Gone are the days when a writer had to spend hours hunched over a stack of query letters, only to have their hopes dashed months later with the arrival of an unsigned form letter.
Today, thanks entirely to the creation of the e-reader (yay Jeff Bezos!), there's no longer a need for authors to deal with middle men. For less than what it costs to buy a book, an author can jump directly to the end game: formatting their titles, uploading them to a sales site and finding actual readers.
And while some writers choose to go indie and stay indie, there are many more who are interested in seeing how the other half live. It is for this group especially that e-books are so important, as they have essentially become a "gateway drug," enabling successful indie authors to stroll down the path into the welcoming arms of traditional publishers.
In spite of what's being reported otherwise, the new technology is not just good news for writers; it's also making things easier for agents and publishers. Rather than slogging through a slush pile--only to take the chance on an unknown, untested entity--signing an indie author who has already developed a following is pretty much a no-brainer.
Where can one go to find those great indie titles? IndieReader's "List Where Indies Count" is the only place for readers (and agents and publishers!) to find the top 10 bestselling indie titles--updated weekly. Forget about the assertion that self-published books aren't as good as those that are trad pubbed. The books included in IR's "List" have fought the battle against their traditionally published brethren...and they have won. And we're not just the only ones who think so. It seems that no sooner than a book reaches our "List" that it's scooped up by a traditional publisher.
So next week, after you've finished the Times crossword puzzle, why not try a new game? See if you can discover (and pass on!) the next great indie book...before a traditional publisher beats you to it!
Here are five of the most recent.
