A Different Kind of Tough

I’ve come to the conclusion every writer needs to self-publish at least one of their books. That’s a cringe worthy statement for those who haven’t quite embraced self-publishing, but I believe it’s true. Self-publishing is challenging, heart-wrenching, confusing, and hard work.

Most authors are familiar with the hard work portion of writing. Crafting irresistible hooks and realistic dialog requires effort. An indie author, however, experiences another level of hard work, and in some ways, harder than traditionally published authors.

Now this post isn’t about us vs. them. That gets us, the writing community, nowhere. I’m not interested in belittling traditionally published authors or others who do want to go that route. I can’t because my publishing dreams include traditional and indie books. I am, however, saying that indie publishing is a different kind of tough.

There are several differences in the tough for indie authors. For traditionally published authors, the publishing house will ask for suggestions for the marketing plan. For indie authors, you come up with the plan, approve it and execute it. Same with promotion. Both traditional and indie authors need a good editor. The different kind of tough for indie authors is that we have to find one ourselves. We also have to look for a cover artist, give direction on how the cover should look and approve the final version.

The point is that indie authors are responsible for the whole book process. Again, not to minimize the struggles of traditionally published authors, just saying it’s different. Indie publishing requires time and effort beyond turning in a manuscript to a publishing house and moving on the next book. Indie authors are solely responsible for the whole process, the creative and the business side.

Those two sides are exactly why I think every author should self-publish. When you are responsible for everything, you develop a great respect for your work and for all the pieces that make it great. You want your book to be the best it can be because you have invested many hours of frustration, education and tears into it. As an indie author, you fully own the responsibility of putting out a great book. The sole responsibility adds gravity to the process of writing and producing a book. And when you realize the weight of that responsibility, you approach the process of publishing very differently than you have before.

You learn your craft because no one in their right mind would go through the process of self-publishing only to have you book fail because of bad writing. Or bad cover art. You market your book, run great giveaways because you’ve invested in this book. You intimately know what it takes to bring the whole product together. You learn to respect your gift. It’s really hard to be flip about your writing when you understand ALL that goes into publishing a book.

I am now working on the sequel to my first self-published book, and my approach is totally different than it was for the first one. Gone are my pie-in-the-sky, emotional responses to seeing my name in print. I am much more serious about this one than the last one. Not to the point of taking the fun out of it, but I respect the process more. I wouldn’t have learned any of this if I hadn’t lived through the different kind of tough of self-publishing. 

Indie Life: Disruptions

Last month, if you visited my blog on the second Wednesday of the month, you read a lovely post about my favorite knitwear designer. Not a post about indie life.  I had every intention to write a post, but I couldn’t.

I had a migraine.

I have suffered from migraines since I was a teenager. I used to have about one a month but lately I’m having two to three a week. Depending on their severity, they are debilitating and I can’t do anything but lay in the dark and pray for my meds to kick in quickly.

My migraines are a huge disruption to my life and I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve had to completely change my plans because of them. Like my post last month. Most times I don’t know when I’ll have one or how long they’ll last.

That makes planning difficult. Difficult but not impossible. I can plan, but I have to have an emergency migraine backup plan. I have a back-up plan if I have a migraine and for when I have to take my prescription migraine medication (which is quite lovely in dealing with the discomfort but knocks me out for 8-12 hours).

Last month highlighted the fact that life is full of disruptions. Maybe not migraines, but everyone has unforeseen issues arise in life. A sick child. Storm-related power outages. Broken vehicles. Computer problems.

With my migraines, I have found that the best way to minimize the disruptions of life is to be proactive. I avoid my triggers. When I know I’ll be unavoidably exposed to one of my triggers, I’ll pre-medicate. I try and keep chocolate on me (the caffeine helps) and I’m finding that it’s helpful to keep sunglasses around.

Being proactive also translates well into your writing life. Here are some tips to be more proactive:

Build in extra time on goals and deadlines. Plan to take longer than anticipated to finish a project. Since my migraines normally knock me out for a day or two a week, I only count three days of a week going towards working on my goal. Pad your goals so if you do have a life disruption, you won’t fall to far behind.

Do write more on your “good” days. We all know that flow that comes when we’re in the zone. When you’re there, keep going. Maybe you can write 2000 words instead of your daily goal of 1000. Maybe you can work out the next point on your plotline. That will give you an excess towards you goal.

Use scheduling tools. Every blog has the ability to schedule posts in advance. Hoot Suite allows you to schedule your tweets. Take advantage of these tools. It may save you for not having your indie life post ready (sad face).

