To celebrate the publication of my novella, Christmas with Mr Darcy, I’m hosting a special ‘Indie Month’ on my blog where bestselling authors will tell you about their latest book and share the secrets of their indie success.

Today, I’m delighted to welcome chart-topping author Nick Spalding.

Tell us about your latest indie book.

Haven’t really got a latest book! I’ve signed a publishing deal now so will be published via Coronet Books for the foreseeable future. Love… From Both Sides is published in a brand new extended version on Thursday, October 25th in ebook format and in paperback on January 17th 2013.

What made you decide to go indie?

The first book I released, a humorous memoir (full of highly embellished and somewhat fictionalised stories 🙂 called Life With No Breaks was such an odd little book that I didn’t think it would stand a chance with a publisher so I decided to self publish it to see what happened.

Do you design your covers yourself and write your own blurb etc?

Yep, all of it. I’m a one man industry 🙂

What are the pros and cons of going indie?

Pros are control over all your work and higher royalty rates when you do sell. Cons are little to no marketing or publicity and no chance of getting anywhere in the paperback market.

How do you publicize your books? 

I blog, tweet and go on Facebook, but I’ve found that publicity efforts have largely been without much of a return. My success has been down to positive word of mouth, favourable reviews and a natural snowball effect of sales, I’d say.

Do you think Twitter and Facebook really help in getting word out there?

Honestly? Nope. They’re a great tool for communicating with readers once you have them, but I can’t say they really did much in terms of getting me to where I am now with sales.

Two of your books have featured in the Amazon Kindle Top 100.  To what do you attribute their success?

I managed to write the right book for the right people at the right time I guess 🙂

Do you read any indie authors yourself?

I’m afraid I’ve been terrible and not had time to read many books at all recently, self pubbed or otherwise, but off the top of my head I’d say that Hugh Howey’s Wool was a great read. My partner read and really enjoyed Lexi Revellian’s Replica. Dan Arenson’s fantasy novels are cracking – he does a very professional job with all of them. Carl Ashmore’s Time Hunters is a good children’s fantasy and I liked Stephen Leather’s self-pubbed stuff at lot too.

You’ve recently signed a traditional publishing deal. Was this a hard decision to make and will you still be publishing ebooks independently?

It wasn’t a hard decision. I want to see how I can do in the paperback market and it’s the only way to do that. Having said that, I’ve had huge success with self-publishing and will continue to do it for some time to come. Three of my books will remain self-published. I see no reason why you can’t do both if you’re lucky enough to be in the position to do so!

What advice would you give to writers thinking of going indie?

Write the most professional book you can with a clear audience/market in mind. Have a professional looking cover and blurb. Be polite online and always treat the readers with respect. After all, you’re nothing without them!

 Thank you so much for your thoughts on indie publishing, Nick!