This
past July marked my tenth year as an Indie Author, but my writing life began
long before that. Before I retired, I had three finished novels, Seattle Quake, 9.2, The Promise and Broken Pledge,
all of which I had submitted to traditional publishers who kindly sent me a
file folder full of rejections.
One
day I discovered “Mighty Words,” a website that let authors upload manuscripts
and allowed readers to post reviews. Seattle Quake 9.2 had just made it to the
top twenty when suddenly, Mighty Words disappeared never to be seen again.
Writing
was in my blood, so after I retired, I wrote a Scottish short story called
Anna, and made it free to read on my website. I found Public Bookshelf, a
website that allowed me to post the story with a link to my site, and began to
write more short stories about my MacGreagor Clan. By the time my short stores
numbered twenty, I was getting over 10,000 views on my website a month.
By
the time Amazon started their upload program, I had three novels and twenty
short stories ready to go. Of course, I wasn’t the only one. Hundreds, maybe
thousands of authors frustrated with playing the traditional publishing game,
discovered they didn’t really need a publisher. Not only that, Amazon paid authors
70% while trade publishers only paid 10% at best.
Those
were the good old days. Unfortunately, the more polished and professional the
competition became, the more I realized I needed to improve. What? My books
weren’t perfect? Far from it. Today, those early books and those that followed
have seen multiple proofreads and edits as late as just last year. Even now, someone
tells me that on page 36, line three there is a typo. It’s frustrating, but
it’s all part of the game.
Between
July and December of that first year I sold 777 copies of my books. I
discovered more sales outlets such as Apple, Nook, Kobo and eventually Google
Play. The next year I added more books and sold over 24,000. Writing and
publishing an average of 4 books a year, my highest was 56,000 in 2014. And
then – the good years were gone. The competition steadily grew, promotion
became more difficult as well as expensive, and one or two bad reviews meant
certain tragedy for many a new author.
To
date I have written over 50 books, updated the cover arts multiple times,
changed my blurbs until I found something that tempted readers to buy, and
tried dozens of ways to find new readers. In the end, the path I took to become
published was well worth it. I can safely say that people all over the world
have read my books, and that’s a very gratifying feeling.
© Marti Talbott 2019
About Marti Talbott:
Marti Talbott is the author of over 50 full length novels, all written without profanity and sex scenes. She lives in Seattle, is retired and has two children, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. The MacGreagor family saga includes The Viking series, Marti Talbott's Highlander's Series, Marblestone Mansion, (Scandalous Duchess series), and The Lost MacGreagor Books. Her mystery books include Seattle Quake 9.2, Missing Heiress, Greed and a Mistress, The Locked Room, Love and Suspicion, and The Dead Letters. Other Historical novels include The Promise and Broken Pledge.
The historical novels are available on Amazon, Nook, Apple, Google Play, and Kobo.
The mysteries are exclusive to Amazon and are in Kindle Unlimited.
No comments:
Post a Comment