? Please comment and share your thoughts!