I’m starting to think so, particularly after reading a rather pig-headed, anti-Indie gang forum the other day.  But don’t get me wrong, as I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion, unless of course they look to revolt to make Amazon herd Indies into a chamber and gas them next, as was the impression I got in this case.

But I won’t let it get me down.  Because it seems that doing your homework is the best survival kit you can have.  Knowing your obstacles falls under this, and in a way I’m glad it’s not math.

Here’s what I learned so far that can greatly increase your survival chances:

1.  Know that not all Indies are writers fresh out of the box.  This is a very, very bad misconception.  The new ‘kid’ in the class is not always from another planet.  I receive a good dozen review requests a month from traditionally published, successful authors who recently got the rights back to their work and have just started on the Indie route.  To gas all Indies is taking unjust kill-shots at the pros.  (Pros in this case being often authors who have written multiple successful books over a decade or more.)

2.  How others look at you starts with how you look at yourself.  If you sell yourself cheap, then in combination with the latest Indie-stigma going around, you may to be herded into the wrong category.  A lot of people have started going out of their way to ignore Indies entirely, and I feel bad for them.  Yes, there are a lot of bad books (bad in this case being unedited, improperly formatted, etc…) but there are a lot of gems I have had the pleasure of reading, many of which might have remained invisible with the tight-choices that the bigger publishers have to make.  Put on your best clothes, straighten out your hair, pull your sagging pants up and get noticed.  And watch your manners!

3.  Don’t fight with the teachers!  Reviewers are just that, in a way, the eyes on our work that rate us.  Every teacher has their own taste.  Some will like how you work, some will fail you for no legitimate reason, but ultimately what it all comes down to is what they see and it can be an extremely educational way to improve your work to better cater to your audience.  If you don’t like it, go back to the box.  This one drives me nuts every time I hear from a fellow blogger that some jerk just assaulted their Twitter and email accounts because they are incapable of seeing the value of another person’s eyes and appreciate their time.  Bad, but constructive reviews are sometimes great reviews to other people.  I remember reading a 2 star review about a week ago that threw a barrage of darts at some of the book’s not widely-accepted themes, and I was left thinking I had to add such an intriguingly different book to my shelves.  And I did. 

4.  Choose your seat carefully.  Know what genre and age group you are writing in and where to set yourself up.  If you sit with your math book next to the horror section of the class, there’s a good chance you’re gonna get your butt handed to you when they beat you dead with your own book.  It’s a common thing to receive bad reviews from people who just don’t like your genre and can’t connect with your book as a result.  Be mindful of where you sit.

5.  Do your homework!  There is so much information on the web now about publishing and being lazy is no excuse.  If you’re self-publishing, stay up-to-date, as with how the Indie revolution has exploded the rules are changing constantly.  Don’t be carrying last-year’s textbook around with you unless you’re aiming to fail.

6.  Make friends with fellow writers.  They aren’t your competition, they are your buddies and there is so much to be learned from each other.  The internet bookshelf is insanely huge, and has become a share-attention sport to gain the lead.  If you’re fighting with fellow writers to claim your spot, you’ll be fighting for eternity and selling nothing.  Even traditionally published authors are encouraged to hang out with each other and learn something.  Readers are getting pickier, and while there are still impulse-buyers, more often than not your sales will come from people who see you on a few sites and then make the decision to try you out after carefully considering for a while.

7.  Eliminate the bullies before they get their kicks from tormenting you.  Bullies are nothing but bad breath and hot air when you simply hit the ignore button, and its all-too-common that their bad habit smacks them in the face eventually.  Most social sites now have means to erase a bullies’ digital presence from your life.  If you find yourself facing off with an extremist, report them to the police, as online harassment can get them ten years to be a jerk behind bars.  Many sites have policies and means to vaporize them as well.

8.  Stay organized.  Keep your friends, contacts, homework and info in order.  Chaos costs time, and if you’re Indie, you have no time to try and befriend chaos.

9.  Keep an open mind.  With how diverse and multi-cultural and skill-different the web of people is, you need to have an open mind to hear and adapt on the fly.  There aren’t two sides to a fence–but four.  The left, the right, the top and the underground.  All sides are needed to keep the fence upright, and overlooking one of more sides can cause problems or confusion.  An example of this are pirates.  Pirates are bad, yes–but why?  Income levels, accessibility, different country laws are just some of the barriers that make them what they are.  Learn the other sides to the story and adapt so you don’t get raided.

