Five Things I Can't Believe Authors Still Do

 

Writing is a business that can make you crazy. I say this as someone who has been earning her living writing for nearly twenty years. It's important to point that out, because I was trying to earn a living for about FORTY years. You see my point?

Anyway, as you can imagine, both writing and publishing have changed a lot--A LOT--since I first banged out my first novel on my dad's manual typewriter. 

But some things, unfortunately, remain universal. And they are as ineffective today as they ever were. Let's take a look.

1 - Ignoring publisher guidelines. Worse, explaining to editors in detail why you are ignoring their guidelines, why your work transcends their guidelines, why they should never have come up with these guidelines in the first place.

2 - Sending nasty letters to...anyone. Starting with the editor who declined to acquire your work because they didn't believe it was a good match for their list (i.e., they don't think it will sell) to berating reviewers who didn't like your last book. I'm not saying that the editor was right or that the reviewer was right. I'm saying sending hate mail gets you NOTHING and NOWHERE. 

(And at the very least, wait to build your bridges before you burn them.) 

3 - Writing your own reviews. OH. And writing bad reviews of authors you view as rivals. Just. Don't. It's pathetic. Truly.

4 - Mistaking advertising claims for career advice. For heaven's sake. If someone is making a living selling you HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL AUTHOR products rather than being a successful author themselves, you need to view their messaging with a critical eye. I'm not saying the products can't be useful to you or there's no good advice to be had from these folks--I take some of these courses too, and they're full of great advice--but use your common sense. If it's that easy to get rich writing, why aren't these people writing? Why do they prefer selling YOU their Secrets To Success plans? 

5 - Writing what you think will sell rather than what you'd love to read. It's not one or the other. Assuming: A - you're writing your own books, and B - you want to write fiction for a living, you have to balance what you love with what will sell. Yes, there will be compromises along the way. That is how commercial art works. Writing is difficult. It is one of the most difficult art forms because it requires such sustained effort. If you don't love what you're writing, then it's just a job--and not one of the better paid ones.

I hope someone out there finds this helpful information. But knowing writers as well as I do, probably not. :-D 

 

Anatomy of a Writing Career - Quarter 2







As some of you may recall we are tracking the first year in the professional life of a brand new M/M author, in this case the funny and talented S.C. Wynne. We’re a little late with our second quarter segment of   "Anatomy of a Writing Career," but that’s because we were holding off in an attempt to get some real numbers. We don’t have a lot to go on yet, but we do have enough to give you a glimpse of what the starting line looks like.

This is how S.C. summarizes her work: “Most of my books feature flawed characters. I have plenty of heroes with commitment issues. And horrible childhoods. But my books also have lots of humor. I suppose most writers pull from life the things that have wounded them -- or helped to save them. I take what I’ve experienced or watched others close to me go through, and then I tweak it, and push and pull till I get to the real emotions of it, until I’ve made a sort of literary, angst- flavored taffy.”

So here, without further adieu is S.C.s account of her latest adventures in authoring.

 

*****

I submitted my first M/M book to Loose Id in May of 2013. They had a special call-out for boss-themed stories, and I actually happened to already be writing that exact type of story. Josh spotted the call and suggested I submit to Loose Id. Being so new, I was getting overwhelmed by the sheer number of publishers out there. Josh thought Loose Id might be a good fit for me.

I only turned in the partial for Hard-Ass on May 25^th because it was the deadline for the call. I received an email May 26^th saying it had been passed on to an editor for further consideration and that it would be 6-8 weeks for a decision. On May 27^th I got an email from the editor saying she liked the story and wanted to see the whole manuscript. I had expected to have more time, so I went into hysterical panic mode and Josh came to my rescue. He let our critique group know what was happening and they all jumped in like troopers and gave me the swiftest critiques in history. I managed to get the full manuscript to my editor by June 3^rd and on June 10^th Loose Id accepted my book.

 

The pure joy of that first-ever letter of acceptance was so over-the-top-exciting nothing will ever meet it. (I mean in my writing life. Yes, dear husband, our marriage license is still my greatest letter of acceptance.) Don’t get me wrong I’m over-the-moon-excited anytime a publisher accepts my stories -- sending books off and stalking my inbox makes me feel a little bit like a heroin addict waiting for my fix -- but there is just something about that initial acquisition of a book that makes you giddy. I started edits in July for the first book with Loose Id and it was released in October 2013. Oh what a naive little dove I was!

