The Indie Author Manifesto

Indie Authors.

Each and every one of us should post this on our websites, blogs, etc.

THE INDIE AUTHOR MANIFESTO by Mark Coker @ Smashwords:

Indie Author Manifesto

 

THE INDIE AUTHOR MANIFESTO


We indie authors believe all writers are created equal, that all writers are endowed with natural creative potential, and that writers have an unalienable right to exercise, explore and realize their potential through the freedom of publication. 

I hold these truths to be self-evident:

  1. I am an indie author
  2. I have experienced the pleasure and satisfaction that comes from self-publishing
  3. I have a right to publish
  4. My creative control is important to me.  I decide when, where and how my writing graduates to become a published book.
  5. Indie does not mean “alone.”  I choose my partners.
  6. I shall not bow beholden or subservient to any publisher. In my business relationships, I seek partnership, fairness, equity and mutually aligned interests.
  7. We indie authors comprise diverse writers unified by a common purpose to advance, empower and celebrate writers everywhere.
  8. I am a professional.  I take pride in my work, and I strive to improve my craft to better serve my readers, myself, my fellow indie authors and the culture of books
  9. My writing is valuable and important.  This value and importance cannot be measured by commercial sales alone.
  10. I celebrate the success of my fellow indie authors, for their success is mine, and mine theirs. Together we are pioneering a better future for books marked by greater quality, creativity, diversity, choice, availability, affordability and accessibility.

 

Thank you, Mark. Agreed and well said.

Here’s the link to the original post:  http://blog.smashwords.com/2014/04/indie-author-manifesto.html

79 thoughts on “The Indie Author Manifesto

  1. Reblogged this on gardenlilie and commented:
    The Indie Authors are a great bunch of people who work tirelessly. I wish them all the best as I am one. I will do what it takes though to share my product as I seek readers to further me along as I have some great ideas for stories. Carpe Diem!!

    Liked by 1 person

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  4. #10 is the one that really strikes home with me. In traditional publishing, one person’s success seems to be seen as taking something away from everyone else. After all, publishers only have so many publishing slots, so much shelf-space they can pay for and a limited amount of money to spend on promotion so they must choose which of their authors to push to the front and which to bypass. This means the authors have to fight amongst themselves to get the promotion they need to suceeed. With indie publishing, one person’s success helps promote the cause of self-publishing as a whole, and so all who self-publish benefit. Self-publishers celebrate each others success rather than envy it.

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  5. Reblogged this on Colin M. Drysdale and commented:
    I don’t ususally re-blog the posts of others (in fact I don’t think I ever have before), but this one seemed to fit within the spirit of this blog, and it seems like a worthy set of ideals for those who self-publish to try to live up to (especially numbers 8 and 10).

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  6. Isn’t that just another one of those things we read and think, ‘I wish I’d written that’.
    I published with Smashwords first before going to Amazon. I made the move mainly because in the UK at the time there were few folk who had ever heard of Smashwords.
    With effect from July 1st, I’ll be returning to Smashwords. Why wait? I’m locked into one of Amazon’s exclusivity clauses, but I’ve found a way around it if I can wait a few weeks.
    Another great post Brian.

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  7. Reblogged this on Ruminations and commented:
    Definitely something that encourages me as an aspiring writer. Nothing should stop us from our dreams and goals of one day getting our work published and shared with the rest of the world; certainly not from people we know and especially not from the discouragement of publishing houses.

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  8. Thank you for opting to follow my new blog. Loved the work you have shared here, and gives me great confidence to know that indie authors and self publishing authors can be as successful as you are. Building the platform is definitely the key! Thanks again, glad to have met you, online!

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  9. I agree…an amen is indeed in order, my friend! 🙂 this wonderful forum that allows us to create, inspire, promote (each other) and support our fellow creatives in any way we can is of the utmost importance to me. It doesn’t really matter whether a book is self published or not…good writing is good writing. I look forward to perusing your blog! Be well. ~Karen~

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  10. I was thrown off by the UN rather than IN … but, I still like this and its meaning/purpose. I just uploaded at Smashwords as a matter of fact and hope going Indie works out for me, too.

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  11. Yes, yes, yes. I’m an indie author and I am SO GLAD that I decided to take this path. Thanks for posting the manifesto, and thanks for visiting my blog. I also agree that it’s important that we indie authors support each other.

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  12. Brian, thanks for following my poetry, thoughts and photos. All of us have something to share. My wish is for all to experience the liberation of putting your work out there for all to see.

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  13. Collectivity is power. I am very new to indie publishing, and publishing in general. I have only just recently released my first e-book on Kindle and these words resonated very strongly with me. It is really exciting to learn that there are so many other people in the world who share my vision, who love sci-fi, steampunk, fantasy and the outright weird.

    Thank you for bringing this to my attention, it’s great to be a part of the family.

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  18. I felt that, and I kid you not I am in tears. Suppose it’s the years of writing and working towards finishing one damn piece of writing dear to my heart that’s weighing heavily on those strings of emotions. I haven’t published anything yet, but I will keep this post in mind, when I do. Thank you for bringing attention to this.

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    • It’s nice to know that you’re not alone — eh? 🙂 I can’t say that I’ve personally experienced the pains of being self-published so I, with the earnest awe that comes with a beginner’s nativity, applauded you and other aspiring indie-publishers. Go you.

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