Working as a part-time Independent Author has it’s pros. Not gonna lie. Typing in your pj’s is high up on that list. For sure. Talking with other Indie Authors and reading their work? Awesomesauce. Writing time? Heaven.
The down side, of course (for most of us) is that writing doesn’t pay well, unless you’re lucky enough to have your work listed in Amazon’s top 100 paid categories (I was there twice. Once at 81 and it lasted a day and once I was 51st!!!! Of course, that one turned out to be a major mistake on Amazon’s part and I didn’t actually get the sort of money a 51st place ranking would have gotten, All I got, was my hopes dashed.)
For us unlucky 100 clubbers, we have a very intimate relationship with our business accounts, and the dwindling state they always seem to be in. Sigh.
I think there is a major misconception that, if you have a book out (or three in my case) that you are raking in the dough. Not true, at least in my case. I just released my third in a trilogy. I’ll admit, I had high hopes for it’s launch, which Amazon conveniently messed up for me. Thanks again, Amazon! 
Last month (the release month) I made a total of about 500 bucks on all three books. What will I do with that new found money when I get it in two months? Take a cruise? Get my tooth filled? Fix the weird sound in my car? Get windshield wipers that actually wipe off the rain? Buy socks without holes in them? Save it for Christmas? Nope. I’ll dump it right into my business account (that currently has $5.63 in it.) WHY???? do you ask? Because I’ll need every penny of that to market my trilogy in the hopes that more people will see it. I’ll have to buy paperback versions of my books to put in local bookstores and to fans I’ve promised copies too, (there’s about 100 of that gone), I need to start boosting my posts on fb so more than 3 people see my posts. I need to buy more swag to give away (which also means more postage). I have to save up for signings that I want to attend (in the hopes of getting more readers).
It’s a vicious cycle. One that I often times find myself getting depressed about. I wonder when this will turn around and I’ll actually start making some money off my writing instead of just keeping it above water. But those are the darker days. The days you see all of your other writer friends entering the charts as your books inch downward into the black hole of e-books.
It’s on those days, it’s reviews like this one seem to pop up and it totally recharge your batteries:
What a fantastic trilogy! I read the whole book in 1 sitting, oblivious to anything going on around me. When the Kindle needed to be charged, I finished it on the PC. Danielle Bannister has hit another home run!
Guess there is still life in this old broad yet….
Danielle Bannister (Still an Author)
Danielle Bannister, Author 
Hang in there Danielle!! Big hugs!! xo
Nice review…but i say you have achieved immortalliy with the coining of the word “Awesomesauce”…an Awesomely delicious word.
it is, isn’t it?