A revolution is taking place in the publishing industry and indie authors are at the forefront. No longer satisfied to be confined or defined by others, writers eager to share their stories and lives with readers are finding creative, profitable and fun ways to express themselves. But don’t cross them. They aren’t afraid of speaking out when they’ve been wronged either. Here are five examples.

First Self-Published Bookstore Opens In U.S. Giving Unknown Writers a Platform

Caitlin White

When you’re a children’s or YA writer, it’s hard to find shelf space beside J.K. Rowling, Veronica Roth, John Green, and other major names in the industry — especially if you’re self-published. Gulf Coast Bookstore in Fort Myers, Florida, hopes to become a haven for local writers, as it opened this month as the first self-published bookstore in the country.

Author Shows Us How to Live the Gutsy Life

Sonia Marsh, author of From Freeways to Flip Flops

After living for a year in Belize that didn’t turn out as her family had hoped, Sonia Marsh returned to the USA,  endured divorce, but once her boys were independent she began reinventing herself.  While continuing to write for her blog and build her craft, she decided to combine her love of travel and language in a London-based Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Certificate program. Although she was turned down when she first applied to the Peace Corps program, she took her mentor’s advice and reapplied immediately. On the very day she completed her TESOL certificate program, she was accepted by the Peace Corps to teach primary education in Lesotho, South Africa. Learn more about this gutsy author at http://soniamarsh.com/

Brave Author Gives Hope and Encouragement to Other Survivors in Town Where It Started

Kathy Pooler, author of Ever Faithful to His Lead

Kathy Pooler, author of Ever Faithful to His Lead, gives hope and encouragement to other survivors, such as when she gave the keynote speech at The Annual Chief’s Tea Domestic Violence Awareness Event in Trenton, Mo. This event was particularly significant because this is the town where she escaped to a basement apartment with her two young children to avoid physical abuse.

I feel very honored to do my part in increasing awareness about domestic abuse. The highlight for me was having an audience member say to me afterwards, “You have told my story. I need to read your book.”

Writers Be Warned: The Case Against Author Solutions (Part 3)

Mick Rooney

Author Solutions preys upon the dreams of authors by selling them expensive services that sound exciting but do not actually sell any books. Their defense: They aren’t being deceptive because they aren’t trying to sell books. Of course, for nearly 200,000 authors who have paid thousands (if not tens of thousands) of dollars to buy expensive services that promised to promote their books, Author Solutions’s indifference to book sales comes as more than a bit of a surprise.

Celebrating an American Hero Whose Life Lives Up to His Nickname Private Lucky

Story of Life of Hendrik C. Gillebaard (Hank) written by Melissa Guzzetta

Over ten years ago Melissa Guzzetta’s husband began making regular visits to videotape Hank Gillebaard recount his remarkable life with the intent of leaving a video account for his adult children. As Melissa and her husband learned more and more about Hank’s life, they realized that Hank’s story deserved a bigger audience. They decided to turn this amazing story into a book. When the potential of this compelling story escaped traditional publishers, Melissa decided to proceed as an indie author and so began years of interviews, visits to geneaology libraries, extensive research about World War II, aviation, and other relevant topics. The outcome is Private Lucky: One Man’s Unconventional Journey from the Horrors of Nazi Occupation to the Fulfillment of a High-Flying American Dream.  In the photo above Melissa sits between Hank on the right and his wife, Lola, on the left at a recent reading.

Do you know an indie author with publishing muscle? Maybe you are one. Tell us about it in the comments.