Invest in voice recognition software. This is something that I sorely wish I could master. Most times I’m still awake and mostly alert during my migraines and can still talk. I could still talk/write during those times. And think of all the other uses for it. Someone might think you’re a little weird sitting in your car talking to yourself during your child’s baseball game or while you wait for your prescriptions, but we’re indie authors. We’re used to being a little weird.

How are you proactive in minimizing life’s distractions? What tools have you found useful?

Indelibles: Living the Life

One of the laments I often hear when people are considering going indie is that the author has to do everything themselves. Not exactly an accurate statement since there are many tasks that an indie author has to outsource but I understand their meaning. The author is responsible for the whole shebang. You have to make the plan and execute it.

Of course, that can seem a little daunting but how hard is it really? It’s not really that hard…it’s no harder than life. Not to minimize the challenges of indie publishing or life in general, but if you manage to live, you can manage an indie publishing career.

Everyday, we make plans and decisions. We plan our careers and to go back to school despite having a full time job. We plan to homeschool our children. Some of us plan weeklong vacations…vacations that include children. Others plan the most effective way to live in the Sandwich Generation, caring for both elderly parents and children. We do all this and then carry out the plan. And if we don’t know what to do, we do the research and find out.

Becoming an indie author is pretty much the same thing. Yes, we are making different kinds of plans, but it’s the same principal. We decide what’s best for us, we make a plan and we carry it out. If there is something we don’t know, we do research and figure it out. Or we figure out that we can’t figure it out and find someone who already has. This is life, indie life, but life nonetheless.

So for those who are planning to become an indie author, or those of us who are already on that journey, just keep living life. Indie life can be a tremendous undertaking, but so is life.

Indie Life: Meaningful

I have good news and bad news. Being the optimist I am, I’ll start with the good news.

This month, I got two four star reviews of my novel on Christian Manifesto. I also got good reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. The biggest piece of good news of all? My novel is a quarterfinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Yes, I screamed when I found out.

The bad news…I haven’t sold one copy of my book this month. Not a single one.

So there is my stark honesty. My sales haven’t been great before this month, but I must admit, I haven’t been promoting my novel as I should. My marketing has been sidetracked by a series of bad migraines. I’ve had to stay away from my computer quite a bit. This month, however, the few sales I was getting dried up.

Now you may be thinking, good reviews and promising contest results should mean something. I was thinking the same thing. I thought they would mean more sales, but they don’t. That’s one of the challenges of indie life. You find yourself wondering what it all means. How do you interpret the ups and downs?

I think the best way to deal with all this is to remember that this is a journey and in every journey there is good and bad. The bad does cancel out the good. Nor does the good cancel out the bad. They co-exist in indie life and every other part of life.

It’s also helpful to remember that bad occurrences don’t make the journey bad and good occurrences don’t make the journey perfect. A balanced perspective is the key. This journey will have good and bad in it. We want it that way. When good and bad co-exist, we can use a better word for our indie publishing journey: meaningful.

Despite my lack of sales, my journey is meaningful. I had courage to believe in my writing. That’s meaningful. I’ve dealt with the myth that sales and good reviews validate my writing career. That’s meaningful. I’ve celebrated that my writing connects with my fans. All meaningful.

Regardless what my sales end up being, I’ve had a meaningful month. 

Tweet Me: When good and bad co-exist, we can use a better word for our indie publishing journey: meaningful. Click here

Indie Life: Variables

Sometimes being an indie author feels like you’re drowning in variables., especially when it comes to marketing, advertisement and promotion.

If I advertise on Facebook, will it bring me the exposure I need? And what about Goodreads? Some have had success there, but will it work for me? Maybe an online magazine ad might work. What if nothing seems to change my sales numbers? What will happen if I get a bad review?

Unfortunately, all these variables don’t always add up to a nice neat solution. Sometimes it feels very random and out of control. Frustrating when all you want is the answer to one equation: how do I effectively get my book into the hands of my readers?

I felt like I was drowning in variables when my book first released. I debated on where to invest my few advertising dollars and time. I read blogs, books and articles on how to do effective marketing and tried many of the suggestions there. I tracked my progress and took notes on what worked…and most of the time, what didn’t. In all that, I noticed that another equation began to rule my thoughts: indie publishing + marketing = frustration.

As I tried to manage my frustrations, I realized that I’d overlooked one important variable: freedom. Indie publishing gives me so much freedom that if one of my variables doesn’t work, I am free to come up with something else. I’m free to experiment. I’m free to be creative with my marketing and maybe learn something new that I can pass on to others.

Sure, the equation doesn’t always work out, but the beauty of indie publishing is that you can change the variables.