What motivated you to become an indie author?
I was facing a dilemma. On one hand, if you can't get in with a publishing company that has their own marketing budget or connections, then you have no one to help you spread the word. On the other hand, I could hand over what I'd written to one of the Twelve Step programs - AA, Alanon, CoDA, NA, OA, GA, etc. There were two problems with this:
First, if I did this they might publish it as "program approved literature", but they might not, or they might make complete and drastic changes to it. I've written this book the way I wrote it for multiple reasons, but the main reason is to make it as accessible to every single person as I can. Allowing other people to own and change what I wrote could destroy the value in the effort I've made to make this material as accessible as possible. Second, once a program publishes something as "program approved literature" it is, by default, not approved literature for any of the other twelve step programs, and I believe the material in my book is applicable to all programs, so I could be severely limiting the potential benefits people could have if they find my book and write it off because it "belongs" to one program or another that they don't identify with.
For better or worse, I've decided to retain ownership of what I've written. I wrote it the way I did for multiple reasons, and I can only hope that I can share this information with as many people who need to see it as I can.
What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
Sharing knowledge by writing a book is a "force multiplier". It took me over a decade to learn what I've written, but can learn it in a matter of hours. Also, I only had to write it once, and now it can help a hundred, or a thousand people. I hope the things I'm sharing here can help change the world, maybe even after I'm gone.
Read more of this interview.
