“Writing challenges me to discover who I am. Publishing challenges me to remember it.”

“You have to work like crazy, be smart, somehow invest every particle of emotion into the book itself, but then fling it out in the world and be ruthlessly pragmatic about how to sell it.”

Those two quotes (of many that I jotted down) from For Love or Money (Crafting An Indie Author Career) by Susan Kaye Quinn nails how indie authors should go about developing a writing career.

Quinn writes from a philosophical perspective on how indie (I don’t use the term self-published) authors can make a living from their books and how writing for love or money can be beneficial no matter which path a writer takes.

I heard Susan Kaye Quinn on The Creative Penn podcast recently talking about her career (she is best known for her YA Science Fiction: The Mindjack and Singularity Series) and how she has learned to balance writing for love and money.  Also, she has published romance novels under a penname that gets quite a bit of attention in For Love or Money.

I read this book in one setting and there are plenty of nuggets to digest like Why Do Want To Write, Creating A Mission Statement, Leave Your Biases At The Door If You Are Writing For Money, Being Patient, & Writing Like You Are On Fire.  These are excellent motivational tips that will make a reader dig deeper on how they should craft their career as an indie author.

There are quite a few how-to indie author books on the scene.  However, I believe that For Love or Money stands out from the pack because of its philosophical as well as a practical approach to the ever changing world of Indie Publishing.  I highly recommend For Love or Money as a permanent resource for Indie Authors to keep on their bookshelf or eReader.