Friday Indie Q&A with Author Douglas S. Pierce

Our Friday Indie Q&A this week we chat with Author Douglas S. Pierce about the reason he decided to go indie, his ‘Real Talk’ Instagram posts, and his being a huge fan of Fae and The Fae Project.

Creative Agency

Q: There are many reasons people decide to indie publish. What brought you to the point of deciding to be an indie author? 

A: There are indeed many reasons to consider going indie. For me, the decision came when I was in the midst of writing The Maiden’s Song (my first epic fantasy novel). That book was over 240,000 words, and when I started querying it with literary agents, I wasn’t getting any interest in it, in part, because it was simply too long of a novel for an unknown author. Now I can look back and see that the criticism of it being too long was correct. And so I subsequently split the book into two books — The Hunted Maiden and The Seedling’s Song.

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In addition to trying to market a book that was deemed to be too long, I was taking some significant chances with some techniques, that I called ‘sonic markers’ that were super important to setting the tone of the book. I had never seen it done before, and I wasn’t sure that it would survive the editing process for any publisher who did pick it up. 

Real Talk

Q: We love your ‘Real Talk’ Instagram posts! For those that don’t know you as well, tell us what subjects you’re offering in your ‘Real Talks’ and why you decided to do it.

A: I’m so glad that you love my ‘Real Talk’ posts on Instagram! In those posts, I am basically trying to give real data and insight on my experience of being a self-published author to other authors — whether they are traditionally published, self-published, or hybrid published — as well as any aspiring authors out there. The subjects sort of come up on their own. For me, and they range from what marketing techniques I am using and how well they have worked for me, to the real costs of actually putting a professional product out into the market. 

The reason I am willing to do this is because I recognize that I am incredibly fortunate. I have a day job that pays well enough to keep my family fed and housed and to pay all of the bills, and can also support the start-up costs for my author journey. Our society (especially the US) considers talking about real money costs and earnings to be largely taboo. There are so many people who get into indie publishing with the idea that they have this great book idea and that if they just write and publish their book, that they will be able to make a living wage or even more from it. I’ve learned a LOT on my self-publishing journey, and most of it has been from trial and error. And while I think I have been fairly successful at marketing myself and my books, I think that other authors can learn from me with perhaps a little less error. Also, I feel that by being as transparent as I can be on my costs and earnings, I can help others — aspiring authors will be able see real figures that will give them hard data for them to consider before jumping in — and already published authors can have a better gauge of their own success (or not) by looking at my numbers and my social media presence to see how they are doing comparatively — without having to share data that they might be leery of sharing. 

“There are so many people who get into indie publishing with the idea that they have this great book idea and that if they just write and publish their book, that they will be able to make a living wage or even more from it. I’ve learned a LOT on my self-publishing journey, and most of it has been from trial and error.”

-Douglas S. Pierce, Author

Author Branding

Q: What kind of advice would you give to an Indie Author that you wish you had prior to starting on your Author journey? What challenges have you overcome?

A: Great question! So, the first thing I would tell an aspiring author is that they need to be clear-eyed about how much work is involved in publishing a book — AFTER the writing is done, and to be prepared to pay for professional services — editing, formatting, cover design, blurb writing —  that you yourself don’t get paid to do by others. Essentially, if your cover design work isn’t good enough for others to pay you to do it, you should be prepared to pay someone else to do it for you.

I wish someone had really sat me down and talked about how much work it takes to market yourself and your books. Building a brand as an author, and finding ways to get your book(s) noticed and purchased by folks is HARD! There are so many possible avenues to consider — distribution of your books to actual book stores, online marketing, building a website, social media posts, finding ARC readers, building a Street Team. When I was first publishing The Maiden’s Song, I had only an inkling of most of these concepts and how to go about meeting them.

In terms of challenges that I have overcome, I was able to build a professional looking website, after failing for almost a year and registering an incorrect domain name for my first try! I had to find a great editor, formatter, cover designer, and blurb writer to help me.

The Fae Project

Q: You are a huge fan of Fae! Tell us about this. Why did you start this project? What is it about? Where do we sign up for more of this content?

A: I am a huge fan of the Fae! One of the co-leads of my epic fantasy series, Seldy, is a young woman who was orphaned and raised in a circus. She thinks she is an elf, because she has long ears and can do things that others can’t — like talking to animals (and understanding them when they talk back to her), being immune to natural cold and heat. What she doesn’t know, and is the central premise in the first two books of the series, is that she lacks access to her song — her connection to the Song of Creation that all Fae would normally possess. Her song was sealed away from her before she was born, in order to save her life. 

The Fae Project, is my homage to the Fae — and the Fae magick that we all possess within us. I host The Fae Project on Patreon.com — a website that all sorts of creative folks use to post creative content and get compensated for it.

I share photosets of models, both professional and amateur, that explores various aspects of being Fae. Most of the images include nudity, but not all of them. All of the photosets are either self-portraits taken by the models themselves, or are taken by myself or professional photographers I have contracted with. I also post artwork that is related to the Fae, again by both professional and amateur artists. 

For anyone who would love to see fine-art quality, professional, and uncensored Fae images, check out my Patreon page. I have two tiers — the Fae Circle tier offers a Daily Dose of Fae Magick post featuring at least one image per day and costs $2 a month! The highest tier I currently offer provides full or partial sets of images every Sunday (plus all of the Daily Dose posts) for $5 a month.

You must be 18+ to view the content.

No Magick Bullet

Q: Tell us, how do you find balance day-to-day in order to keep writing, promote your books, and do you work a day job? If you do other things, please share that with us too!

A: Oh boy! That is the challenge, right? Finding time to work my full time day job, spend time with family and pets, and still find time to write, publish, and market my work is a constant struggle. Mostly, I write and edit on the weekends, holidays, and days off that I can. Most evenings, I will dedicate an hour or two to social media work and other marketing work, and sometimes to writing. There is no magick bullet, however, and I often find that the time I spend writing and working on other tasks towards being an author is time that I am not fixing or doing things that need to be done around the house or relaxing and watching tv.

A Big Win

Q: What is one big win that you’d like to share with us?

A: I feel like I am winning big anytime someone reads one of my books and leaves a great review, or reaches out to talk to me about what they loved or how mad they are for what I did to their favorite character. To know that there are people out there who are enjoying stories I wrote just tickles me to no end. I love knowing that my characters are being discovered and loved by new people!

Shoutout

Q: There are so many people that assist us along our publishing path. Who would you like to give a shoutout to?

A: Shout outs:  I would love to shout both Stacey Rourke (IG: @rourkewrites ) and Rue Volley (IG: @ruevolley) for their mentorship and encouragement in getting my books published. I would also like to talk up my formatter/cover artist:  Rebecca Poole of Dreams2Media.com — she does great work! And I would like to thank my editor:  Sherrie Dolby with Dolby Editing and Publishing.