A Bookdragon's Heart-to-Heart with Michelle Raab, Leader of the World Indie Warriors Group

Today’s #MagicBookCornersWednesdayatWIW has been taken over by my awesome Bookdragon Jeff. He wanted to have a little heart to heart with the woman who got me into the World Indie Warriors group. The woman who is behind this unbelievably supporting community of Indie authors. 

So,… without further ado, please welcome Jeff and Michelle. 

Jeff slightly bowing his head in a silent thank you, complete with a cheeky grin (fangs included) - Hello everyone and welcome to this Wednesday at The World Indie Warriors. I am here today with the lovely Michelle, the leader of this great Indie authors group. Michelle, thank you for agreeing to this little heart-to-heart with me, my dear. It is a real pleasure. 

M – Hi Jeff! Thank you for having me. I’ve been really enjoying your hear-to-hearts. 

Jeff - Will you please tell our readers a little bit about yourself? 

M - Sure. I’m Michelle Raab. I’m a mom of a toddler, a community organizer of sorts, a small business owner, a psychologist, marketer, and a writer. My childhood dream was to be a writer. Somehow life took my in a different direction. I ended up getting a doctorate in psychology, which has actually helped a lot in my writing. My favorite genres to write in are sci-fi and fantasy. 

Jeff - You created the WIW community. Tell me, how did it all start? 

M -Sure. So, it actually started off as a chat. We all first met in a Facebook group for women writers. One of the members decided to start a chat for tips and tricks on self-publishing. It turned out that we really liked each other and chatted quite a bit. At one point, we were thinking about doing a coordinated promotion for all of us. At that point, we started thinking about formalizing it more. 

I’ll have to admit that I did have something to do with formalizing the group in my own special way. I saw the potential of forming a group of indie writers, where we could help each other grow in our craft, collaborate on projects, support each other, be sounding boards for each other, and help each other promote our work. 

One of my dreams was to have a “salon” or living room, like Gertrude Stein, filled with creative people that would help inspire each other to try new things and to be supportive and collaborative in the creative process. 

At the same time as this group was forming I was researching whether I wanted to become an indie or traditionally published writer, I became disillusioned with the traditional publishing houses. I was disheartened that they didn’t support their writers in terms of marketing and other ways, save a few big names. 

The more I dug into it, I also found something that I found rather … disturbing. There are only – what – five or six companies that own all of publishing worldwide? That doesn’t bode well for fostering and nurturing diverse voices, which is something that I hold dear. It was then that I intended on making the group into something sustainable. 

We are still moving towards filing as an International nonprofit in the US. We have to create an entity and then file for nonprofit status. I think that the effort will be worth it to have an organization that is sustainable. I am determined to have the World Indie Warriors be something that lasts. It’s time for diverse voices to have the backing of an organization. 

I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish as much as I have without the amazing JD Groom. She is both an indie writer and has created the infrastructure for the group. Without her, I don’t know where we’d be now. 

Jeff - What is the purpose of the WIW group? 

M – We are here to expand the stage for diverse voices. This means a lot of things. 

It is a community, where people can come together and have a sense of belongingness. This is so important for creative people, when so much of what we do is alone. For many of us, it can be lonely because there are few people in our lives who support our creative pursuits. So, the sense of belongingness is vital for creativity, I think. 

We support diverse voices by being intentional in who we are recruiting for not only membership, but also leadership within our group. I, on purpose, seek out people whose voice may have been historically dampened or even silenced. I, on purpose, seek out people who are not like myself. This includes people who may not have been allowed space on the stage to sing, and it also includes people that may have already been on the stage. We can not only share the spotlight, we can lend our spotlight to others who may not have been allowed on stage before. 

I want the membership to be like a little piece of the world, the whole world. I think that when we come together in our diversity that we are able to sound out the beauty and majesty of what it means to be human. Since the human experience in itself is diverse, those of us who are expressing what it means to be human have to also be diverse. 

We are also here to help develop new voices, whether it is helping with craft, promotion, self-confidence, what have you. Part of expanding the stage for diverse voices means that we need to intentionally help each other grow. 

