What every author needs to know about traditional, non-traditional and indie publishing

I’m currently working on a Write It Forward book regarding publishing. Specifically, the book will cover all the aspects of Indie Publishing and how to do it. I’m going to take the guesswork out of all the options and various platforms based on my experience as being the “grunt worker” for Who Dares Wins Publishing.

For the past year, I’ve remained in the trenches while Bob got to put his name on most of the covers. We’ve seen Kristen Lamb’s Blog and her Social Media book We Are Not Alone The Writer’s Guide to Social Media soar to new blogging heights as she hit the Freshly Pressed of wordpress twice and made numerous top stories and picks by industry professionals like Publishers Weekly. Our animal expert Amy Shojai has been doing radio shows, conferences, and Pawnantion articles that have helped put our publishing company on the map. We’re currently in production with a new book titled Writer Wellness by Joy Held and have other authors in the pipeline for our new Write It Forward line.

The key to their success is me. KIDDING! Actually, the key to our success has been something that Bob feels strongly about. Team. And the all the elements that go into building a team.  But, in all fairness, formatting, uploading, doing covers, all the grunt work, is essential to non-traditional publishing and not as easy as most would have you think.

One of the first things I’m going to discuss in this series is why should an author go with a non-traditional form of publishing. There are many reasons.

In New York, it seems like the same old, same old. Just moments ago I received an email from Publishers Lunch where they mentioned they had posted 56 new deals at Publishers Market place. Authors are writing. Agents are selling. Publishers are buying. However, the industry as a whole is contracting. The major publishers are putting their money where the profit is, the top 10%. The brand names. Agents are doing the same. You thought it was hard to get an agent five years ago? It’s even harder now. In addition, many agencies are closing their doors.

Additionally, publishers are trying hard not to see the reality that while they want to do business as usual, their retail outlet is changing dramatically.  Just today, Barnes and Noble closed another one of their brick and mortar stores, as the company contracts to just those stores where they own the land.

However, there is no shortage of writers. The slush pile is as huge as ever with no end in sight.

Bob didn’t simply self-publish. He could have just hired me, or someone else to do the cover art, the file conversions, etc. He could have just uploaded a file to Smashwords, let their meat grinder spit out all the different file formats, used their ISBN numbers and wait for his books to show up on various sites.

But what we chose to do was to become our own non-traditional Publishing house and have our books available in both eBooks and Print-On-Demand. In my book, I will take your through the step-by-step process of the majority of platforms (as we have tried them all). Give you the pros and cons and the ins and outs of using them so you can maximize your efforts.

Bob developed a program called Warrior Writer. This program helps writers become successful authors. One of the tenets of this program is the importance to act, instead of constantly reacting to the forces we face each day in our careers. NY is having to react without the proper tools or game plan to catch up to the industry demands. Instead of looking to the future, they are either holding onto old ideas, or reacting to a situation a little too late.

The great thing about what I will show you in this blog series and in the book is how you can act in the face of all these changes, anticipate and plan for your successful and long writing career. I incorporate much of what I’ve learned from Bob’s Warrior Writer workshop and his 20+ years in the traditional publishing and blend it with what I learned from being published with two different ePublishers. Combining these two experiences, we have created a plan that you too can follow. Today’s author controls a lot more than in the past.

Take control of your career.

Write It Forward.