Indie Author Community, Listen Up!

Your career killer isn't rejection, it's flakes who drain your resources.

I’ve been sitting on this topic for months now, and I’m no longer willing to bite my tongue and keep my mouth shut. Let this serve as a warning, my independent author friends. Being a self-sufficient creator is difficult, and the biggest threat to you being able to get your writing career rolling are people who will waste your time, effort, energy, and funds. I want you to be able to protect yourself, so you can flourish.

I’m not here to call out anyone directly, instead, I want you to know that this experience is very real (and multiple people have had similar ones), how to avoid it, and how to ensure - if you are a booktuber - that you don’t duplicate it for others.

Let’s start with some basics.

First? Context. What is Booktube?

When I refer to Booktube, I mean a loose collection of YouTube content creators that talk about books, read and review books, and generally are firmly in the book world - be it independent, self-pub, or traditional. Maybe there’s a channel where someone deep dives into horror books. That’s a booktuber. Maybe they dive into the indie world, platforming those special “under the radar” works from small-time authors. Those are booktubers.

As authors, we run into booktubers anywhere and everywhere. For the most part, they are wonderful, dedicated people, and massive fans of the written word. They are in many ways the engine of the non-trad community, and should be appreciated and respected for their time and effort!

WTF Do I Know?

I am not an authority on all things content creation. That being said, some background as to how I develop my perspective is in order.

I’ve been in the YouTube creation space for six years. I have two channels with upwards of 18,000 subscribers combined.

I’m a multi-genre author (Urban Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Creative Non-Fiction), I’ve been a radio DJ for years, I have started numerous podcasts, co-hosted, and I’m the host of The MIRTH QUAKE Web Show. I interview authors about their creative process so people can get to know the person behind the words.

My philosophy is “Start With Fruit.” A fruiting tree creates succulent, brightly colored sustenance. Animals (that’s you guys, sorry) eat the fruit, and then poop all over the place, spread the seeds (kinda gross, but stick with me). Those seeds create additional trees, and the forest flourishes. As a creator, I’m in the role of the forest, you are the pooping animals eating the fruits.

To me, if you are fed and energized to keep moving forward, I am happy in faith that my efforts to lift you up will come back to feed me as well.

Let’s Pour Some Tea ...

I have had multiple run-ins with unprofessional content creators, but there is one in particular that raised the hackles and wasted my time, effort, energy, and money. I want to make sure you don’t suffer the same result, or worse, engage in this poor behavior.

To my author friends, I offer you the gift of a sword and shield to steel yourselves.

To my content creator friends, I offer you the gift of a mirror, for self-reflection.

How This All Started:

I was approached by a booktuber who enthusiastically requested to score a copy of SPACE PEW PEW to review. Now, this is rare for me. I’m typically on the other side of the microphone, and other booktubers don’t tend to reach out because I have my own platform, and that’s seen as, “Well, he’s already online, he doesn’t need help!”

I was enthusiastic and engaged in reply.

The Promises:

In this particular booktuber’s effort to “sell” me on sending the signed physical book as opposed to eBook, I was made these direct promises:

• Spotlight on my written work.

• Spotlight on my YouTube channel.

• A SPACE PEW PEW review.

• A February livestream interview.

• A precise promise of RETURN ON INVESTMENT if I send a signed book …

  • Promises of “multiple” unboxing videos

  • Promises of “picture posts”

  • Promises of YouTube shorts

  • Promises of “long format videos too!”

I am happy to send physical books because I understand how important presentation is, the value of evergreen content and ROI, and I appreciate anyone taking a chance on my words. So, the autographed book, some swag, and a $13 shipping fee later (For a total out of pocket of around $25), package was sent.

The Scheduling:

My package of goodies was sent out the first week of January, ‘25.

And then?

Silence. (IIRC, there was post about receiving the goods, but no DMs exchanged.)

Three weeks later I reached out via DM. The promise (see above) was a February interview. Scheduling is tough, so I wanted to make sure I was reaching out well ahead of time to get something in the calendar. I have MIRTH QUAKE interviews to schedule, time with my kids, I work full-time, etc.

I prioritized this interview, because as I said - it is rare to be asked, and I did not want to miss the opportunity to promote my own work.

We scheduled an interview for February 7th at 8:30PM. Score! We even agreed to sync the streams, so the interview would be broadcast on my five social channels (2 YT, Rumble, X, FB) as well, to give this particular booktuber an even wider audience and more exposure to my developed audience.

I was told, verbatim, “It’s official!” My excited response was that I was looking forward to a great conversation, and the verbatim reply, “It is 100% guaranteed!”

Two days before our stream, I confirmed that we are still on. The reply?

“Yessir!”

The day before the stream, there was no scheduled livestream, promotion, or thumbnail. There was, however, other people being interviewed by this booktuber, other scheduled streams, thumbnails, and promotion in the days right before and after when I was supposed to be on.

I announced the stream on my socials, and people were excited to tune in.

The First Cancellation:

Less than 2 hours before we were to go live, I received a DM. Cancelled.

I wasn’t mad. I have a family, and I understand that sometimes things come up that send plans sideways. No harm. No foul. Creating and juggling life is hard. I get it!

Days went by, nothing.

The Re-Schedule:

I reached out again, early the following week. I figured giving a few days through the weekend to let everything stabilize was the gracious move.

The reply was, “Tonight?”

I do not have that kind of flexibility. Tuesday nights are my scheduled streams for MIRTH QUAKE. I offered numerous dates and options in response as an alternative.

