Category: On Writing

All The Ways to Find Success as a Writer Start With Thinking for Yourself

Over at The Passive Voice, there’s a great post titled, “Indie Authors Quitting Their Day Jobs” that’s worth a read:

If you care to contribute such anecdotal evidence in comments to this post, please do.

If you think it’s your private business, don’t be offended. Just don’t post anything.

Feel free to post anonymously or under an online pen name if you like. If someone points out a trollish comment, PG will probably delete the comment when he gets around to it.

If you’re a writer, or simply a reader who’s interested in the many ways writers have found success outside of traditional publishing, read all the comments. Very inspiring stuff.

choiceAnd I want to add something here, something I’ve been wanting to get off my chest for a while. As you can see from the comments, there are lots of ways to skin this cat.  We’re four or five years into this “indie publishing revolution” now, depending on how you measure it, long enough that some of things that I advocated to writers a couple years ago, both at workshops and online, I wouldn’t advocate today. I know of writers who have done well since then, and others who are bitter that things didn’t go as well as they’d hoped — and some of these bitter folks direct their anger at the people who were trying to help them. Why? Because whatever technique or method or approach that was advocated didn’t work for them. Therefore all of that advice is suspect.

Oh really? It’s not weakness to change your mind; it means you’re adaptable, capable of changing your approach to fit the reality on the ground. And reality can change.  One of the greatest dangers when you teach others, especially if you have a voice that leans toward the dogmatic (and sometimes you have to be dogmatic to break through people’s mental barriers), is that people will take what you say as gospel.  As rules to be followed to the letter, rather than suggestions to take into account.  As a formula to be copied, rather than a method to be studied to see if it might work for you.

Because here’s the only truth I know about this crazy business of stringing words together and selling them for money. All the ways to find success as a writer start with thinking for yourself.

There are people who have success in every genre—romance, fantasy, mystery, you name it. There are writers who are extremely prolific, following the “make a little on a lot” approach, the same approach that traditional publishing uses, and there are writers who make a lot on a little, using aggressive and frequent discounting and tested visibility techniques to boost their sales. To be dismissive of either approach is only an admission on your part that you are letting your biases get in the way of your learning.

DCF 1.0There are writers who publish only with Amazon, taking advantage of the promotional tools available to people who publish exclusively with them, and writers who think it’s better to cast a wider net, publishing everywhere and in every format.  There are writers who only work with traditional publishers, writers who are indie-only, and hybrid writers who do a little of both. There are writers who say never write to market, just write what’s in your heart and don’t chase trends.  And yet I just read about a guy who hit 1000 sales in one day by repeatedly targeting the market, specializing in 15-20K word serials; he does three, and if it takes off, he does more, and if not, he moves onto something else.

And it’s working for him, because he’s thinking for himself.

There are writers who hit a goldmine with one of their first books. There are writers who still scrape out a subsistence existence after a 100 titles— but would rather do that than even take on a part-time job. There are writers who bag groceries, bar tend, or other dead end gigs, to preserve their creative energy for what they love most, and other writers, like me, who made the decision to commit fully to two careers because I get tremendous value from both. That’s another thing I changed my mind on, by the way.  Because I had to change my goals to fit both my evolving needs and the circumstances of my life.

I’ve received a lot of great advice over the years.  Some I followed.  Much of it I thought about, then discarded—even if it came from people I admired.  I’m guessing that just about all the writers in that comment section at The Passive Voice have done the same.  They didn’t copy anyone. They didn’t blame anyone when things were going poorly any more than they would give someone else all the credit when things were going well.

This truth doesn’t just apply to writing, of course. It applies to achieving success in anything in life. Learn from everything and everyone—but in the end, think for yourself and find your own way.

The irony, of course, is that it is the only way.

