Year of the Indie Author

Photo: Simon Berger

All we have to decide,
is what to do with the time that is given to us.
Gandalf

The author journey is both rewarding as it is challenging. I strive to make that journey easier for fellow writers.

Why?

A Brief Summary of My Story on Socials

At the start of 2024, I launched this site and my social media platform with the aim to promote my own book and writing. I connected with many other authors who were doing similar to me and met a lot of really cool people!

As I continued on socials, I saw a recurring theme: People felt like they were shouting into the void. Writers spending many hours of their time working on books or stories, only to find it not reach people. Be it from people being hesitant because the author is indie, or because the algorithms decided not to show their work.

It weighed on my heart and mind for some time as I heard the challenges of my fellow writers. I felt the need to do something, especially when I felt there was more that I could do.

A Spark Becomes a Flame

In and around November 2024, things really shifted. I watched on from the sidelines and heard the outcry as many of my friends and fellow creatives came to terms with the recent developments in the United States. I listened as my fellow writers unleashed their fear, anger, and sadness. The possibility that many of them would have an even harder time sharing their works with the world or face further discrimination because of their gender, race, or what community they belong to.

While all of this is going on, more news comes out daily about the tech world ‘advancing’ AI technologies. Companies that are barreling forward with this technology, seemingly bent on replacing creative jobs and muddying the book and art industry further. In doing so, they make it difficult for quality authors and artists to be found. What takes an author weeks to months to write, these AI tools can ‘generate’ in a matter of minutes.

As if this isn’t enough, there’s a serious chance that TikTok could be shut down. While this doesn’t impact me directly, there are many authors who have spent years building their audience on that platform only to have it potentially all go away. And while other platforms continue, some people are finding a shift in tone leading to more toxicity and a decrease in their ability to reach people.

Witnessing these events, I felt compelled to act. I couldn’t sit on the sidelines when there were things within my ability to do that would help my fellow writers. I’ve spent the last several months refining the ‘how’, and I’m finally ready to talk about what’s ahead.

How?

After pondering it for some time, I’ve identified four major areas that I’m going to lean into this year and going forward to do help my fellow writers.

I continue to shine a light on indie authors and their works. The start of this was with the Indie Release Radar and Creative Writing Wizard podcast. But up till now, I’ve focused on upcoming releases. I’m happy to announce that I’m opening the Indie Release Radar to past releases! (if you’re an author, there’s more on how to submit in the conclusion).

I will continue to refine how I do this, as I explore additional ways to shine a light on indie authors and their works. There are also plans in motion that I’m not ready to talk about yet , so definitely stay tuned for that (or sign up for the newsletter so you don’t miss out).
The next announcement is, I am building a community of supportive creatives! One of the things I’ve felt missing in my time on social media is the ability to have more back-and-forth in conversations, allowing us to build deeper bonds with fellow creatives .

I’ve also found it fairly difficult to keep track of my friends and fellow writers in their progress, which has made it difficult to cheer them on as they progress. I look to solve these things (and more!) by setting up a creative community. The community is coming soon and I’ll have more to say on this in future posts (targeting Feb launch).
I continue to share encouragement and motivation to fellow creatives. There are a number of ways that I do this, with this blog being one and social media being another. As I have said a few times across various mediums, a few kind words can change the course of a person’s life. So I continue to put out good vibes and find people who need cheering on, and speak good vibes into their world.
I continue to provide practical guides and resources for every stage of the author journey. Some of you have likely seen my guide for Tips and Tricks for Growing on Social Media, or my guide on How to Start Writing: The Snowflake Method. As I learn new things or identify gaps in the common knowledge of the writing community, I’ll add resources like these that can be a source of truth or launching pad for fellow creatives.

Alongside knowledge and guides, I have several resources in mind along the lines of the Indie Artist Showcase, where I find people or places that are quality and would help in one of the many steps of an author’s journey. In doing so, I cut down the amount of time a person would need to identify quality resources (especially on social media, where AI and lower quality can be higher in quantity).

The core of all of these areas is to support creative people and to make the creative journey easier.

What Can You Do to Help?

Those of you who have been following for some time have seen the successes of the Creative Writing Wizard site, social platform, and podcast. Authors have been gaining thousands of extra eyes on their works, which is amazing!

But this effort can only go so far on my own. A lot of the successes you’ve seen has been enabled or amplified by amazing and supportive people who have helped boost these signals I’ve put out. Through sharing posts and helping people find these resources, the writing community had helped me go further than I could have ever gone on my own.

If that’s you, thank you! I sincerely appreciate every one of you who has helped. This communal effort has achieved huge milestones in a fairly short period of time.

One recurring question I’ve been getting lately, which has warmed my heart, is ‘What else can we do to help support what you’re doing?’ First off, I love this! It makes me so happy to find other people like myself who care about their fellow creatives and want to do something to help.

As I look forward to the big dreams and goals for this effort, I am seeing that I will need the help and support of many people and that I can only go so far on my own. I believe we are just scratching the surface of what is possible.

In that light, I’m also announcing the launch of the Creative Writing Wizard Patreon!

With the launch of Patreon, I can push the limits of this effort even further. For everyone who chooses to help me fund this effort, I want to recognize you and help give a bit back as well. I have future plans to grow these benefits as more people join alongside.

Conclusion

I do want to bring it back to the core of why I’m doing any of this: I want to help as many creative people as I can. Most of what I do, I do for free and because I love supporting others on their creative journeys.

I will continue to offer free resources and spotlights to fellow authors and artist. The aforementioned Indie Release Radar and past releases, for example, I have a free option to list past releases. Simply signing up for Patreon for free will showcase your book cover on the Genre specific page with a link to buy the book.

There’s more to say, and I appreciate those of you who have read through to this point.

If you feel something stirring in you and, like me, have a heart for supporting others, Join me in the effort. Recognizing that people may not have the funds at this point in time to help support this effort, you can also support by sharing this post, the Patreon, and social media posts that I make promoting these authors and the effort (you’d be surprised how much further a signal can go with comment and repost/share).

If you didn’t know, I’m also having a book giveaway to all my Newsletter subscribers! I’ll be contacting the winner from this latest newsletter, and plan to do more like this in the future. (Thank you to K. Starling for offering to give a signed copy of your book to one of the Creative Writing Wizard newsletter subscribers!)

And if you’re looking for your next read, consider checking out the latest releasing Indie Books below!