And I'm Feeling Good.....

I feel good.

Granted, the sun is shining, which might have a little something to do with it. But seriously folks, I am freaking happy!

Before I start a rousing rendition of Nina Simone's fabulous song, let me tell you why:

I got the Power!

Oh, good grief, there I go. I don't know what is wrong with my brain today. Honestly the only thing I'm on is caffeine.

First, go read Dave Gaughran's post "Why I Decided To Self-Publish". I'm sure it's a tale many of you are familiar with.

My comment to Dave's post was this:

“There is something motivating about self-publishing.” (David Gaughran)

This. Absolutely this!

Since I made my decision to self-publish, I’ve been quite literally galloping through the writing process of my second book while polishing the first to a shine (And waiting for my editor and cover artist to finish their bits.). I’ve joined Twitter, ramped up Facebook, and really got serious about posting to my blog at least a couple times a week (Haven’t made it to every day yet.). I’ve even started setting up appearances on blogs (Though will focus more on that closer to the release.).

I’m EXCITED! I decide what I write, how I write, what the cover will look like and so on and so forth. If I want to mix six different genres into one crazy tale, I can do that and no one is going to come back and say they can’t sell it because they don’t know what shelf to stick it on. (Dumb ass reason, if you ask me.) My fate is no longer in the hands of anyone but myself and my readers.

And that is a very good feeling, indeed.

This is why I'm EXCITED, people! This what has me practically jumping up and down every day and pounding away at the computer every night. This is what has me practically obsessed over what I'm writing now, what I'm writing next.

For the first time I feel like a REAL writer. This is not a hobby. This is my passion. My obsession. My friggin' LIFE!

Lord knows I'm no JK Rowling. And chances are that I'll never be as successful as Joe Konrath or Amanda Hocking, but my stories are going to be out there were people can read them. And pay for them! Maybe even love them.

The point is, that instead of allowing my work to languish at the bottom of a drawer or in someone's slush pile, I'm making things happen! I am making my goals HAPPEN!

And THAT is why I'm Walking on Sunshine!

Do The Math

JA Konrath isn't the only successful writing touting the benefits of self publishing.

I was chatting to a friend of mine and she recommended I read a blog cleverly titled The Well Fed Black Writer. You gotta love a title like that! :-)

Today I was reading his blog post on The Advance. While he doesn't completely discount Traditional Publishing (particularly in regards to their ability to distribute to wide audiences), he does encourage authors to do the math when it comes to a traditional publishing contract versus self publishing.

He really breaks down the math for you, so I highly encourage you to go read the post now.

Don't worry, I'll wait...

Fantastic! Now you've read the post, you know what I'm talking about. Personally I think he's left some things out. Like the fact that if you get a multi-book deal, you often have to earn the WHOLE advance before you get royalties, not just the advance for each book. Also the fact that, in many cases and particularly in the case of e-rights, the traditional publisher can end up holding your rights FOREVER.

As one of my writing "heroes" is wont to say: "Forever is a long time."

Time you, as a writer, can be making money on your art.

Does that mean that if a traditional publisher suddenly popped up and offered me an advance of $100,000 for Kissed by Darkness that I wouldn't take it? Hells no. But believe me, it wouldn't be as easy a choice as it would have been a month ago. I'm not exactly rolling in dough, so trust me $100,000 looks REALLY good, but after all my research, I'm starting to believe I could very well be getting the short end of the stick on a deal like that.

Of course, the likelihood of me, a newbie, getting a deal like that is slim to none. Unless you're Amanda Hocking, newbies just don't get those kinds of deals. If I did get an offer, the advance would be more likely to be something like $20,000, if I'm lucky. More likely $5000. And there's a very real possibility with the way the publishing industry is going, that unless I marketed my butt off, I'd never even make back that advance and my rights would be gone.

With those odds, self pubbing is looking REALLY good.

Besides, it's not like traditional publishers will even look at my novel without an agent, and agents aren't exactly beating down my door. I'm a nobody with one little finished novel and a growing pile of form rejections.

So, I'm going my own way, doing my own thing. I've got a fabulous editor, someone (possibly) to do my cover, and I'm going to learn to format the thing on my own (Oy vey!). I'm going to learn to market myself and I'm going to keep learning and practicing my craft every single day. It just makes good, solid business sense to me.

Does it make sense to you?

Do the math....

Writing Goals

Over on JA Konrath's A Newbie's Guide To Publishing, he talks a lot about setting goals as a writer. He talks about a lot of other stuff, too, so it's a good place to check out if you want information on e-books, self-pubbing, traditional publishing, etc. I've found his information to be completely eye opening.

The point is, he makes it really clear in a lot of his posts that as a writer you need to set some pretty specific goals so that you can make concise decisions about what the best publishing route for will be. Someone who wants to become the next JK Rowling is going to want to travel a different route than the guy who just wants to see his name in print and maybe make a buck or two. Likewise, someone who wants to make a real living writing is going to have slightly different goals.

Another interesting point he's made in several of his blog posts is that there is a vast difference between a GOAL and a DREAM

A goal is something you can achieve yourself through hard work, determination and perseverance.

A dream is anything that relies on SOMEONE ELSE to say "yes".

Writing a novel is a goal. Heck, writing 20 novels is a goal. Submitting to 50 agents/publishers is a goal.

Getting published is a DREAM.

