Many of you may have noticed that there’s a distinct lack of content on the main page right now, and it’s not an error with the site. After a decade, a lot of the advice we gave, starting out, is either out of date, or contains items that can no longer be accessed. Instead of leaving them in place, the team has decided to remove all articles to either replace with updated information (with an update notification, of course!) or to redirect that traffic to a like for like, in the case of something that no longer exists. We will also be merging several moderators old articles from the page and group to here while we’re at it, so please be patient, watch this space, and subscribe to the RSS feed to hear when we’re fully back!
One of the best things about community is that when you are stuck, chances are someone knows the answer. In the indie author commumity, it’s often easy to forget that others have paved the way before you, that writing is a solitary pursuit. Right?
As a team, one of the rare things we hear from readers is about beyond the books they enjoy is how dissapointed they are after witnessing (x,y or z) behavior from writers. It’s recently prompted us to discuss whether we need to revise our ‘four things that indie athors need to stop doing’ or if we should talk about Netiquette instead.
As ever, all advice is based on best practice, not absolutes.
One of the major pieces of advice we’re given, again and again is to ‘write what we know’. But…if taken literally, this is probably the most limiting advice you’ll ever get. Well, maybe not the most limiting advice, but it’s close to one of the most limiting pieces of advice.
What does it really mean?
When we’re told to ‘write what we know’, I often think people really mean ‘write what you can reasonably create, so others would know it the way you see it’. It’s not as pithy as write what you know, but it’s what I take that to mean. And if you take ‘write what you know’ to mean *that*, you can really take your writing anywhere.
Historically, writing is something that people consider to be really lonely and difficult, unless you’ve got a good community around you. But, in the last decade, especially, writing a book is more like raising children – it’s not solo, and really does take a village. And that was one of the principles that Indie Author Group was founded on. And we’ve talked about community before.
Why is community so important?
Honestly? There are so many answers to this question, but the key answer has to be that as humans we’re social creatures. Writing is about connecting to another person, so why not make sure you’re connected when writing. And there’s a saying that we oft quote in the group – a rising tide lifts all boats. No matter what the size of the boat, the community feeling and learning is always about making sure everyone is making the most of their lives. And if they aren’t, hopefully we can help. It’s also about the fact that writing is done by ‘fleet’. That is, readers will see one ‘boat’ (book) and go for others. It’s just another way of saying we’re not zero sum in the community. It’s not about one person having ALL of the readers, and more about ensuring that people can read and be happy. Community isn’t just about reading books though, and it’s not just about writing – it’s about sharing knowledge. And if you can learn from and support others in learning from mistakes, either that you’ve made or nearly made, that’s a kindness in the community that can’t be understated.
Community after pandemic
During the pandemic, community became one of the single most important things to many people – connection, love, support, it was all there. And I think it says a lot about the state of mental health that this is still the case. And it doesn’t matter if you’re formally diagnosed with a mental or physical health concern, the writing community is all access, all ability, all support.
So, you’re a writer, dipping your toe in looking for your community? As I said earlier in the article, we should consider it as a village, and how it takes a village to do everything. You could argue that before self-publishing took off, we found our villages by going to traditional publishers. Now, in many ways, we get to build our own villages, virtually and by connecting with the best we can access. But how can you access that community?
There’s various things you can do!
I’ve broken down the ones that I find most useful – please remember though, you need to tailor it to your own needs and beliefs. I say this because I use some social media and not others.
Groups – (like the Indie Author Group) – IAG and other groups are a goldmine of information, both searchable and ask-able. Check out the rules and talk to the members, make the most of the information that’s available to you. And of course, there’s the whole actual human connection and knowing you’re not alone? It’s powerful.
. Twitter – look out for the #writerslift #Mondayblogs, and #writingcommunity hashtags. Lots of people share lots of stuff there, but if you’re fully interactive in there, you can really grow your following, and your own community. And leading your own community and joining in on others is a pretty uplifting way of being in the community – but it’s also important to remember that Twitter is pretty fast moving and can be quite mean at times.
Blogs – While it’s more about discussing with other people and going to them, think of blogs more like round tables, or other places to get support. That way, you can read, discuss, and if respectful (always be respectful!), others will appreciate it, and you never know, you might make new friends.
Communities built around genres – you can look for communities built around your genres – specialist sites and more, it’s important to be aware that these sites usually have uberfans to reach, but can be really hard to feel like a ‘community’.
By far and away, Facebook and Twitter are the best places for me to have a community that I can share with, and I lead one on my blogs. I’m never lonely, I’ve always got places I can ask questions and I’m always motivated by other writers, while trying to support them too!
Firstly, the whole team wants to say hi, we’re delighted to have you along and whether you’re new or an old hand, we’ve been honored to serve and work with you to now, and hope that this new phase brings more great stuff!
The Indie Author Group is eleven, and we’ve redesigned the site, so I thought I’d talk about what you should expect to see going forward. Valerie, myself and the rest of the team have been discussing how to make IAG the one-stop shop that we’d love it to be, and the blog is, in my opinion, an integral part of that (though, I would, I love blogging!). Valerie and I have talked in depth about it though, and we’ve got a pattern we’d like to try, so here goes 😉 While the site is still being updated, and worked on, we’ve started the new blog up to get started up so that people could access some of the new information available out there. From pre-publishing, all the way through to promotion, we’ll be writing about every aspect of indie author life that we can help you with.
