When I first started reading independent authors, I heard about Kristen Ashley. She is well known in the indie romance community (books like Rock Chick Series and The Dream Man Series), but according to her, it wasn’t always that way. It wasn’t overnight success by a long shot. It was a slow and steady climb (which is nice to know) and a little bit of “being ready” when lady luck called her number.
She talked about this at a RT Convention and I thought it was a pretty inspirational piece for independent authors. Here’s a snippet:
Ashley willingly became a full-time author, working 16 hour days to self-publish books via Smashwords and Kindle Direct, but barely sold anything.
Ashley then stressed to aspiring writers in the audience that they should be ready for the moment when someone gives them a break. Writers should write, but there’s a lot more to being a self-published author than putting out books. Ashley’s advice: “Lay the foundation for that stroke of luck.”
That foundation for Ashley was her online presence. She spent hours updating her website with news and free book excerpts, working on email newsletter campaigns and contributing to the conversation among her slowly growing fanbase on social media. When readers discovered one of Ashley’s self-published e-books, they could go to her website and immediately find other titles.
“If you don’t have another book coming out or you’re not working on it, they’ll forget about you,” Ashley said.
Read the entire article here:
http://www.rtbookreviews.com/rt-daily-blog/self-pub-pro-kristen-ashley-tells-all-2014-rt-convention
Visit Kristen’s site here:
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