7 Important (Yet Often Overlooked) Tips for Indie Authors

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There’s a LOT more to self-publishing than you might think. Until you actually go through the process yourself, I guarantee you’ll underestimate it. Even if you did go through it, there’s still a learning curve that continues to evolve with new resources, trends, and technology.

There’s a ton of information out there for indie authors, but unfortunately, it’s scattered across the internet; rarely is it conveniently organized in a single resource. This siloed information makes it difficult to form a strong game plan right out of the gate. I know, because I was overwhelmed when I became an indie author. I thought I had a rock-solid strategy… but parts of my plan fell apart due to a lack of overall understanding and preparation in the beginning.

That’s why I’m so upfront and transparent here in my blog. Other authors don’t need to make the same mistakes that I did.

In this article, I’ll discuss seven tips for indie authors, especially those who are based in the United States. This is basic information that can make your publishing journey a lot easier by addressing it upfront rather than having to adapt your strategy later.

This article may contain affiliate links. To learn more about how these links are used on this website, read the affiliate disclosure.

1. Get a PO box so your home address isn’t listed on your newsletter, return labels, etc.

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Chances are, you’ll be utilizing the mail service in one way or another. Maybe you’ll be selling books online and sending autographed copies to your fans. (That wasn’t something I did at first, but I do now, and my profit margin on those books is much higher than selling on Amazon or through other retailers.)

Maybe you’ll do giveaways on social media, or send handwritten thank-you notes to supportive fans, or mail marketing materials.

Do you want your fans and customers to know your home address?

Even some newsletter platforms, like MailChimp, require you to list a physical mailing address in your email footer. That made me very uncomfortable when I started publishing a monthly newsletter to my growing audience. I didn’t want my home address plastered there for everyone to see, but there was no way to remove that section.

Get a PO box from the post office or personal mailbox at the UPS store. At some point, you’ll need a physical mailing address that can be listed publicly, but you also need to protect your privacy. Trust me—it’s worth the piece of mind.

Side note: I started my monthly newsletter with MailChimp but ended up switching to Substack in 2024. Here’s why.

2. Don’t sign books with the same signature you use for legal documents.

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When I heard this invaluable piece of advice, it was so simple, obvious, and logical that it prompted a facepalm and internalized DUH! Why didn’t I realize this sooner?

3. Publish under a DBA or LLC for a more professional impression.

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There’s nothing technically wrong with publishing under your own name. However, indie authors face a bad rap compared to traditional authors. This negative perception has persisted for several reasons.

First, many readers see traditional publishing houses as necessary gatekeepers weeding out the poor writing from the exceptional. However, that isn’t always the case. There are great authors who choose to self-publish for a number of reasons, such as wanting to own their work, protect their creative rights, and ensure that their vision is executed properly. Meanwhile, traditional publishing isn’t always based on merit. Simply knowing the right person who can pull the right strings can get a bad author a lucrative publishing deal.

Here are three reasons why I chose to self-publish back in 2018.

Second, Amazon made self-publishing easy and free when they acquired CreateSpace in 2005. (It’s now called Kindle Direct Publishing, or KDP.) These print-on-demand books were unverified and could contain any content as long as it wasn’t placeholder text. In the early days of self-publishing, many of these books were unedited and overwhelmingly low quality compared to what traditional publishing houses were producing. It was all too easy for anyone to upload an unedited manuscript and say, “Look! I’m an author!” while cutting corners and avoiding the tedious work of polishing a rough draft into a real novel. Self-published books flooded the marketplace with poor-quality, unedited books riddled with typos, grammatical errors, and plots that read like bad fanfic.

Unfortunately, people today still hear “self-published author” and immediately think of an amateur who wasn’t good enough for traditional publishing and didn’t bother to edit their work. That’s disingenuous to those of us who put in the effort and hire professional editors, formatters, artists, et cetera to produce great books; fighting that stereotype is an endless battle.

This is why I suggest that you DON’T publish under your name. There’s nothing shameful about being an indie author, but it’s a dead giveaway to readers, retailers, libraries, bookstores, and reviewers when the name of the author and publisher matches. That means you’re battling the stereotype right off the bat. It could even mean an immediate “no” from a retailer who was considering whether or not to put your book on the shelf.