I wouldn’t have suspected it, but the next two weeks after my first book’s release were the most difficult of the entire experience. I was so easily wounded by unkind words, really any hint of criticism was painful. I spent the majority of the first week with a perpetual stomachache, wishing I’d never written anything. I grew afraid to even peek at Goodreads or Amazon to see how the book was being received. Goodreads is loads of fun as a reader, but most writer friends of mine steer clear, and with good reason. But when it’s your first book, you foolishly can’t help looking. Imagine my surprise when every single person in the world didn’t enjoy my book!

Well, to be honest, I knew everyone wouldn’t love it, but it never occurred to me anyone could actually hate it. Out of self-preservation I went to look at the reviews of several of the writers I love and respect.  I was able to see that all of them had received mean and sometimes hateful reviews. I am talking about authors that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt are good.  That helped me to realize that you will never, ever be able to please everyone, and frankly you just have to learn to not give a crap.

I’ve since learned to just write my best, do what I do, and ignore the hostile reviews. And honestly there are always many more positive -- or at least constructive reviews -- so those are the ones I pay attention to.

 

As I said, the first two weeks were rough, but once I gained my confidence back I wrote a Christmas sequel to Hard-Ass is Here called Hard-AssChristmas. It’s a continuation of Taylor and Phillip’s story, more deeply exploring their budding relationship. I was thrilled that Loose Id wanted it because I adore those characters.

 

From there I sold a short story to Dreamspinners Press for a minimal flat fee. I looked at it as a promotion opportunity; I was being paid to advertise myself. “Doctor in the Desert” is in the Doctor Feelgood anthology. Everyone says anthologies are a great way to expose your writing to new readers, so I gave them the story and took a chance it would pay off eventually. It’s hard to give away your hard work for so little, but I’ve had really great feedback on the story, so it was well worth it.

Josh is always stressing the importance of backlist, so I kept my eye out for other publishing calls, and right away managed to place two short stories with Evernight Publishing. “Christmas Crush” is about a nerdy bookworm who catches the cool kid’s eye on Christmas Eve, and “The New Boss” is a story about a guy who has commitment problems and the man who loves him. Both were for Evernight’s Romance on the Go line.

 

Next I submitted a story to Ellora’s Cave in September 2013 for their Va Va Boomers call. There was a nerve-wracking wait of three months before they let me know they wanted the story -- and then they signed me for two more books! My editor at Ellora’s Cave is Elizabeth London and she’s wonderful.

Not one to rest on my laurels (not that I know where to find my laurels, if I even have any) I got busy writing something new for Loose Id.  In just a few days, April 8^th in fact, Guarding My Heart will be released. It’s about a spoiled rich kid and his new bodyguard. It’s my longest work yet, and I’m excited about it. I also submitted a story for LI’s Homecoming call and am planning to submit something for their Resolution call as well. I do a lot of submission calls because I know these are stories publishers are actively acquiring, so the odds of acceptance are higher (but there’s more competition too).  I love working with Loose Id, especially my editor Kathleen Fawn Calhoun. She puts me through my paces, but I trust her implicitly.

I’m always either writing or editing. Often I’m doing both at the same time because edits have a way of popping in when I least expect them. I have at least seven projects contracted this year and, who knows? I might try to throw in a few more if I get bored. (Hardy har har!)

It’s been really enlightening to see how each different publishing house handles everything. There are similarities but also big differences. Some are better at editing. Some offer more author support. Some move very slowly. Some are impersonal in their dealings with you, while others make you feel like you are part of a big happy family. Each contract and each editor is unique, and it’s important to not assume every publishing company has your best interests at heart. You have to be your own best advocate.

It’s been a very interesting, and sometimes frustrating nine months. I’ve made a lot of progress in the short time I’ve been writing professionally, and I’ve learned a lot about this industry as well as myself. Even though it’s made me question my choice to become a professional writer sometimes, ultimately I always come back to my love of writing M/M.

 

It’s too soon to know if this will be a lucrative endeavor, but it is certainly a fulfilling one emotionally and creatively. It just happens that because of the timing, I don’t have any numbers on most of my books just yet. The numbers I can offer are for the two Loose Id releases in October and December 2013. (I can’t believe I allowed Josh to talk me into this. It just shows how much I adore him. Okay, rip off the Band-Aid and I will try and keep the screaming to a minimum).

Josh: I talk to a lot of writers, and as I look at S.C.’s numbers -- not just her sales numbers but the number of contracts she has lined up with reputable publishing houses -- she’s off to a great start. That said, it takes a while to build your sales and really start earning. This is why getting to the point of being able to quit your day job is a big deal.