And with that, we need YOUR help. What would you like to see? Not only can you ask questions on the group, but you can ask us to write up content and offer information on the things that might be troubling you. We’ve created some great guides, including how to self-edit, and our ten hour marketing plan (which is due it’s update next week!), so we’re hoping to give you one place to find all the critical information you need to make your career rock!
Exclusives and more
Every Friday, there will be at least one exclusive, IAG specific article, that is for our site. These articles will be in series’ or from questions, or a mix of both. We’ll be covering the important stuff that comes up, for now once a week, as an exclusive article. We’ll also be pulling in some of the best blogs, and content written by trusted sources to talk about extras in the community. And we’ll also be putting up more short form answers on TWIRL.
New stuff!
We do have some fun new items on the list too. While some are still being worked on and rolled out, we’re delighted to announce that we’ll be running a weekly roundup of our blog posts, other interesting news, and more for authors once week on Fridays.
If you’ve got a question or concept or series of articles you’d like us to cover, we’d love to hear from you! Head on over to our form and ask! (or ask on the group, we’ll pick up stuff that we can add to on there too!)
Next week, we’ll be starting *right* at the beginning – some great ways to get inspiration, and why your first draft doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be drafted!
As Nanowrimo and some other projects approach, and as the season that most writers use to build their biggest sales, and followings approach – as many people get Kindle or eReader related gifts, while you should be focussed on your own community, including your street team and newsletter, it’s important too, to consider making author connections in the community itself.
Join up, share knowledge, ask questions!
The Indie Author Group was founded in 2011 to answer questions and offer an easy place for veterans to gather and nurture the community, and a decade on, we’re proud to still offer the same space. Whether you’re a complete newbie, you’re looking for information without being flooded with consistent advertising or you’re just seeking a friendly place to hang out, we’ve got you covered.
Our blog is in the process of being cleaned after a decade of content, but the group is a goldmine – from a list of people to follow and interact with, to service providers listing with us, and questions and answers on everything you can find. Most of all though, we’re one of the oldest author groups for indie authors on Facebook, and our moderators hold a collected 60+ years minimum of experience as writers.
Community is essential
One of the things that we believe is that community is absolutely essential. Whether it’s community as in those that you’re giving advice or getting it, I think community is ever more important in this environment. Writing is a solitary business – publishing is not. Even if it’s not just about getting advice, learning how to market or otherwise, it’s important to remember too that though we may write for ourselves, we also need to remember readers are our community, but aren’t the people we need to talk to about our writing. They are a part of it, but for the professional side, having a good, understanding, non-commercial based community to talk to is really important. And there are some of us on Facebook, of course, but we’d love you to join us on the Indie Author Group, and start conversations 🙂
Recently, a new author approached us and told us that they were completely lost after being told they needed to establish a brand – they’d spent months and months looking at all of the studies of how to be an author. It talked about leveraging thousands of people on a list, pre-launching your pre-orders and propelling them into the charts using your following, and only using social media to buy advertising. Your brand is how your readers perceive you, you can’t control that, don’t even try. (I have to emphasize, if this is taken out of context, I DO NOT agree with this!). Oh…and engage, engage, engage. Even on reviews.
None of this is good advice, not in my opinion.
There is no question that you need to brand
Brand isn’t a maybe if you’re an author. Your brand isn’t something that others shape either – it’s your individual and unique stamp. Your garuantee of quality. YOUR reputation in the reading community. So your brand should be something that’s not only carefully cultivated, but carefully considered.
Many authors start after they’ve launched books, and that’s ok, but it really is best to get started as soon as you commit to the idea of being a published author. The longer you have to develop a cohesive brand, and start impressing people with that brand, so they link to your books via your brand.
So….what’s my brand?
Brand is complicated, but you can make it easier by breaking it down into what you consider essential, what you consider to be secondary, and what you consider to be not essential. And a lot of that does come down to where (a) you are comfortable, and (b) where your readers are. Balancing both allows you to decide where to work on your brand.
What options do I have?
We’ll be talking about it in the coming weeks and months, but anywhere readers gather is potentially a place to hang out. But brand isn’t (just) advertising – in fact, in my opinion, advertising is only a small part of it. I believe the key to brand is authenticity.. It’s interaction. One of the major rules that we absolutely stick by on the Indie Author Group is that we follow the *social* in Social Media. Readers might remember things they’ve seen over and over again, and while brand and consistency is about memorability, would you rather be remembered because all you’ve done is talk about your books, or beacuse you’ve given back to the community. I’d prefer the latter, wouldn’t you?
Platforms
We’ll be talking platforms in the coming weeks, but myself? I focus (in order) on: My own blogs, my own newsletter, guest posting, support groups on Facebook, my own groups on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Bookbub, Goodreads. I keep an eye on other places too, but that’s my order. Your milage may vary, and before I set up my own sites, I was a lot more active on places like Facebook and Twitter.
So….think about where your readers and genre are, and where you’re happiest, and build your community. Use sites that aren’t fully in your control to funnel people back to your own blog, and share items that you create. And it’s not to say ‘don’t talk about your work’. Just keep it proportional.
And remember – we’re a community. Your brand should always reflect generosity. Share others, support others, write up the things you’ve learned and pay it forward. Your brand is something that will live with your pen name, always, so you can create something amazing, lasting and incredible, simply by building what you need from your community, and designing support for those around you. That’s the brand we’ve tried to build with IAG, and the brand all of the team of moderators and regulars believe in. And you’re welcome to come enjoy that brand, and learn from us too.
Next week, I’ll talk about options for blogging – if you’ve got questions, let me know!