Unless you self-publish, publishing is something that relies on someone else to say "yes". Yes, I love your book. Yes, I want to publish it. No matter how great a writer you are, getting published, quite frankly, relies on a lot of sheer luck.

I want to make a living as a writer, that's my ultimate goal. Quit my job and write full time. I don't need to make gobs of money, just enough to pay the same wage as what I'm making right now at work. Believe me, that's not much. That means my novel needs to be out there in front of as many people in as many mediums as possible. I need to be prolific and varied. That seems to be the key for a lot of successful writers.

So, I've made my own personal list of goals as a writer for 2011:

1. "If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that."

— Stephen King

Word, Mr. King. Fortunately I've got this one covered. I read every day. Seriously. I probably read for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours per day, which is a lot less than I used to, believe it or not. I read on average 2 books per week. It seems a bit of a cheat to make my first goal reading, but there you go. How can you ever learn your craft if you don't study your craft?

2. "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware off, no shortcut. "
- Stephen King, On Writing

I read somewhere once that a good writer should read four hours every day and write four hours every day. I don't think that's particularly practical unless you are able to write full time. But most of us have jobs and kids and partners and, well, lives. And, frankly, if you don't get out and LIVE a little, what are you going to have to write about?

I also don't believe a person HAS to write every single day. You don't go to your job every day. Then again, for most writers, writing is an obsession. It's something we HAVE to do, we LOVE to do, we can't BREATHE unless we do it. We do it every day without thinking about it. It's the focusing bit we sometimes have trouble with. :-)

So, my goal is to write one chapter in one of the three books I'm currently working on every week. I know that doesn't sound like much. I'm capable of writing far more than that and most weeks I probably will. Sometimes, though, there are weeks where I feel tired, drained, unmotivated. I make excuses, drag my feet, and generally act like a whiny two year old. THOSE are the weeks this goal is for, to kick me in my ass when I need it. And believe you me, I've got people just waiting in the wings to help with that ass kicking.

I further have the goal to finish my next Bailey Morgan novel by the end of June, and the other two novels by Thanksgiving. There, I said it.

3. Writing is not the lottery. New writers have to be realistic about what it takes to get published. But there is one similarity to the lottery: You have to play to win.

- Lori Perkins, literary agent

Now here comes the interesting bit. While getting published or getting an agent is a DREAM, taking the steps necessary to get yourself in front of one of them is not. It's a goal. And that means actually sending real manuscripts to real agents and publishers. So, starting Monday, I will be sending my work to at least 5 publishers/agents per week until I run out of people to send them to.

4. You feel the call. That's the important thing. Now answer it as fully as you can. Take the risk to let all that is in you, out. Escape into the open.

-- Elizabeth Berg, Escaping into the Open

One of the things I've noticed about some of the most successful authors is that they are both prolific and varied in their writing. By successful, I mean those that are making a living writing full time. Not all of these are "traditionally" published, either. Some write exclusively e-books for e-publishers. Some used to be traditionally published, but are now self published. Some are both traditionally and self published.

The point is that there aren't a lot of JK Rowlings in the world. That's pretty rare. Let's take Agatha Christie, for instance. She's known as the most successful writer of the modern era, possibly of all time (saving Shakespeare, of course). While she wasn't terribly varied (Though she did write non-mysteries under the name Mary Westmacott.), she wrote over 40 books. That's a lot of books in a time before PCs and MS Word. Stephen King has over 70 novels and short stories published. He mostly writes horror, but it can be anything from aliens to cell phone mind control. Nora Roberts, aka JD Robb, has over 209 novels ranging from her futuristic mystery series to classic romance.

And those are just the big ones. The aforementioned JA Konrath has something like 20 novels, novellas and short stories published from thrillers to horror. Some were traditionally published by the Big Six. Some were self-published and some were both. Apparently, he makes an excellent living. And he's not alone. He's had plenty of guest authors on his blog who make a good living writing, many of them just writing e-books.

My personal goal is to write at least three books per year instead of the one book every two years or whatever ridiculous thing it's taking right now. I can do it! Sure, I can. ACK!

5. Anyone looking for you can find you. Get them to find you when they’re looking for something else.

- JA Konrath

This is really important once a writer is published: being found. As a reader, there's nothing worse than reading a wonderful story, then trying to find the author online with zero luck. In this day and age there is NO excuse for a writer not to have at least a blog or a page on Facebook, if nothing else. It's so crucial to list your other works, upcoming works (and when their release dates are), as well as whether or not a book is a standalone or a series. I remember being so frustrated about Justin Cronin's website because it didn't say anywhere if there would be a sequel to The Passage. It might now, but at the time I ended up spending ages on the internet hunting down the answer. I finally found it in an interview he'd done. Epic Fail on his part for not having that information on his website the moment that book hit the stands, if not before.

Marketing isn't just important for established, published authors. It's important for us newbies, too. We need to get our names out there and establish a presence on the interwebs so once we DO get published, we already have an audience.

My goal is to post at least once a week to this blog. Even it it's just a random two sentence thought. I'm good at random. I will also spend more time on sites such as Goodreads and SmartBitches, not just lurking but making comments and reviewing books. I'll list this pseudonym, too, so people know it's me.

And two more quotes from JA Konrath just because I think they're awesome. First:

Write when you can. Finish what you start. Edit what you finish. Submit what you’ve edited. Repeat.

- JA Konrath

And the best one of all:

There’s a word for a writer who never gives up — published.

JA Konrath