Scott’s Surefire Formula for Achieving Artistic Commercial Success

Last year, Bookwhirl.com put out an infographic that’s been making the rounds again: “Ways to Publish and Sell Your eBook.”  Or maybe it’s never stopped making the rounds.  Hard to say.  In any case, I saw it pop up on a couple of sites. What’s funny about this one is that it reads as if it were written by someone who learned English as a second language, and it’s festooned with errors (see the descriptions for #4 and #6).  The fact that it’s making the rounds again is indicative to me that people often post this sort of thing because it looks impressive when scanned, but they’re not really reading it carefully.  It’s just something to post so they “advertise and use social media” (#7) and “create platforms” (#8).

So I decided to create my own impressive-looking infographic: “Scott’s Totally Surefire Formula for Achieving Commercial Success! in any Artistic Endeavor.”  In one snazzy and appropriately colored infographic, it shares what I believe is the ultimate key to making money not only as a writer, but in any artistic pursuit.  Feel free to copy and paste it far and wide.  If you wouldn’t mind linking back to this post, it’s appreciated, but truly, my greatest reward will come from knowing that I have passed along my special secret to other up and coming writers.

swc-formula-for-success
(click for larger, even more awesome infographic)

Sure, it’s a joke (what, the exclamation point after SUCCESS! didn’t clue you in?), but here’s the thing.  It’s also true.  If we’re talking about writing, then creating something awesome involves not just writing a great book (which means learning the craft of storytelling), but it also means packaging it well — an engaging book description, a professional copy edit, a snappy cover.  The whole thing has to make potential readers sit up a little straighter in their chairs and say, “Wow, that looks awesome.”

It’s not enough to create something awesome, though.  You’ve also got to put it in front of people who can pay you money for it.  Yes, this means publishing it in as many formats (paperback, ebook, audio) and markets (Amazon, B&N, iTunes) as possible, but it also means experimenting with different types of book discovery tactics to get more eyeballs looking at your awesome thing (advertising, bundles, loss leaders).  And of course, following the arrows, you repeat this as often as possible (in other words, practice).

Beyond that?  Well, you can certainly get more specific in your advice, but truthfully, everything else that has any value in achieving commercial success in any art should fit into one of those two areas.

I mean, it has to be true, right?  There’s an infographic and everything.

A New Gage Book Coming Soon, Plus Some Thoughts on the Merging of My Two Careers

wickedrain_ebookcover_1Finally, a bit of book publishing news!  I’m putting the final touches on the next Garrison Gage book, The Lovely Wicked Rain.  That’s the cover on the right, though the final version might undergo a bit of tweaking. After copy editing, manuscript layout, and other publishing-related tasks, both the ebook and the trade paperback edition should be out in the world in early June.  June 9 is the official publication date, but my guess is it will be available before then.  My usual process is to let my “New Release” email list know first when it’s actually available, then post the news on the website and other places. If you want to be one of the first to know, sign up on the right.  I send no more than a handful of emails a year, if that.  

This is the third Gage book, and the first to be published exclusively under my own name and not under my pen name, Jack Nolte.  If you’re curious why I decided to let go of the pen name, read this post.  I’ll have a book description and other information up before too long.

It’s been two years since the last Gage book, far too long. In fact, by the time The Lovely Wicked Rain actually gets published, it will have been a year since my last book came out, Ghost Detective.  I’m not the most prolific writer in the world, but that’s still pretty slow by my standards.  I have my excuses, of course, but that’s all they are, excuses.

That, and some other changes I’ll mention in a minute, forced me to take a hard look at how productive I really am as a writer, which in turn got me to start getting up early again.  And it’s worked wonders.*  I shifted my schedule a bit at the university, started getting up early, and now get two hours of writing in most days before I leave the house.  This isn’t so much about trying to take the publishing world by storm as it is about feeding my soul the proper amount of creative time to keep me balanced.  You would have thought I would have realized how often I was letting the writing slip just based on how cranky I was, but no. Sometimes I have to get hit with a mental sledgehammer.

I’ve also gone back to graduate school.  What’s that, you say, graduate school?  Yep.  Since some changes at the university had me transferred to the library, my day job as an instructional technologist and my writing/publishing life have started to merge, something I never would have predicted even five years ago but makes complete sense now.  In fact, at the encouragement of the dean of the library here, I started to look into the direction libraries are moving in the digital era, and realized that libraries, especially academic libraries, will eventually become not just repositories of information — but the place where information is created and distributed, which means publishing.

