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BookGiveaway:
Barbara is offering 1 Kindle (only)-version of devotional WAITING ON THE LORD to 1 randomly chosen commenter. The winner will be announced here on Friday, April 24th between 5-6 PM EST. To be entered in the Giveaway, please leave your contact information within your comment.
Indie
vs. Traditional Publishing: 5 Reasons Why I Decided NOT to Choose Between Them by
Barbara Hartzler
For four
years I’ve been trying to land a traditional publishing deal while secretly
stalking all the indie websites I could find. It’s taken me this long to
uncover the path I REALLY want to take to publishing. And here’s why.
1. There are advantages to traditional publishing
I did
everything I was supposed to do—join a writer’s group, learn craft, enter
contests, go to conferences to meet editors and agents. This helped me hone my
writing skills and get my feet wet in the publishing industry. Even though I garnered
great feedback and several requests, I ended up with rejection after rejection.
Yet, I
couldn’t get past this hurdle in my mind. Traditional publishing was the only
way to be an author and get my book in the hands of readers. Right? I sure
thought so. It was burned into my brain. Mostly because traditional publishing
still holds the local bookstore in their hands, where many readers discover new
books.
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| Courtesy Google Images |
2. The publishing world is changing
Frustrated
with the snail’s-pace publishing industry, I’d scour indie blogs like The
Creative Penn and listen to podcasts on how indie publishing was infinitely
better. The growing popularity of ebooks has ushered in a marked uptick in both
quality and readership in indie publishing. Many indie authors now have a solid
or even best-selling career path. In fact, the indie publishing world is
outdoing traditional publishing in some ways, especially in marketing.
3. Indie publishing is not as scary as I thought
Last
year my writing group buddies decided to go indie. They’d gotten even closer
than I had to landing that illusive publishing deal. One finaled in the ACFW
Genesis Contest for 3 out of the last 4 years and had an agent for a while. The
other had gotten several requests for her manuscripts, went to pub board, and
only got rejected because the house was cutting back on fiction.
Watching
them go their own routes to indie publishing and seeing how professional their
books are has made me a believer in indie publishing. Good books like theirs
are well received, have great reviews, and they’re both building a base of
readers. My book is languishing on my computer collecting digital dust.
4. There are more freedoms with indie publishing
One of
the biggest obstacles to going indie for me was the upfront costs. Then my
friends pointed out that you can go indie on a budget. You can find beta
readers to help with editing, make covers yourself, or learn formatting from
YouTube videos. That’s the beauty of going indie. Once you start making money,
you can always go back and change things—something unheard of in traditional
publishing.
With
indie publishing you can choose what, when, and how you want to publish your
books. There’s no one-formula-fits-all approach like traditional publishing.
You can do all the work or you can farm out the work you can’t do yourself. You
decide where you want to invest your time and your money.
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| Courtesy Google Images |
5. The hybrid path
Do you
have to choose between indie and traditional publishing? I don’t think you do
anymore. Maybe in the past editors and agents looked down their nose at indie
published works. Not anymore. There’s another path for authors, the hybrid path
combining both traditional and indie published books.
It’s the
route I’ve finally decided to pursue. I don’t want to choose one or the other.
I want to pursue the traditional publishing options still open to me now,
including a full manuscript request. Yet, I don’t want to wait for another four
years to say I’m an author. Because my time is now, and yours can be, too.
That’s
why I’m excited to announce that I’m releasing my first indie book, a
devotional called Waiting on the Lord: 30
Reflections at the end of May.
What are
your thoughts, fears, or hang-ups with either indie or traditional publishing?
I’d love to hear your experiences.
Barbara's Ah-hahs To Tweet:
Barbara Hartzler @HartzlerBarbara: 5 reasons not to
choose between indie & tradional publishing (Tweet
This)
Everyone’s Story: Author Barbara Hartzler @HartzlerBarbara
Indie or traditional publishing? (Tweet This)
Like reading devotionals? Check out Barbara Hartzler’s
@HartzlerBarbara #BookGiveaway (Tweet This)
Author's Bio:
Barbara
Hartzler is a born word maker-upper, a writer of YA angel-seers, FBI thrillers,
and underground dystopian worlds. Currently a work in progress, she secretly
hopes to change the world one book at a time.
She’s an
ACFW Genesis Semi Finalist in the Young Adult category and was a featured
speaker at the 2014 Maranatha Book Festival. Her session on Angels in YA
Literature turned an article for the denominational magazine, Koinonia.
Currently she’s vice president of her local ACFW chapter and an active SCBWI
member.
Barbara
earned her Bachelor's degree in Church Communication Arts from Central Bible
College with an emphasis on drama and media. In college she won a National
Religious Broadcasters/Focus on the Family essay scholarship and wrote and
directed a successful one act play. Her first novel was inspired by her college
experiences and peppered with anecdotes from a New York City missions trip.
As a
former barista and graphic designer, she loves all things sparkly and purple
and is always jonesing for a good cup of joe. She’s also a die-hard Gilmore
Girl fan and connoisseur of random TV and movie fandoms. A born-and-raised
Missouri native, she lives in Kansas City with her husband and dog, Herbie.
Places to connect with Barbara:
