The following are questions posed by Nicholas Rossis.  Check out his blog and books!

• Have you noticed any changes in the publishing industry and in the way people treat Indie authors in your short time as an author?

It’s hard to say because I spent my first year getting a feel for everything.  Things do seem to be slower and I’ve seen a lot of Indie Authors quit in 2014 because sales dried up or things stopped being fun.  Yet, I couldn’t say for sure if this is a real change or simply part of a cycle.  I have seen people take it differently.  Some scramble after the current trend in writing, others stick to their guns, and some just walk away.  It’s really been a trying year in terms of holding onto positive thoughts.  At least for me since I’m no longer the new kid who can get readers through ‘hey a fresh face’ curiosity.

In regards to the way people treat Indie Authors, I have seen more people accept the path as a viable author option.  There’s more of an understanding that it’s a risk, books might not be 100% perfect in terms of editing, and you have to sift through junk to find the gems.  Yet there is a growing idea that the independent circuit is where you’ll find some off the beaten path ideas and you could be seeing a future big name in the making.  All that being said, there’s still a lot of snobbishness when it comes to books and you’ll always have people who see Indie Authors as losers that couldn’t cut it in the ‘real publishing world’.

• What directions do you think things will take in the near future?

Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start.

Seriously though, I think we’re going to see a shift and change of the entire industry.  I keep hearing how sales across the board are sluggish, pricing is being debated everywhere, mainstream authors are going indie, and everyone is wondering what the future will hold.  I can’t be sure of where it will go because I only have influence over my own path.  For example, the finale of the Amazon/Hachette fight that has been in the news could change the landscape.  No idea of the impact this change will have on me until it occurs, so I won’t really guess.

I think I’ve started falling into the mindset that I just want to write, publish, and promote my books.  That’s where my interest lies and I have my head in Windemere so much that I couldn’t make any clear future predictions.  Besides, I’m starting to believe that the future is entirely fluid and all one can do is hope they go up.  It does seem to be things will eventually head in that direction, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s an upheaval that knocks over the entire checkerboard.

• Where have you found it’s best to advertise your books?

I always say that this comes down to personal preference.  I use WordPress, Twitter, and Facebook more than anything else.  Out of those, I get more reactions from the first two than the third.  Facebook seems to have a lot of people who see you post in a promo group and they’ll message you asking to promote your book to all their friends.  I got two of those from two different people and they were verbatim, so I really have no idea what’s up with that.

Beyond social media, I have a list of advertising sites that I use.  I always recommend checking them and looking through some entries to get a feel for the site.  For example, AskDavid.com and Goodkindles require personalized blurbs.  Some people find this too much work and others will enjoy it.  Something else to consider is how many books on a site share your genre.  You might think it’s good to go for a site where there aren’t many in your field, but I’ve been finding that it pays to be in an area that has a modest amount of similar genres.  A reason for this is because the more there are, the higher the chance of those genre fans coming to the site.  I mean, if you’re the lone fantasy story on a romance site then you could stand out, but most people will be there for romance.

Here is a link to my page with advertising sites.

Thank you to Nicholas for the fun questions.