On coming out

I haven't really talked publicly about this. I haven't really avoided the question either. I just kinda figured it didn't really matter for my readers either way, so I kept quiet (on my blog at least).

But I've finally come to a place where I want to explain a few things. So here it is:

I've gone indie. For those of you not in the business, that means I self publish my own books, starting with Witch Born and moving on to Winter Queen. Witch Fall will be self published as well, and I recently bought my rights back for Witch Song.

One reason I held back was because there's a lot of judgement about self published authors in general. That somehow indies settle because we couldn't wiggle into traditional publishing. That quality wasn't something you found in an indie author.

I've stopped caring what those people think. Partly because I know they're wrong (my books are some of the best YA fantasy out there, indie or traditional). And partly because I don't care if they refuse to read the books because they're indie. Their loss.

So why did I decide to go indie? It's a really long story, but I'll try to keep it short: I've had an agent. I've had a contract from a publisher that I turned down. I've had a traditionally published book. I've had editors from publishers that you have heard of call me to tell me how much they loved one or the other of my books, but that they couldn't publish it (mostly due to someone else's call). I've had similar calls/emails from more agents than I care to remember.

And I hated it. I hated the drama and the waiting and the way so many authors are treated like minions because they've signed away their power. I despised basing my life on someone else's approval. Waiting for some publishing fairy to tap my manuscripts with her magical wand and transform it from loose pages into a hardbound princess.

And I especially hated my traditional paychecks.

So I made the hard choice--the scary choice. And it turned out to be incredibly hard (at least at first), but not really that scary. I make lots more money as an indie than I did in traditional. I can let my perfectionism for my books have free reign. And my life doesn't revolve around someone else.

Being indie is not for everyone. I don't hate publishing or traditional publishers. I'm positive that with the right team of professionals in the right situation, I could be very happy. And if that found me, I might consider it. But I'm not looking for it. I'm perfectly happy where I'm at, and there are some things in the works that I'm super excited about (can't talk about it yet, but soon!)

Questions? Comments?