The Writer's Alphabet - I is for Indie Houses

Okay, picture this: the time period was three years ago.  The setting was a struggling writer's work computer.  The event was my emails.  All three dozen of them.  All rejections.  Two requests for partials, then one exciting request for a full from a HUGE house (Harlequin Teen).  Then the rejection from even them.  Struggling Writer is trying to "stay in the moment" and "do the next thing on the list" (Mummy's words), and is failing. Then Struggling Writer types "independent publishers" into her search engine....and the sun comes out.

I submitted my first manuscript, SPELLBOUND, to a small house named Astraea Press.  The email I received back was encouraging, insistent, and life-changing, as it turns out.  Not only did they like my work, they were offering me a contract.  I would be published, both digitally and in print!  Thus began my love affair with Indie Houses.

Since then, I have published six books with four different indies, (try them yourself, below!) and even tried the self-publishing thing.  But, I am going back to my roots, and my tenth novel will be published this month with Eskape Press.  I'm thrilled, still and always, that the indie houses have loved me, embraced me actually, and claimed me as one of them.  And I am.  I may possibly publish with a more traditional house in my lifetime, but I will always come home to my indie roots.

If you are considering a contract with one of these amazing houses, let me encourage you to go for it!  The benefits are endless and unequaled in the traditional world.  Your work comes out in a few months, as opposed to a few years.  You retain much of your own creative control.  I have new author friends, colleagues who know my pain and share my joy.  I am represented by talented artists and dedicated editors who make creating a perfect final product as important as I do.  And I am loved by publishing houses that think I am the shit.  And that helps me think I am the shit.  And as a result, I think I write novels that are the shit.

I owe it all to the indie houses.  If you want to be part of a supportive, encouraging group, come on over.  It may be time for you to get your Indie on, too!

http://www.astraeapress.com/submissions.html
http://ftp.eskapepress.com/Submissions.html
http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=4
http://musapublishing.blogspot.com/p/submissions.html