10.  Don’t give up!  Being popular isn’t everything.  Not every book can be a bestseller and more often than not, your first book or even second will get nowhere close.  Don’t get frustrated because your Indie book isn’t keeping up with the New York Times bestsellers.  Being Indie is a marathon.  Traditionally published is a sprint to win.  Practice and determination creates a perfect outcome, and/or the next best thing; doing what you love (and still being able to afford the cake).

Something ancient has awoken. Primordial and wholly evil, a living shadow emerges from a prison made weak by the magical cataclysm called The Black. Now the Sleeper stalks the land in search of its old enemies, leaving a trail of madness and destruction in its wake.

Eric Cross, a Southern Claw warlock, has been sent to find the Woman in the Ice, the only known means to stopping this evil. Aided by a grizzled ranger and a band of wardens and inmates from a sadistic prison, Cross’ mission will bring him into conflict with an array of foes: the barbaric Gorgoloth, vampire shock troops out of the Ebon Cities, and a cadre of mercenary nihilists called the Black Circle.

On a mission that will take him from a lost temple once ruled by insidious wolf sorcerers to the vicious gladiator games of the vampire city-state of Krul to the deadly ruins of an ice city, Cross will play a pivotal role in an ancient conflict whose outcome will determine the future of the world.

Return to the world of Blood Skies in this exciting military fantasy adventure!

The lacy gold mapped her entire body. A finely-wrought filigree of stars, vines, flowers, butterflies, ancient symbols and words ran from her feet, up her legs, over her narrow waist, spanned her chest and finished down her arms to the tips of her fingers.

Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle’s body bears the telltale marks of a comarré—a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world…and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks.

Now Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds. If they fail, a chaos unlike anything anyone has ever seen will threaten to reign.

On the night of Skye’s seventeenth birthday, she meets two enigmatic strangers. Complete opposites—like fire and ice—Asher is dark and wild, while Devin is fair and aloof. Their sudden appearance sends Skye’s life into a tailspin. She has no idea what they want, or why they seem to follow her every move—only that their presence coincides with a flurry of strange events. Soon she begins to doubt not just the identity of the two boys, but also the truth about her own past.

In the dead of a bitingly cold Colorado winter, Skye finds herself coming to terms with the impossible secret that threatens to shatter her world. Torn between Asher, who she can’t help falling for, and Devin, who she can’t stay away from, the consequences of Skye’s choice will reach further than the three of them could ever imagine.

A Beautiful Dark is the first book in a captivating trilogy by debut author Jocelyn Davies.

The boy who follows death meets the girl who could cause the apocalypse.

Krishani thinks he’s doomed until he meets Kaliel, the one girl on the island of Avristar who isn’t afraid of him. She’s unlike the other girls, she swims with merfolk, talks to trees and blooms flowers with her touch. What he doesn’t know is that she’s a flame, one of nine individually hand crafted weapons, hidden in the body of a seemingly harmless girl.

Nobody has fallen in love with a flame until now. She becomes Krishani’s refuge from the dreams of death and the weather abilities he can’t control. Striking down thousand year old trees with lightning isn’t something he tries to do, it just happens. When the Ferryman dies, Krishani knows that he’s the next and that a lifetime of following death is his destiny.

And Kaliel can’t come with him. The Valtanyana are hunting the flames, the safest place for her is Avristar. Krishani can’t bear to leave her, and one innocent mistake grants the Valtanyana access to their mystical island. They’re coming for Kaliel, and they won’t stop until every last living creature on Avristar is dead. She has to choose, hide, face them, or awaken the flame and potentially destroy herself.

When Fate makes you her bitch, accept it and adapt. Or die.

The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 1

Looking back on the wish she made on Midsummer’s Eve, Maddy Niteclif should have been more specific. She only wanted to escape the shadowy nightmares that plagued her nights, not to be thrust into a completely altered reality.

If a strangely familiar, sexy dragon-shifter named Bahlin, who causes a never-to-be-mentioned-again fainting spell, isn’t enough to make her question her sanity, his insistence she’s the Niteclif ought to do the job. Prophesied super-sleuth of the supernatural world—a world that desperately needs her help—isn’t a job she’s remotely qualified for no matter what her family tree says.

Catapulted into a very different London ruled by dark mythology, mystery and murder, Maddy makes a few startling discoveries. Paranormal creatures exist. Getting shot really sucks. And her body responds remarkably well to dragon magic—in more ways than simple wound healing.

But in this kill-or-be-killed world, reality bites. And Maddy must choose to go back to what she knows…or stay and fight for the man she knows she can’t live without.

Warning: This book contains a shape-shifting dragon with a Scottish accent, modern and archaic weapons, global inter-species politics that make democracy seem mild, some very steamy sex underground, a severed head, murder, and…oh yeah…a woman caught in the middle of it all.