First impressions matter. Establishing an LLC is beneficial because it adds an extra layer of legal protection for you. If, for whatever reason, someone were to sue you (maybe they accuse you of stealing their idea), an LLC would separate your personal assets and liabilities from your business assets. If the worse-case scenario happened and you lost the court case, your personal assets would be protected.

DBA stands for “doing business as,” and it’s a cheaper and easier alternative to an LLC. It simply means that you are publishing as yourself doing business under a trade name. Registration varies by state and county but usually costs between $10 and $100. (In my state, I paid a one-time fee of $35 for a DBA, and it won’t expire.) However, a DBA doesn’t offer much protection if you end up in court.

Ultimately, it’s a good idea to treat your author career as a business and publish under a business name rather than your own name.

4. Register at least the first book in a series with the U.S. Copyright Office.

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“Should I copyright my book?” is an excellent question that a lot of aspiring authors ask.

The short is answer is that you can, but you don’t actually have to. Let me explain.

According to the official copyright.gov website, “Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works. [It] protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed.”

Another key piece of information: “Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.”

So, why would you even need to consider paying for official copyright registration if your work is already protected before it’s published? Short answer: extra legal protection.

Here’s what the U.S. Copyright Office says: “In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work. Registration is recommended for a number of reasons. Many choose to register their works because they wish to have the facts of their copyright on the public record and have a certificate of registration. Registered works may be eligible for statutory damages and attorney’s fees in successful litigation. Finally, if registration occurs within five years of publication, it is considered prima facie evidence in a court of law.”

Copyrighting a work by a single author can cost between $45 and $125, depending on whether you file electronically or by paper. I chose to invest in copyrighting the first novel in my series even though I didn’t technically have to. This established additional legal protections for my story, world, and characters. I still have general copyright protections over the subsequent works in the series, but I have a stronger legal leg to stand on by officially copyrighting the first book, just in case I ever find myself facing litigation.

I know authors who have had their work stolen. Even though the original authors technically held the copyright of the intellectual property that was published by somebody else, there was nothing they could do. (And, of course, AI is further muddying the waters.) Copyright registration isn’t a requirement, but it’s an extra layer of protection, especially if you’re investing in a long-term project with multiple books.

Important note: make sure you have a publishing plan first. If you’re certain that you want to self-publish, it’s a good idea to get copyright protection before sending your work out to beta readers, proofreaders, editors, ARC readers, reviewers, and people you probably don’t know personally, just in case. But if you’re considering publishing traditionally, be aware that some publishers don’t like authors owning the copyright. They view it as additional red tape because you’ll be signing over the creative rights to them in your contract, which means transferring the copyright.

5. Maintain the publishing rights to your work by owning your ISBNs.

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Most self-publishing platforms will offer you a free ISBN (International Standard Book Number). This is a numeric commercial book identifier, and it’s what libraries, bookstores, distributors, universities, wholesalers, and retailers use to catalog books.

Your book does need an ISBN. But I highly recommend purchasing one yourself rather than accepting the free one offered by a self-publishing distributor.

I know, it’s tempting to accept the free gift. But, shocker, that “free gift” comes with strings attached, and those terms aren’t usually spelled out clearly for new authors to understand all of the ramifications.

If, for example, you’re using IngramSpark to publish your book, then accepting their free ISBN means that you are forfeiting your rights as the publisher. Ingram will be your publisher as well as your distributor. However, if you purchase your own ISBN from Bowker, which is the only official source of ISBNs in the U.S.A. and its territories, then you are the publisher. Ingram would be your printer and distributor, but not the publisher.

Now, on its surface, it’s not the end of the world if you decide to let your distributor also serve as your publisher. However, you’re giving up some of your control over your work. If anything were to happen—if your publisher went out of business, or they were involved in a lawsuit, or you just aren’t happy with them and want to switch to a new distributor—you can’t transfer that ISBN. It belongs to them.

You can register your title under a new ISBN, but that gets a little messy when the same book is registered under multiple ISBNs owned by different people.

You might be thinking, What are the odds that I’ll have to switch distributors? Seems like a small risk.

Well… it’s better to have ownership and control, just in case. I made some rookie mistakes with my first book, and one of those mistakes was burning two perfectly good ISBNs (that I did own) because I didn’t understand how they functioned with different distributors. I started with B&N Press and ended up switching to IngramSpark for a long list of reasons. You just never know what’s going to happen, which is why I always advocate for indie authors to keep as much control as they can.

