Smashwords founder Mark Coker recently wrote a post and an accompanying infographic entitled, Indie Author Manifesto.

Said Mark in the post, “Over the next couple years I think we’ll reach a point where more first-time writers aspire to indie-publish than traditionally publish.  Indie authors are the cool kids club.”

And so he created The Indie Author Manifesto, where he attempts to answer what it means to be an indie author via ten principles:

The Indie Author Manifesto

We indie authors believe all writers are created equal, that all writers are endowed with natural creative potential, and that writers have an unalienable right to exercise, explore and realize their potential through the freedom of publication.

I hold these truths to be self-evident:

1. I am an indie author
2. I have experienced the pleasure and satisfaction that comes from self-publishing
3. I have a right to publish
4. My creative control is important to me.  I decide when, where and how my writing graduates to become a published book. 
5. Indie does not mean “alone.”  I choose my partners.
6. I shall not bow beholden or subservient to any publisher. In my business relationships, I seek partnership, fairness, equity and mutually aligned interests.
7. We indie authors comprise diverse writers unified by a common purpose to advance, empower and celebrate writers everywhere. 
8. I am a professional.  I take pride in my work, and I strive to improve my craft to better serve my readers, myself, my fellow indie authors and the culture of books
9. My writing is valuable and important.  This value and importance cannot be measured by commercial sales alone.
10. I celebrate the success of my fellow indie authors, for their success is mine, and mine theirs. Together we are pioneering a better future for books marked by greater quality, creativity, diversity, choice, availability, affordability and accessibility.

So tell us authors, whether self, hybrid or traditionally published, what is YOUR manifesto?