What motivated you to become an indie author?
More than anything, I wanted to work with a big publisher and have a team making my book the best it could be. But after years of trying to get published through traditional channels, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Over the years, I got a lot of interest from many agents, and worked with two of them, both of whom were great, particularly Marc Gerald of the Agency Group. I also got a few offers from indie publishers, but--on expert advice--I decided to self publish. Serendipitously, last year I was reunited with Danielle Imara, a friend from art school in England who had also written a fantastic memoir called Crack. We decided to work together to publish our books. Our daily chats about our progress were invaluable, and without her I would not have had the courage to do this.
How has Smashwords contributed to your success?
Smashwords has expanded my audience to a larger number of channels. I've only recently come to Smashwords so I have yet to see how many of my new potential readers will purchase my book.
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