Mightier Than Swords discussion

I'm intrigued by a young man taking on such a noble and indeed sizable task, 'fostering a spirit of community among indie authors.' What interested you in starting Mightier Than Swords? Was it just your own writing, or can you tell us more about the writing community in South Africa?

My latest work, Conversations with Larry Xenomorph led me to Goodreads, and while still a newbie, contact with other indie authors has been a great experience. I wish you the same, Dhesan.

Hi Jay, thank you for the kind words and your interest in my blog.

I started Mightier Than Swords as a means of being able to interact with the diverse community of Indie Authors to learn from and assist them in growing their following. I am fairly new to self-publishing but I know that the difficulties I face cannot be unique.

As you mentioned in an earlier message to me, the real difficulty does not lie in writing a story but rather in drawing attention to what we have created. Alas, self-publishing a novel as a new author is not a case of build it and they shall come.

The consensus is that there are a lot (the exact number will vary between sources) of new stories entering the market everyday. That is a lot of chaff for a random reader to wade through to find a new interesting book. And for the author that means the chances of your prized story being selected is near zero.

However, I felt that people who are readers and fans of a single author would like their style of writing or genre. Through the interviews my hope is that their sharing will draw their followers to the blog and thus provide a smaller pocket to preview works from. So through the interview processes the authors featured can help one another by being introduced to new followers.

My finding thus far has been similar to yours with regards to interaction with indie authors, they are a friendly group of people who are generally interested in working together to expand the reach of their stories and to offer support through the process. It is a beautiful community to be a part of and it is my hope that Mightier Than Swords may be a welcome addition.

Dhesan wrote: "Hi Jay, thank you for the kind words and your interest in my blog.

I started Mightier Than Swords as a means of being able to interact with the diverse community of Indie Authors to learn from an..."

Excellent response.

I've also noticed comments from readers that the inconsistency of the quality of indie books does lead to some hesitancy, even when the book is offered for free. Chaff might be a very apt description in some cases. I don't know if there is an answer for this other than, as indie authors, we should all do the best we can to assist each other in becoming the best writers possible.