Diary of an Indie Blogger: My Roadmap to Success VOL I by Kim Staflund

I had a scare very recently. My blog platform malfunctioned, and I was unable to access the close to eight years of inspiration, education, musings, creative writing, guest posts, syndicated content—you name it—that was contained there. I feared the worst: all my blood, sweat, and tears were gone forever; now this invaluable source of motivation and information for indie authors and bloggers was inaccessible to all. What a panic! Luckily, I was eventually able to retrieve all the archived information (albeit, much of the past formatting and graphics were messed up). And that’s when I decided to download it to a Word document for myself so it would never be lost again. That was the original intention—save the information for myself. But as I began browsing through all the entries, something happened inside of me. I was able to see the many learning curves I had taken, over the years, from the time I started the blog and my publishing company for independent authors to where I am today. “This is something so much more special than a mere blog,” I thought to myself. This is a diary of my growth as an independent author, publisher, and online marketer. This is a beautiful, wonderful walk down memory lane that has also reminded me of some of the guest bloggers, authors, and other people I’ve met along the way. What a treasure! I’m now a bestselling author and publisher for many more authors—some who are bestsellers in their own rights. I’m also a sales coach for authors, and my mission in life is to help others (e.g., authors, bloggers, online marketers) navigate this mysterious business littered with acronyms, peculiar old-fashioned practices, and unforeseen pitfalls. I want everyone to enjoy success in whatever form you wish to achieve it, and this blog-turned-ebook is filled to the brim with all kinds of helpful tips and tricks to help you do just that. And do you want to know what else this is? It is an example of how YOU can do the same thing for yourself—repurpose your own archived blog entries by turning them into an ebook. Introduce the content in a fresh new way to a fresh new crowd via their ereaders. Help even more people with your blog than you did before, now that you know so much more after years and years of blogging. This blog-turned-ebook is a mish-mash of advice and tips, author musings, industry-related opinion articles, recipes, syndicated content, new (back then) book announcements, and inspirational posts. It is cut and pasted into here chronologically so you can see the journey and learning curves of this blogger—how my posts and content began to change, over the years, even though my core beliefs have remained the same. These archived blog entries are filled with information from many different categories: advertising, audiobooks, author photos, book reviews, contests, copyright, editing and proofreading, ghostwriting, graphic design, guest bloggers’ insights, indexing and fact checking, inspirational content, internet marketing, printing, publicity, sales and marketing, syndicated content, and writing. There is something here for everyone! I hope you not only enjoy it but also find it highly useful and helpful.