Indie Authors You Must Follow

Today I wanted to do a post about Indie Authors. These self edited, published and promoted titans go through many sacrifices to get their books to us, their readers.  It all starts with a dream followed by lack of sleep and self neglect.  Why do I know this?  I have been trying to put my dreams to paper for the last five years.

Just think about it... How scared would you be of allowing the entire world to take a peak at your brain.  These books are exactly that a little piece of their imagination.  

These featured authors have been or will be making a lot of noise on the web.  How did I find them?  Through reviews on fellow blogs, Goodreads, Twitter and Facebook.  Word of mouth is the best way to share the love for something and I urge you to share those Independent authors you have found.  Just a little warning this might be my first post of many more because I have many more authors to talk about.

Here are some of my favorites upcoming and already outstanding authors:

Abbi Glines

http://www.abbiglines.com/p/about-abbi.html

Abbi Glines can be found hanging out with rockstars, taking out her yacht on weekends for a party cruise, sky diving, or surfing in Maui. Okay maybe she needs to keep her imagination focused on her writing only. In the real world, Abbi can be found hauling kids (several who seem to show up that don’t belong to her) to all their social events, hiding under the covers with her MacBook in hopes her husband won’t catch her watching Buffy on Netflix again, and sneaking off to Barnes and Noble to spend hours lost in the yummy goodness of books. If you want to find her then check Twitter first because she has a severe addiction to tweeting @abbiglines.   Facebook is also somewhere she visits a little too often. She blogs regularly but rarely about anything life changing. She also really enjoys talking about herself in third person. 

I found Abbi on a Goodreads list.  The reviews were so amazing that I just had to read her books. Her books range from edgy YA to the Adult genre.  She is amazing and all her series are a must read. 

My favorite series is the Sea Breeze series.

 Head on over to Amazon http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=la_B0057RWP90_sr?sort=relevance&search-alias=books&field-author=Abbi+Glines to find more about her books.

   


M. Leighton

http://mleightonbooks.blogspot.com/

M. Leighton is a native of Ohio, but she relocated to the warmer climates of the South, where she can be near the water all summer and miss the snow all winter. Possessed of an overactive imagination from early in her childhood, Michelle finally found an acceptable outlet for her fantastical visions: writing fiction. Twelve of Michelle's novels can now be found on Amazon, as well as several other sites. She's currently working on sequels, though her mind continues to churn out new ideas, exciting plots and quirky characters. Pick one up and enjoy a wild ride through the twists and turns of her vivid imagination. .

I found about Leighton via twitter in the pre launch of the Wild Ones.  Every single tweet on my feed had the hash tag and made me curious.  As soon as I read the teasers I was hooked.  So in order to learn a bit more about her writing I began reading the first in her series.  Oh boy!  I was hooked. 

My favorite by far is The Wild Ones

Two of her books are free for Kindle on Amazon -Blood like Poison (which is super amazing) and Madly.  Click here to download these freebies


Nyrae Dawn

http://nyraedawn.blogspot.com/ 

Writing has always been Nyrae Dawn’s passion. There have been times in her life where she wasn’t able to chase that dream the way she desired, but she always found her way back to telling stories.

One of her loves has always been writing about teens. There’s something so fresh and fun about the age that she loves exploring. Her husband says it’s because she doesn’t want to grow up. She doesn’t think that’s such a bad thing and luckily for her, he doesn’t either.

Nyrae gravitates toward character-driven stories. She loves going on emotional journeys with characters whether it be reading or writing. And yes, she’s a total romantic at heart and proud.

Nyrae resides in sunny Southern California with her husband (who still makes her swoon) and her two awesome kids.

When she’s not with her family, you can be pretty sure you’ll find her with a book in her hand or her laptop and an open document in front of her.


Just like Abbi & Leighton I found Nyrae via social media.  People were raving about What a Boy Wants and it was this book that got me hooked on her writing.

My favorite by far is What a Boy Wants

You can get her books here:  http://www.amazon.com/Nyrae-Dawn/e/B007SWQACU/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1347130308&sr=8-2-ent

Melissa Andrea

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Melissa-Andrea-Author/176125595798616 

Melissa started reading in high school when she found her mom's romance book collection and has been hooked on books every since. She became a complete book-a-holic, starting her own collection and improving her reading skills. Most of the time she could finish a book walking around the store, while her mom shopped.

She wrote her first short story in high school for a competition in her writing class. It was a child's book called 'Arnold' - it was about an ant who believed he could do anything. Oh by the way, she won!

She has written many stories since then, but this will be her first YA paranormal/fantasy and the first book she will have published.

She lived in Mesa, Arizona with her husband of six years, and her 3 beautiful daughters. They are her biggest fans and they inspire her everyday. She enjoys spending time with her family, weekend dates with her mom & taking vacations. Hawaii anyone?


You have to watch for this one!  Flutter hasn't even been released yet and there are many forums talking about this book.  

Flutter

Sara

Sara's life is forever changed -
Waking up, buried & hidden deeply in the last place anyone would want to be, will do that. She is determined to find out how she ended up there & why, but when the only person who can help her, continuously lies to her, she finds herself forced to suffer alone. She can't ignore the strange things that begin to happen to her nor can she hide from the nightmares that haunt her sleep. And when her world collides with Adan - the mysterious boy whom she can't seem to stay away from, literally - she is consumed by the familiar flutter that sparks whenever he is around and she is desperate to discover the reason why.
But the biggest discovery will come from the secret of what she is…

Adan

Adan’s mission to find Sara has finally approached -
It seemed simple: bring her back to the enchanted world that lives, breathes and survives because of her, but he quickly finds himself faced with an entirely new challenge. Immediately, Adan realizes that staying unknown to Sara is a task he will fail before even attempting. The pull to her is far too strong to refuse, and being with her will defy the very reason he existed. He was the key to her survival and loving her was not part of the plan that he had been born to follow. Can he find it in himself too resist the urge to be with her and follow through with their destiny or will he destroy everything that had been left to Sara to protect and defend -
And the kingdom she is unaware she rules…

Flutter

As Sara and Adan struggle to overcome their own separate battles -

There is a far more determined evil that is stalking the shadows and waiting to annihilate them both.
Sara will figure out that not everything is what it seems and knowing what she can and can not trust will be the key to finding out the truth to what happened to her, the reason why she had been buried alive and who she really is…

Sara and Adan will discover the hidden meaning to why she was the reason he existed and why he would be the reason she survived & together they will fight to change the rules and rewrite their fate.

Discover the Meaning,
Discover the Secret,
Discover
Flutter
 
This title will be released on October 2012


These are some of the Indie authors you need to follow.  I will be making more post about many others soon.

Tammy