We are here to help those who have been in the industry for a while through promotion, support, beta-reading, what have you. We can also give them the opportunity to mentor new voices, if this is something that they feel called to do. 

We also want to be a meeting place for indie creatives (writers, artists, etc), those who write about indies (like bloggers), and our audience. I feel that there is a great synergy and energy when you can bring creatives, appreciators (aka bloggers, podcasters, media people), and the audience. I have more dreams for what this group can become, but since I want it to organically grow, I’m open to the dreams of those who are members too. 

Jeff - How exactly does it help Indie authors and bloggers? 

M – We encourage promoting each other, creatives and bloggers alike. We also promote our members, through social media. We have members, like your friend Laura and Sam Goodwin, who write book reviews. We have a brochure of our members who have released their books that we promote and distribute to increase the visibility of indies with readers. We have plans on expanding our ability to promote our members and the indie community as a whole, once we file for nonprofit status. Then we will be able to collect money and do things that will require money, like paid promotions, a better website, and presence at writer’s conventions. 

I touched on some other ways that we help indie authors and bloggers. We serve as a community where people can meet each other and request to collaborate on projects. 

We also help each other grow in craft and marketing ourselves. I hope to have more formal programs available in the future for this. 

Jeff - You could have made a lot of coin by turning all this into a profitable business and yet, you do it all for free. Why is that? What inspired you to turn it into a non-profit thing? 

M – I could have, and I do have my own business. This group, though, is more an expression of my spirituality and values. Justice. Diversity. Equality. Compassion. Service. These are values that I hold sacred. I see this group as my small way of making the world better, more just. I think that … I hope that I will be able to, in whatever small way that I can, remedy the injustices that have been embedded in our culture, which is being curated and created by a small number of international conglomerates. Yes, I realize that this sounds political. It may be. But for me, it’s a matter of survival. 

Without diversity in our culture, there are too many things that we are sacrificing, not the least of which is the magical expression of the human experience. The purpose is not to make money. The point is to expand the stage for everyone. 

Jeff - You also help authors and bloggers out individually. Laura told me you helped her find her groove – whatever that may be. (*grunting and scratching his jaw with a nicely trimmed claw*) Can you explain that for me a little please? 

M – I did, and I do. I have helped writers and bloggers find their voice. With Laura, I saw that she had the most unique take on book blogging. I just had to help her fine tune what she was doing. I’m just tickled on how she has blossomed and is soaring. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy helping people to find their voice. I’ve done that with a number of writers too. A lot of it is just mirroring back to them what they’re already doing, so that they can – as they say – lean into it. 

Jeff - So if anyone is in need of any help within the bookish, blogging or artistic community they can contact you? 

M – Of course. I love helping people to find their voices or whatever the visual arts equivalent is of that. 

Jeff - Can any Indie author or blogger join the WIW community? 

M – Yes. Not only that. Any creative who is indie. Anyone who is thinking about becoming indie. Anyone flirting with the possibility of maybe becoming indie. And, anyone who loves indie creative expressions, who wants to join a community of quirky, raw, and talented creatives. Whether you are an appreciator (like a blogger) or a reader/audience. 

Jeff - Are there any requirements to join? 

M – Um. No. *cheeky smile and laughing* To join is free. Once you join, you can just hang out and lurk, as the kids say. Or, you can contribute as the spirit moves you. It’s up to you. You’ll still be able to get benefits like meeting people, being in the brochure (if you’re a creative or blogger), and get help with promotion. This community is fueled by love. 

Jeff - And where exactly can people find you? 

M – You can find us on: 

Facebook.com/worldindiewarriors, 

Instagram.com/worldindiewarriors, 

or 

worldindiewarriors.wordpress.com. 

You can also email us at worldindiewarriors@gmail.com. 

If you want to get a hold of me, you can email me there. 

That is all for today from our lovely Michelle, but I’ll have another little chat with her soon. And that time, I’ll invite her over to my den, to talk about that book she’s writing, over a glass of fine wine and a hearty meal.