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I am so happy to participate in this blog tour, especially after all the negativity that made a round through the blogosphere a while back. I was sad to see bloggers closing up to indie and self published authors because of a few incidents that shed a bad light on the rest of the authors. It's great to have a blog tour like this, to show all our favorite indie authors how much we appreciate them!
Everyone has their reasons for accepting or refusing indie published book. Some stereotypes that I've seen frequently with reviewers who don't accept indie books for review are, first of all, bad quality of some indie books. Sure, I've had those. But I've also had disastrous books published by the Big Six, and mindblowingly beautiful indie and self-published books. Indie authors retaliating for negative reviews? I recall an incident with a traditionally published author as well.
But the idea behind this post is not to ignite old flames, but to tell you why I love indies. And there are many reasons.
First of all, I admire them for the hard work they put not only into writing and editing their books. But in addition to that, they are also responsible for things that, with a big publisher, someone else would do for them: cover design, promotion, distribution, building a platform, hosting and organizing events etc. For someone who is at the moment struggling to finish a first draft, it all sounds like a tremendous and daunting amount of work. Admirable, isn't it? Though it may sound burdensome, I doubt that many indies would give up that freedom to make their own decisions, and it's an argument that I'm seeing a lot lately; many authors choose to go indie without even trying to break into the traditional route.
Which takes us to point number two.
The love for writing, telling stories and sharing them with readers. Would you plunge into such a huge task if you didn't firmly believe that there are people who would love this story as much as you do? And putting so much effort into it, wouldn't you make sure to do absolutely everything to make sure that you give to your readers the best you can? Their energy is inspiring, and their constant willingness to improve is highly motivating.
Obviously, cooperating with indie authors is more personal than with traditionally published authors, where usually everything happens via a publicist (but of course it's not an exception, and these are always my favorites). I love chatting with authors about their books. There also comes a point when you'll have to email the link to your review of their book, and what if it is a negative review? In my experience, no one ever called me names or made me feel bad for sharing an honest opinion. 90% percent of these authors thanked me for the honest review and for taking the time to read the book. The other 10% simply didn't respond. I feel blessed that they have all been very professional and that they can accept the fact that there will always be people who won't like your book, and move on with their lives. There's plenty of people who will.
My favorite indie author is Belle Whittington, author of Cicada, one of my favorite books. When I first heard about Cicada, there was no other YA book about aliens that I knew of, and I'm immensely grateful to Belle for creating this beautiful story. Over time, Belle has also become a wonderful friend. Oftentimes she sends me a message about the progress of the sequel, Firefly, and there's barely a day when she doesn't thank her readers for their love and support.
Here are some other indies and their books that I enjoyed:
- Notes to Self by Avery Sawyer
- Bridger by Megan Curd
- Snow Spell by Sophia Pereira Murphy
- Careful by Isobella Jade
- The Sword and The Prophet by Missy LaRae (Missy has even been to Croatia while she was serving in the army. It's a small world!)
- and many more, but this list would be a mile long.
Many many thanks to all the wonderful indies and their continuous hard work! You guys rock!
Psst...Belle has offered some signed swag to one of you. I'm only setting up the Rafflecopter so you wouldn't have to share your email publicly, and there's only one entry-tell us about your favorite indie!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
