Going Indie with Catherine Bybee

Hi Sarah, thank you for having me here today.

I’m going to talk a little bit about Self Publishing… or going Indie as people are starting to say.

I need to start by saying that Self publishing isn’t for everyone. An author may think that if they self publish they get to skip a few steps, get published faster. Although there is some truth to the ‘getting published faster’ part, there are more steps to doing it yourself than there is when going with a publisher. However, and this is a BIG however, Indie publishing means you need to hire a editor, hire a cover artist… might even have to hire someone to format your work. You have to set up all of your reviews and do all of your promo without the help of a publisher.

There is a ton of work…. However, the pay off can be huge.

I decided to self publish Wife by Wednesday not because I couldn’t sell it, but because I wanted to get it out there. I wanted control over my release, over the price, over how many copies I gave away. I could have sold Wife to any number of small press publishers and done just fine with it. But I wanted something else… I wanted more readers that happen when you price a book low enough to get it into new reader hands. This was my first contemporary romance, my readers were paranormal readers, time travel readers… erotic readers. I needed to find new readers. Indie publishing was perfect for this book.

Did I say the pay off can be huge yet?

Let me tell you just how huge.

Wife by Wednesday made the Amazon Bestseller list for contemporary romance just 35 days from her release. I released Wife on Oct 5th. By Thanksgiving I had made the #1 position in Romance on Amazon… then in the next couple days made the #2 spot on ALL ebooks on Amazon.

Are you seeing the HUGE part yet? Getting on these bestseller lists gives the ball a steeper hill to roll down, or for me up… up in readers, up in sales. I managed these lists by having a marketable product, great cover, and a .99 cent price. For me this worked and I can now call myself a USA Today Bestseller.

I’m so happy I made the decision to go Indie… so happy I didn’t stray from my path and go a more traditional route.

So if you’re tired of hearing the word no from publishers yet everyone who reads your work says they think it’s good (Not your Mom, she’s always gonna tell you what you want to hear) then what do you have to lose?

Go Indie.

A Contemporary Romance with a dash of humor and a whole lotta sexy…

Blake Harrison:
Rich, titled, and charming… And in need of a wife by Wednesday so he turns to Sam Elliot who isn’t the business man he expected. Instead, Blake is faced with Samantha Elliot, engaging and spunky with a voice men call 900 numbers to hear.

Samantha Elliot:
Owner of Alliance, her matchmaking firm, and not on the marital menu... That is until Blake offers her ten million dollars for a one-year contract. All she needs to do is keep her attraction to her husband to herself and avoid his bed. But Blake’s toe-curling kisses and charm prove too difficult to combat. Now she needs to protect her heart so she can walk away when their mercenary life together is over.

Amazon / Nook