So the first thing to note is that S.C.’s first month royalties only reflected what she sold on the publisher’s site. (And these days we don’t sell a lot on our publishers’ sites.) So she sold 42 units at LI in October. And she was paid for those sales in November. Meanwhile, she sold 317 units on Amazon US and 82 units in Amazon combined foreign sales -- but she was not paid for those sales until January.

 

In November she sold an additional 27 units on LI’s site. Her Amazon Sales were 70 and 15.

In December, her second story, a holiday sequel to Hard-Ass came out. Holiday stories have a brief shelf life, so we wouldn’t expect to see much action beyond December and January. Competition is always fierce in December because of the slew of holidays stories released, and this year was especially notable for the glut of dirt cheap or free stories starting in November. You can see the effect of those aggressive marketing efforts in S.C.’s sales numbers. She sold 58 units of the new Christmas story on LI’s site as well as 18 units of the first Hard-Ass story. So she’s holding steady, even growing her new release sales. But her new book Amazon sales were 138 and 34, respectively.  She just couldn’t compete as a new, mostly unknown author with a regularly priced book against that landslide of holiday releases and cheap/free stuff. Her Amazon sales for Hard-Ass were 50 and 8, slowly dropping as is natural. 

 

Could there be other factors to consider in S.C.’s second release numbers? Of course. You always want to examine your numbers and, if they’re not rising, try and figure out why. Here we have the sequel to an earlier story, so one possibility is that readers just didn’t connect enough with the characters to want to spend this holiday with them. Looking at S.C.’s reviews, there are comments about the original story being too short and a little heavy on erotic content. That means as S.C. looks to writing her next stories she might want to focus on writing longer and more complex books, and questioning politely when her publishers request more sex. There are many possibilities for low release numbers, and you always want to consider them all objectively.  But my own experience, and the experience of other authors I talked to, was that sales for non-holiday or non-incentive-priced books were low this year.

On a positive note, even though S.C.’s holiday release sold less than she’d like, because it was regularly priced, she’ll earn as much or more as many of those authors who technically outsold her with rock bottom pricing. That’s the big picture.

Speaking of big picture, Hard-Ass was also listed on various other bookseller sites, and has cumulatively sold a total of 139 copies. In fact, at last accounting, Hard-Ass has sold 752 copies.  Hard-Ass Christmas has sold 310. These are respectable numbers for someone who only began publishing six months ago and who does minimal promotion and marketing.

Can S.C. quit her day job? Her highest monthly earnings so far were $460. That was in January. But that was also without receiving any particular holiday bump. And these numbers do not include her Evernight numbers (Evernight pays quarterly). By the time we get to our third quarter check-in with S.C., she’ll have another title out with Loose Id as well as her Evernight earnings. She -- and we -- will have a better sense of whether her numbers are climbing or whether she needs to rethink some of her strategies. In particular promotion and marketing.

Again, a big, big thank you to S.C. Wynne, AKA The Little Author Who Could. It takes real guts to put your numbers -- especially your numbers as a newbie -- out there for all the world to see and marvel at.

If you have questions or comments for S.C. or me, just post them in the comment section below.

 

Anatomy of a Writing Career - Quarter 1

Licensed Photo by Digital Storm

One of the things I hear again and again from new (and even seasoned) writers in our genre is the inability to gauge where you are versus where everyone else is on their career path. What is normal? What is successful? When should you worry? When should you celebrate? Can you ever slow down and take a breath?

Anyway, lots of confusion, lots of competition, but not a lot of concrete information to compare your own experiences with. So I thought it might be both fun and interesting to track the steps of a completely new M/M author for one year.

I chose S.C. Wynne as my guinea pig. You may have heard of her. Probably not. And that's really the point. S.C. is funny, smart and talented. She is disciplined and driven to succeed. Are those things enough? Well, we shall see over the coming months.

For our first interview with S.C. we're just going to set our baseline, as it were. Ask a few basic questions and get some advice from readers and authors alike that S.C. can put into practice -- or not. And then we can view the results. By next quarter we should even have some actual sales figures.

So here we go!

S.C. Wynne started writing m/m in 2013 and did look back once. She wanted to say that because it seems everyone’s bio says they never looked back and, well, S.C. Wynne is all about the joke. She loves writing m/m and her characters are usually a little jaded, funny and ultimately redeemed through love.