I am speaking of publishing in its broadest sense, which means to make public.  This could be a website, a digital video, or, yes, a book (whether ebook or print-on-demand).  Since this is the direction my job has been moving, I decided about six months ago to head back to graduate school to get a Master of Library and Information Science, with as much emphasis in my studies on the publishing/distribution side of the field.  Whether the degree pays off at this university, or another place, I’ll have to wait to see, but I just decided to jump in with both feet — and I’m really enjoying the ride so far.

With the writing, the work at the university, graduate school, and all the craziness that comes from having an active eleven-year-old and eight-year-old, I’m busier than ever.  Funny thing, though, once I started getting my writing time in early, I’m more productive not just overall, but in each area of my life.  I guess it proves the old maxim that if you want to get something done, give it to a busy man.

These recent changes have also allowed me to finally put to rest a bit of schizophrenia I had about my two careers.  On one hand, I treat my writing very seriously, and always labored under the assumption that I’d eventually become a full-time writer one day. On the other hand, I’ve always enjoyed the work I do at the university — plus it has to be said, as someone who has been self-employed before, that a steady paycheck and good benefits are nice things to have!  But with the merging of these two careers, I no longer struggle with this issue. They’re all just part of the same pie.

As Walt Whitman says, I contain multitudes.  And it’s just the way I like it.

You may have noticed some additional blogging around these parts.  That will continue.  I noticed that my web traffic has jumped by about 50%, so I guess some people are appreciating it. I’m also back on social media, at least Facebook and Twitter so far, not to promote my work, because I hate being spammed as much as you do, but to connect with like-minded folks.  (In fact, rather than add a comment section, I’m experimenting by just using Facebook.  So friend me or follow me and become part of the conversation!)  I might start doing a few more conferences, workshops, and other speaking engagements, but that will be a slow change, considering how crazy busy I am right now. I’ve gotten a few invitations lately, and I’m carefully considering them.

Anyway, that’s the state of play in Scott-land.  Busy, tired, but a lot more productive and at peace, so life is good.

*Speaking of writing productivity, I’m well into the sequel to Ghost Detective.  Expect news about that before too long.

Getting Someone to Buy a Book Is Only a Writer’s First Hurdle

This survey over at Book Riot is not at all scientific, but it does match what I’ve been hearing from lots of people.  In the digital age, our “to be read” piles are growing at an exponential rate:

In our latest TBR poll, we got nosy and asked you to reveal how many books are on your TBR. The first thing that became clear is that everyone has their own definition of TBR. We didn’t want to lock you down or limit you, so we just asked for your number and where you keep your TBR, whatever TBR happens to mean to you. As usual, we’ve broken down the numbers, and we’ll leave most of the interpretation up to you.

[Read the rest at BookRiot.com.]

Which raises the additional point:  Getting someone to buy your book is only a writer’s first hurdle, especially today, with an explosion of available books.  Getting them to actually read the book — that’s the next challenge.  My own Kindle has at least a hundred books on it waiting to be read, and that’s to say nothing of the print books weighing down my nightstand or my desk. I doubt I’ll ever get to all of them. It’s also why the initial sales results that writers get using promotional tools like Bookbub.com, while nice if they fatten your bank account, aren’t as significant as the sales that follow in the days, weeks, and months to come — at least if you’re interested in gaining readers, not just buyers.  And that is more about the writing itself then your snappy cover or your catchy blurb, which, while difficult to do right all by themselves, and necessary now just to get a book to the starting line, are very easy when compared to offering your reader a story so engaging they not only read the book immediately, they come back for more.  

It’s something I’ve been thinking quite a bit about lately. Why do I buy a book and read it now when I’ve already bought books that are gathering dust on my bookshelf (with ebooks, metaphorically speaking)?  What makes me read this book but not that one?  Certainly if I pay more for a book, I’m more likely to read it, but not always. I’ve bought books for 99 cents that I read right away. I’ve paid full price for books at Barnes and Noble that are still waiting to be read, years later.