Imagine, if you can, a middle-aged technology-challenged woman who has eight friends on Facebook (four of whom are her son’s friends) and who isn’t sure what a blog is. Yes, that was me three years ago, when I decided to write my first novel about a middle-aged woman who writes a blog, has a torrid online affair with an ex-lover on Facebook and makes hundreds of cyber friends.
All new writers flounder. The internet is awash with advice and help but if you, like me, don’t know where to begin, then having a website like Indies Unlimited is an absolute Godsend. Should you need advice about anything at all to do with writing, publishing or social networking, you are sure to find the answer there.
If you want to grow your own social platform then the twice weekly “Like-fests” allow you to do just that. If you want to challenge your writing abilities, you can enter the weekly Flash Fiction challenges and if you need to know how to become a super dooper internet social butterfly, then the weekly tutorials will introduce you to tools you never would have dreamed of and you’ll become an internet guru.
Indies Unlimited is filled with intelligent, well-written articles and features from authors who clearly know their stuff. I subscribed to the newsletter and got a daily dose of what was on offer. Before long, I was able to set up pages at Goodreads, my own author page on Amazon, Facebook and Twitter, shorten URLs, learn about the latest developments in the publishing world, find out if services I might have otherwise considered weren’t just rip-offs, and was thoroughly entertained every day, by lively posts. The biggest success came when I followed a tutorial about joining HARO, help a reporter online. I followed KS Brooks’ advice and sent off a pitch in response to a query. It later transpired that the query was from NBC who chose my pitch, interviewed me, wrote an article about me and gave my book a lot of exposure on their website too.
The tutorials transformed my online life. I rapidly learned an enormous amount and became fascinated by the tools you can employ or use to improve your life as a writer.
It may sound like I am gushing here, and to an extent I suppose I am, however, writing can be lonely, and advice, especially good advice is hard to come by. Indies Unlimited offers sound thoughts and expertise based on personal experiences.
Last year, I was invited to join the team at Indies Unlimited. I write mostly about marketing since I have become somewhat of an expert on that side of things, and more recently I’ve begun to write some of the tutorials. I love researching and finding out new ways to help authors so they can get their work noticed.
That’s the key thing about Indies Unlimited; the authors are so enthusiastic and want to help others. It is infectious. I find, even now, that I want to discover more and share that knowledge.
Indies Unlimited gave me more than the confidence and support I needed to become a well-known author; it gave me a group of incredibly friendly and supportive people who are only too happy to help with a query. If you are starting out or indeed have questions you would just like answered, drop by the website. You are sure to find what you need and more.
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