S.C loves red wine, margaritas and 7 and 7s. Yes, apparently S.C. Wynne is incredibly thirsty. S.C. Wynne loves the rain and should really live in Seattle, but instead has landed in sunny, sunny, unbelievably sunny California. Writing is the best profession she could have chosen because S.C. is a little bit of a control freak. To sit in her pajamas all day and pound the keys of her laptop controlling the every thought and emotion of the characters she invents is a dream come true.

If you’d like to contact S.C. Wynne she is amusing herself on Facebook at all hours of the day. She is blogging here. Her website is under construction here.

 

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:

 

1 - If you had to describe the type of M/M stories you write in just a few words -- such as in an author tagline -- what would you say? 

Humorous, romantic and light hearted but with a healthy serving of sizzling sex per book.  

2 - Where are you right now in your writing career? Are you writing full-time? How many books are you contracted for (titles and publishers)?

 I’m just beginning. I was fortunate enough to sell the very first m/m story I wrote to Loose Id but I have so much to learn it’s daunting. Writing isn’t just sitting and making up stories. There’s so much more to it and that’s where the challenge is for me. I’m truly the cliché of the writer who lives in her pj’s and doesn’t brush her hair all day. I do brush my teeth religiously for the record. But the promotion side of it is where I struggle. There are so many avenues to promote yourself now it’s sometimes hard to navigate which ones are useful and which ones are a waste of energy and time.

No I am not writing full time. Yet.

 I have two novellas contracted with Loose Id Hard-Ass Is Here coming out October 15, 2013 and Hard-Ass Christmas tentatively slated for December 17, 2013. I also have a short story I sold to Evernight Publishing which is just a little Christmas story called Christmas Crush. 

3 - What are you doing now to prepare for the launch of your first book?

 Taking valium with my Cheerios every morning. No I’m kidding. But I would be lying if I didn’t admit I’m terrified of the unknown. I’ve got my website started, a blog at wordpress.com going and I try to be active on Facebook and Twitter.  

4 - Do you have any idea of what to expect following publication of your first book? What do you hope for? What do you fear?

I have no idea what to expect. I assume it being my first book nothing much will happen. I think I’ll be invisible until people know who the heck S.C. Wynne is. But soon I shall rule the world—oh sorry that’s my other alter ego.

Naturally I hope to have good sales and not be humiliated. If only my mother and neighbors my mother threatens buy my book it could be awkward.

I fear I will not sell any books and or people will be mean to me and say my stories are bad. Is that childish? Well you did ask what I fear and that’s me being serious for once. That was a strain, I feel drained. 

5 - How many hours a day are you able to write? How much time do you currently put into promotion?

I own a business and I work thirteen hour days five days a week. But when it’s slow at work I do write. On my days off if I have edits or a submission deadline I write from the time I get up until around ten o’clock at night. If I have no deadlines to meet I still spend at least three fourths of my days off writing. Fortunately I love writing so it is enjoyable to immerse myself in these stories. This is going to sound corny, but I look forward each day to spending time with these people I’ve created. (Now I sound like I have a God complex.)

 6 - Do you use a Critique Group?

I do. They have been a huge help to me. I can ask them newbie questions and they answer them patiently. They’ve been amazing.

 7 - What do you most enjoy about writing?

Getting to create anything I want. Any story that comes out of this brain can potentially become a book. That’s incredibly fulfilling creatively.

8 - What is the hardest part about writing?

Edits. They are so painful sometimes. Having someone come in and change what you’ve put your heart and soul into is difficult to accept. Thank God you don’t sit next to your editor to do the edits. Can you imagine? There would be screaming and hair pulling, maybe even a black eye or two. To be honest that happens when I’m alone going over my edits.

 9 - What are you working on right now?

I’ve got so many stories going right now it’s stupid really. I have a Cowboy Barista story, a Bodyguard story, a Doctor and a Cop story, one about a guy who loses his partner and learns to love again kind of thing… Oh and I’m about to start a vampire story. I’ve been watching anime and I’m in love with Luka from Uraboku. I must have him.

 10 - Describe where you think you'll be by the time we check in again next quarter?

Hopefully holding a big nice royalty check. They pay quarterly right?

In all seriousness I’m hoping I’ll feel more at peace with what this is all about. I’m so new that the process is intimidating. I’m torn between wanting to look like I know what I’m doing, and not actually knowing what I’m doing. So when we meet again next quarter I hope I’ll be able to look back (for real this time) and be proud of what I’ve accomplished so far.

So readers, any advice for a very new writer just dipping her toes in social media and promotion? Authors, any words of hard won experience for a wet-behind-the-ears rookie?