indie authors

The Solar Sail Theory of Indie Publishing

/ Definitions, Distribution, INDIE PUBLISHING, Marketing, Stoicism & Perspective / 14 minutes of reading

Daily sales are sinking. Organic reach has collapsed. AI-generated sludge is flooding storefronts while retailers tighten their grip on discoverability. Indie authors are being told to do more of everything — more books, more ads, more social media, more platforms — while the systems underneath us become increasingly unstable and hostile.

The Solar Sail Theory of Indie Publishing offers a different approach.

Instead of chasing endless “rocket launch” marketing spikes, authors can build long-term momentum by expanding their discoverable surface area across the internet and in real life, then channeling that attention into owned reader relationships through websites, email lists, and direct sales.

A solar sail doesn’t move through explosive force. It moves by capturing thousands of tiny forces over time.

So can an indie author career.

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The Slow Squeeze: Why It Might Be Time to Reconsider Barnes & Noble

/ Distribution, INDIE PUBLISHING / 5 minutes of reading

Barnes & Noble didn’t send a warning shot—they sent a deadline. Raise your paperback prices to $14.99 by May 14th, or your books are gone. For indie authors working in short fiction or maintaining deep backlists, that’s not a tweak. It’s a hard stop. And it’s only the latest move in a pattern that’s quietly reshaping who—and what—belongs on the platform. The question isn’t whether these changes are fair. It’s whether your publishing strategy can survive them.

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Safe Writing Is Dangerous Now. Here’s What to Write Instead.

/ Notetaking, Planning, Story Concept / 7 minutes of reading

Safe writing used to feel like the smart choice. Study the market. Follow the trends. Give readers more of what they already liked.

But in a world where AI can produce endless same-but-different stories, safe writing is becoming the riskiest strategy of all.

Readers do not know what they want until they see it. They cannot ask for the strange combination, the odd obsession, or the idea that should not work but somehow does. That is your advantage. The books that stand out now will not be the safest ones. They will be the ones only you could have written.

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Build Better Habits (Not Better Goals)

/ Habits / 2 minutes of reading / 2 Comments

Goals feel productive. Habits are productive. If you want to be a producing indie author, you don’t need a shinier goal — you need a quieter, more consistent life. The writers who finish books aren’t chasing outcomes; they’re protecting routines. It may look boring from the outside. Good. That “nothing to report” life? That’s exactly what makes the words pile up.

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You’re Not Bad at Writing. Publishing Is Hostile to Story.

/ Character Arcs, Pacing, Plotting & Outlining, Story Concept, Structure / 8 minutes of reading

Storytelling hasn’t failed readers — publishing culture has simply become suspicious of it. If you’re being told to slow down, soften conflict, or “let the story breathe,” the problem may not be your writing at all. It may be that you’re telling stories in a moment that prefers experience over consequence.

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Review of The Artisan Author by Johnny B. Truant

/ Attitude, Creativity, INDIE PUBLISHING, PRODUCTIVITY & ORGANIZATION, Prolificacy, Publishing & Production / 6 minutes of reading / 3 Comments

At its heart, this book offers a liberating proposal: don’t play the game as it’s currently defined. Walk away from algorithm worship, punishing release schedules, and the grind of selling at 99 cents to churn-hungry subscription readers. Instead, write what you want to write, at the pace that suits you, and charge a fair price for your work.

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Why “Indie”?

/ Definitions / 1 minute of reading

The short answer is, because traditional authors are so hamstrung by their contracts that writing anything more than their permitted one book a year is a waste of time. Of course, the reality is more nuanced than that. I have been traditionally published and know that world a little. On the other hand, I have

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