I think you'll find it interesting, too. :)
Stephen Hise’s take on what it takes to be a successful indie author
So you wrote a book. Thanks to technology, all you have to do now is choose a publishing platform and hit the publish button. In a few months, you’ll be rolling around on a big pile of cash between a pair of supermodels, right? Wake up, Skippy. That’s not how it happens. This is a tough business. Not everyone has what it takes to survive and thrive in the rough-and-tumble world of the indie author.
Writing a book is just the beginning. Before you hang your tender hopes on the indie meat hook, you will need to do a little honest self-assessment. Explore your own character and temperament. Make sure you know your real motivations. Of course, you have to plot all that against the landscape of reality. That’s always tough when you don’t know what the reality is. Here are seven signs that being a successful self-published author might not be the best path for you:
This takes time. If you need money fast, you should consider being a contestant on one of those game shows where people fish around in an aquarium full of razor blades for the keys to a new car or something. Or play the lottery.
When you’ve poured your heart out in several hundred painstakingly crafted pages, it can be tough to hear someone say your book sucks. Be ready for that. It will happen. It happens to all of us. Every bestselling book ever written and every gold standard of literature has detractors.
Reviews can be brutal. You have to be able to take it with some clinical detachment and objectivity. The best medicine can be bitter, but you have to be willing to open yourself up to the possibility that a criticism can be both harsh and fair. There is also criticism that is neither fair nor constructive. Because, you know, some people are just jerks. Walk it off and get back to work.
Read the rest here: http://www.blurb.com/blog/what-it-takes-be-self-published-indie-author