In sticking to my goal of putting myself (and my career) out there, I participated in my local library’s Indie Author Day on Saturday, October 8th.

As a (mostly) self-published author, I’m part of the independent community. It’s an exciting field full of challenges, goals, and successes. But more than anything, I’m glad for the other writers I’ve “met.” I’ve learned a lot about craft (how to tell the best story), technical (how to format for print and digital), and marketing.

Combining both sides of my brain (creative and business) in this career is what drives my growth.

Here are a few things to share:

Self-e

This is a website to help get ebooks into library systems. I’m a big supporter of my local library (and vice versa). At this point in my career, I’m working on trying to grow my audience. I have donated paperback copies of my book to my library and love this way to get into even more libraries. Check it out for more information.

ePublish or Bust

A site to help connect indie authors with events at libraries. At the moment, this primarily focuses on Kentucky but the goal is to reach libraries in every state. The idea is that you can go on this site and set-up book signings, meet and greets, and such at libraries (especially if you know you’re going to be in a certain town on a certain date).

Because this event was focused on indie authors in general, not specifically the romance genre, a big mention was made about authors helping authors. I love the romance genre specifically because this is a just part of our nature. We believe in helping other authors, supporting each other, promoting each other. A rising tide raises all ships.

All in all, it was a great event and I’d encourage everyone to reach out to their local libraries. You never know what opportunities are out there until you ask.