The reply? “Tomorrow?”

Score! So I replied and said that was fine, and I was looking forward to promote it once the thumbnail and all that jazz was sent over.

And it was!

So I started promoting, again. Going to be on the stream! It’s going to happen! Excited!

The Second Cancellation:

Thumbnail in hand, everything scheduled, good to go, I was happy.

Two hours before the scheduled stream …

Cancelled again.

Another reason given that was personal. I understand. I don’t want anyone stressed or putting aside family or health to get me on a stream, and I don’t make an assumption that someone is being dishonest with me about it.

The Last Minute Offer:

The next day, I received a message at 7:30PM. Hop on in an hour?

That was my son’s birthday. Again, I do not have that kind of flexibility, and I’d made that known multiple times. The answer was necessarily no, but there were still days that I had offered previously were available for me.

Weeks Later:

I reached out again, with an offer for this booktuber to come on to MIRTH QUAKE and hit on some particularly spicy topics in the indie community. It was received with an “I’ll get back to you.” And that was that.

Professionalism, Red Flags, Protecting Yourself:

I made a bunch of mistakes through this process, and those are my responsibility. As an author, I do not want you making the same mistakes, so I’m urging you to learn these lessons. As a YouTuber, I’d like to issue some advice to my fellow Booktube folks out there as well. What to do. What not to do.

As an author, keep this in mind:

1. Due Diligence. It’s exciting when someone reaches out enthusiastically with an offer to platform you. You are right to be hopeful with benefit of the doubt that it’s honest and earnest. Look at their channel. Look at their posts. Make sure that they are capable and have demonstrated that they can deliver on their offer. This person did not demonstrate that, and I take responsibility for having blind trust. Don’t make the same mistake.

2. Scheduling. We have lives to live. One of the big red flags for me is an instant “Can you hop on right now?” message. Why? Because it doesn’t align with the promise of promotion. It gives no chance to inform the potential audience. Thumbnails, posts, scheduling, all of this is part of marketing a stream. I aim for promotion at least the full day before the evening stream. When someone doesn’t, it feels last-minute and prevents you from marketing yourself to your established following.

3. Overpromising. I was promised a pile of great things by this particular booktuber, and they delivered on exactly zero of it. This falls back to #1, but overpromising from someone should be seen as a red flag.

4. Ghosting. Whoever initiated the offer should be the one working to make the scheduling happen. In my case, I was chasing the re-scheduling — a clear indication that you are not at all a priority to them.

5. Sending a book. I received nothing. No promotion, no posts, long form content, short form content, no interview, no chance to dual-stream. Nothing. Indie authors work their asses off. We do not have endless resources. The cost of the book, packaging, swag, and shipping were all on my end, and someone is out there having ghosted me with a signed copy of one of my books that they likely aren’t going to read. Not only did I receive nothing from this partnership, it has in fact cost me money and time. Put simply, this person’s actions have done more harm than good.

As a content creator, keep this in mind:

1. Your word is everything. If you say you are going to do something, you better damn well do it. Life happens. If you have to alter plans or cancel, move Heaven and Earth to put that person at the top of your priority list, so you can hold to your word and do right by them.

2. Be a professional. Be willing to platform people you disagree with, not just friends. Be open-minded and curious about every interaction you have with someone one-on-one. If you have to reschedule, handle it professionally. If you have to create a thumbnail and do some back-end work, get it done. Decide if you want to be a hobbyist, or have a professional platform. If it’s the latter, align your actions appropriately. In three words, “act like it.”

3. Communicate. Ghosting someone you enthusiastically asked to have on your show after they spent money, time, and effort to send you the materials is, frankly, a bullshit move, and it is inexcusable. If you sit online posting 5x a day but you can’t write a simple message reaching out to try and make it right, you are demonstrating through all of your actions that you simply don’t care about the inconveniences you’ve caused. You aren’t a child, you are working with another person’s time and career. Leading to #4 …

4. Be respectful. If you are going to platform someone under the pretense of an interview about their book, read the book. You requested it, you made promises. Be respectful of your guest! Be respectful of another person’s time, effort, and energy. Being flaky is not the reputation you should strive for.

5. Know your own bandwidth. I live with someone who is chronically ill with ADHD. Sometimes the energy isn’t there, or things fall through the cracks. The key difference between someone being self-serving and discourteous, and someone looking to build an honest, authentic platform while having to deal with some challenges is that the latter will always make every effort to make things right if something falls apart.

Wrapping up.

I have all of the receipts, clear as day, for everything I have detailed here. It was demonstrated to me by this particular booktuber that I am an afterthought. I am done dealing with this person on a professional level, and I’m moving forward with the things that matter - family, my own platform, and my stacked 2025 writing schedule. I’m done chasing and wasting my time, and I don’t want you in the same place.

When I see someone behaving poorly and know for a fact it is affecting the community beyond me, I want to make sure the people I care about are not falling victim to it, or engaging in it.

Protect yourselves, and hold both you and others to a reasonable standard. Don’t be a doormat for anyone.

Also, don’t be the flaky creator who promises gold while delivering gravel. Be honest about what you can do, because if you start promising and not delivering, people will begin to see it as lying. It’s not a reputation you want to earn.

If you are here to lift up others, make sure you do so respectfully, and stay focused on helping the indie community, not hurting the people in it.

Shine bright, focus on moving forward, and get those words down!

-David