Effects of the Indie Revolution on my reading and writing.

Hey, everyone! Laura Pauling here. Glad you popped by. I'm talking about how this Indie Revolution has jolted my reading and writing into high gear.

I’ve been reading a lot. I can't seem to stop. Lately, I've been reading 3 or 4 books at a time.

I have a list of books I’d like to read at my library, by my bed and on my Kindle. And then there are Indie books for under 5 dollars that are doing well that I’d really like to read. And sometimes I skip my lists and stacks and purchase the ones I’m dying to read.

But we’re all like that, aren’t we? (And the girl in the picture isn't me. lol)

picture credit

Just starting out as a writer, I heard the advice read, read, read, and cut, cut, cut. I’m more of an underwriter so the cut, cut, cut for me is more like add, add, add. But to be honest I kinda scoffed at the read, read, read.

I’ve always loved reading but I didn’t purchase many new releases. I read what I could from the library. As a writer, I don’t think I got it. But wait, I read craft books. Tons of them. That must be the key. So with my brain overloaded from craft books, I continued to write.

It wasn’t until I seriously started researching agents that I went out of my way to purchase new releases from authors my top agents represented. After all, that’s what we were told to do so like a good little obedient writer that’s what I did by golly. And I could definitely see a difference. For example, this one agent I respect loved one genre but I learned he also loves incredibly detailed writing. 

But something happened. I became addicted to new releases with gorgeous covers. I wanted to devour them whole. Some disappointed me but others I loved. I didn’t even read a lot of sequels. I wanted to taste new books. This was before self publishing hit.

And then self publishing hit.

So how has this affected my reading and my writing?

I'm reading even more and through all the reading I’ve done in the past few months, the good and the bad, the Indie and the traditionally published, I see that it is not following all the rules of the perfect first five pages that get you an agent or a deal or lots of sales.

It’s a great story with heart. I think it’s always been that way. I know this because regardless of publishing route, those are the books I read. I’ve put down just as many traditional published books as I have Indie books.

I’ve also branched out in my reading. I’ve read novellas and short stories. I’ve been reading adult books too.

I love that I have more choice.

So back to the craft books. I saw a bigger jump in my writing when I started reading more fiction and watching movies to study how authors applied all that craft knowledge crammed in my head. I saw it in action. And it led to blog posts like these:

Tips from the Opening Chapters of Nightshade.

Fifteen Tips to Strengthen Story Structure.

So how has the Indie revolution affected your reading? You are reading, right? And thanks for hanging out with me!

Laura Pauling (that's moi) authored A SPY LIKE ME, the first in the Circle of Spies Series. She writes about spies, murder and mystery. She lives the cover of suburban mom/author perfectly, from the minivan to the home-baked snickerdoodles, while hiding her secret missions and covert operations. But shh. Don't tell anyone.

Hang out with me at my blog and Twitter.