6. Get affordable business liability insurance if you’re planning to sell your books at events.

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I published my first novel at the end of 2018. For the next few years, I did a few signings here and there at local shops, libraries, and bookstores. I even did a tri-state Barnes & Noble book signing tour in 2019. It wasn’t until 2022 that I started venturing into festivals, markets, and conventions and realized how much more lucrative they were.

This is when my writing career really became a business for me. And I realized that I needed to start thinking less like an author and more like an entrepreneur.

I resisted paying for liability insurance for quite a while. It seemed like an unnecessary expense. But as my business grew and I started to target bigger and better events, I started running into a recurring obstacle—a lot of the event coordinators required insurance from their vendors just to apply.

I won’t get into the nitty gritty details since I already wrote another article on this topic (which you can read here), but long story short, I tested out two different insurance companies for small businesses and ended up sticking with ERGO NEXT Insurance, which suited my needs as an author better than ACT Insurance, which was geared more toward artisans that had hand-crafted products.

For me, annual plans were financially out of reach. With ERGO NEXT, I’m able to pay a small amount each month and easily create custom certificates listing various venues and/or organizations as additional insured if required by an event coordinator.

This not only broke down barriers to set up my booth at larger events with more foot traffic, but it also gave me legal protection in the case of any unforeseen accident or damage. I’ve seen tents tossed across parking lots in high winds, and if anyone were to be injured, even if I did everything right and somebody else’s unsecured tent blew into mine, I could be sued if the victim happened to be in my tent when the accident happened. Again… extra legal protection and reimbursement for damages. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

If you’re planning to do outdoor events, check out my blog post for a list of essential supplies.

7. DO pay for editorial reviews; DON’T pay for regular reviews.

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Those days are long gone. Sadly, many of the accounts that featured my books aren’t active anymore. Now, I get so many unsolicited messages from “reviewers” (who, in most cases, are from another country and clearly don’t speak English as their first language) saying they love my content, want to read my book, and would be happy to send me their rates if I’m interested.

DO👏NOT👏PAY👏FOR👏THESE👏SCAMS!👏

Authors should NOT be paying for book reviews. Full stop. If someone is contacting you and offering some kind of paid package for a review and feature, it’s a scam. Just as you shouldn’t pay for bot accounts to bolster your social media followers, you also shouldn’t pay for general book reviews.

Editorial reviews are different. I’m not saying you need to have editorial reviews, but if this is something you want for marketing, exposure, and clout, then it’s certainly an option. Make sure you vet the service before contacting them.

Kirkus Reviews is one of the most well-known and reputable resources for a paid editorial review. However… is it worth it? You can expect to spend at least $400 on a Kirkus editorial review and website feature. I haven’t personally invested in that because my marketing dollars have gone elsewhere, and the one author I know who did use Kirkus said that he really didn’t see any benefit or return on his investment, although it did bolster his confidence a bit as a “verified” author. But that’s just one case. Clearly, other authors see a benefit in pursuing these types of editorial reviews.

Personally, if I’m going to pay for an editorial review, it’s going to be a smaller investment under $100. There are various sources you can find. I’ve used The Prairies Book Review and Literary Titan in the past. I’ve found that editorial reviews are good for marketing features, and Literary Titan came with bragging rights through their book awards, but in general, I’m not big on paying for these types of reviews. They don’t impact my sales, garner major exposure, or impact my overall ratings. Readers seem to care a lot more about my Goodreads or Amazon rating than editorial reviews.

I’d rather put that money toward a booth fee at a convention where I can meet readers face-to-face and introduce them to my series. That’s how I’ve built my grassroots base—a whole lotta hustle and taking the time to have conversations with people rather than posting editorial reviews or paying for ads to pop up in their faces while they’re scrolling.

Moral of the story: reviewers that contact you are scammers. Editorial review services that you seek out are usually legit. (But due diligence is still important, so check them out first!)

Self-publishing isn’t easy… and if you’re a serious author, it’s only the beginning. The marketing afterward is a whole new battle. Hopefully, these tips I shared help set you on the road to success!

Best of luck to you in your publishing journey. 🖤