You write a book...and you write a book...and you...

I'm nowhere close to being an expert on the whole indie market, self publishing industry. I read article after article and still feel clueless. I looked at the "how to publish your book" page on Amazon once. Just once. Pretty sure I broke out in hives. Cover art? Formatting to different platforms?

I need a drink just thinking about it.

All that makes writing a book seem easy.

I haven't completely lost hope just yet. 

There seems to be a sort of revolution happening when it comes to self published authors and the publishing world in general. This isn't exactly new. Ebooks have transformed the way readers access books. We've seen Borders close it's doors along with smaller retail chains. Barnes and Noble was smart enough to see where books were heading and came up with the Nook and could be why they have survived the culling.

Being a book junkie (and just a little weird to begin with) I mourned these losses. I used to spend hours in bookstores. My dad has always had a book in his hand and trips to Waldenbooks were as routine as going to the grocery store. Losing these places was like closing a door on pieces of my childhood. 

I even spurned the Kindle at first claiming it wouldn't smell like a book and holding a small tablet couldn't compare to 800 bound pages with beautiful cover art.

And then I got a Kindle as a gift and had the mother of all realizations: I now owned a bookstore that never closed.

Holy mother of God.

And that's how I met Colleen Hoover. Well, I didn't "meet" her, but I read her books Slammed and Point of Retreat . They didn't immediately rocket to the top of my list of all time favorites (sorry Colleen!), but I did enjoy them. Both were sweet and unique with great characters and even got a few tears out of me.

Then she published Hopeless .

Wow. 

Just...wow.

I don't go around raving about too many books, but I actually messaged a friend at one in the morning because I had just finished reading it and couldn't wait until the morning to tell her she NEEDED to read this book.

It's rare to find a book that is witty enough to make you laugh out loud while you fall in love along with the main character and are left in a heaping sob of embarrassing mush after living their tragedies. This book runs the emotional gauntlet and leaves behind a bitter sweet taste and yet, is completely satisfying.

What I find to be most mind blowing about this whole thing (and the point of my ridiculous ramblings) is she is self published. Yup. All by her little self. Since becoming a bestselling author she has picked up a publishing deal, but she retained full rights to her e-book for Hopeless.

She's driving a huge parade float down publishing avenue clearing the way for self published authors. Publishing is evolving to be about the author and the reader instead of large houses telling us what we should be reading. The way books were meant to be produced.

Bloggers are becoming a huge part of this world as well through organizing unreal author signings like Bookbash in Orlando and The Boston Author Event that bring authors and fans together. Self published authors brought together by bloggers to meet fans that took a chance on a writer they might never had known if traditional publishing was the only path.

It's a community of glorious misfits and it is fascinating to see it evolving.

Now if someone could please tell me where the hell to look for cover art that won't cost me two weeks pay.