i – with my debut novel (aka my only source of income) having sold less than 30 copies after 4 weeks – am currently sitting here after not eating for over a day, wondering when or where my next meal is going to come from since my bank account is negative at the moment, while trying to figure out how i’m going to get the rest of the money i have to pay my college, how i’m going to afford textbooks, and how i’m going to eat for the semester since i can’t afford a meal plan, while getting ready to release another book this september and dealing with all the business that comes with that, and wondering how i’m going to juggle my writing career with my academic career and a job if i can actually get one.
but there are self published authors who have it so much worse than i do.
i said i’ve sold less than 30 books in a month? some indie authors sell that in a year and it’s their only source of income. factor in the fact that most royalties take 4-6 weeks to be paid to the author and you can see why being an indie author is financially problematic.
that’s why even though the bigger authors have worked hard and should sell books, it’s a lot more important to support independent authors. we don’t have publishing companies backing us or thousands of dollars in royalties to fall back on. we’re lucky if we make a dollar per week.
so if you see an indie author on tumblr/twitter/facebook wherever, actually consider buying their book(s) because we need the money more than mainstream authors do. i’m not saying throw your entire paycheck at independent writers, but try to buy books not only based on your taste, but also factor in who you’re buying from.