What Being An Independent Author Means To Me

I was super excited last week,when I released my debut novel, "Drama University"  on Amazon. As I have told many of you,I have been working on this same story for about 10 years! So many things had transpired in my life since I first conceived of the concept for the story and started jotting little notes in a notebook and then started writing full chapters down.Since 2007, I had moved 4 different times, got married, lost computer files (foolishly because of my own disorganization), had 5 different jobs, laid off from one, lost 4 different pregnancies, hospitalized and put on bed rest during my pregnancy (which lasted 3 1/2 months) with my son and then again suffered the loss of twin boys, one who I miscarried and the other was stillborn. (I'll definitely write more about this later).So while most of my family and friends were like, yeah, yeah she wrote a book, I considered this not only a major life achievement after all I had been through but a tiny moment for me to shine and a moment to be excited because I finally after all these years get to share a fully finished body of work with my readers.Before I decided to go the independent route, I of course did my research.

I wanted to know what the difference was between using a traditional publisher and doing it yourself.

I mainly chose the independent route, one because I wanted to publish this book, this year! It was one of my main goals for 2017.I had been working on the same novel for so long, and hadn't been able to move forward fully and write other works. I also wanted the creative freedom of making the cover look like what I envisioned, not someone else.What does being an independent author mean to me?It means freedom. It means flexibility.At this point in my writing career, I didn't necessarily want to be on someone elses time table or hand over creative control to someone else. Maybe later down the line, I may change my mind, but for right now this is where I want to be.I don't write this to bash any other writer, though. I think the beauty of publishing is that there are different ways to do things. This is just strictly my own opinion.Until next time,-Nicole Alicia