Alan Tucker On "Being Indie"

On "Being Indie" is a monthly feature that will be hosted here on TNBBC. We will meet a wide variety of independent authors, publishers, and booksellers as they discuss what being indie means to them.

Meet Alan Tucker. He is the author of two sci-fi fantasy YA novels - A Measure of Disorder and its sequel A Cure for Chaos, and the upcoming third book for the series. He's a dad, a graphic designer, and a soccer coach, and writes book that he hopes his kids will enjoy.

He can be found on Twitter and Facebook. He took some time to explain what being Indie means to him and has some tips for indie and self-published authors. Take a look:

Why Indie/Self Pub?

For me, this question boiled down to a simpler one:

Why Write?

Generally, aside from the pleasure of the act itself, there are three reasons people write: to persuade, to inform, and to entertain. All of these reasons require one thing: readers! A persuasive essay is nothing without someone to persuade, and a fantastic adventure story becomes empty with no one for it to entertain.

The publishing industry is in the midst of a Gutenberg-type revolution. Ereaders and print on demand are turning traditional publishing on its head and the model for success as a writer is changing just as quickly. Most of you have probably read or heard about the huge advance Amanda Hocking received recently for a future series of books. A number of other best sellers have come from the ranks of the Indie or self published the past few years as well. The chances, of course, of any single author having that type of success are still extremely small, but not much smaller than making that first big sale through the agent/editor route as was tradition until recently. Many authors are finding readership through the internet, and while most won't be on any best seller lists in the near future, their work is finding an audience — which is the purpose of the work in the first place!

My only advice/plea to someone looking to make the leap into the self publishing world is this: have someone who is not a friend or family read your work before you push your pixels onto the internet for all to see. Secondly, as just as important, listen to what they have to say. Correct your spelling, punctuation and grammar errors because they matter! Let's look professional out there! You may have written the next Lord of the Rings, but if it's riddled with errors, it won't be able to shine.

Write for the joy of it, and take that next step to let the rest of the world share in that joy!