I am an indie author who has published three books. With the evolution of Kindle Direct Publishing, writers are now able to skip the process of securing an agent, editor and publishing company. The whole procedure from actually writing the book to making it available for purchase is entirely free. The book is then available on Amazon in both digital and paperback form, and the author has the choice of several price levels. The whole thing is set up to be extremely user-friendly. However, I am an artistic person with no technological skills whatsoever. I am happy to spend the majority of time immersed in a world of my own creation. I devote hours to character development, story arcs and world building. I am clueless as to how to create the cover I’ve imagined in my mind. I don’t know anything about formatting my document to accommodate the printer page or the kindle edition. There are people who offer these services for a significant fee. Not only is the service rather impersonal and limited, but for quality craftsmanship it’s rather expensive. The majority of authors don’t make enough money on book sales to cover the price. It takes a very long time and a list of at least six to ten books before an author generates a decent fan base. I am very fortunate that my son makes his living as a web builder. He has the skills to build me a beautiful web site and handle the publishing aspect of my books. I tell him my ideas for the specific covers and he makes it happen. The start-to-finish process is super time-consuming, but he doesn’t charge me anything. I pay him back in free manual labor around his house. I help him with sanding hardwood floors, painting siding, washing windows and trimming shrubs.