Quitter or Failure?

When does a writer become classified as a failure? Who makes that decision? Is there a secret number that if you don’t hit it you are forever ranked as a failure?

There seems to be this idea from non-writers that if the author they know hasn’t hit the New York Times Best Seller List then they’ve failed. I don’t agree, but there comes a time when you probably need to reevaluate what you are doing if you aren’t hitting the goals you set for yourself. (As long as they are realistic goals)

A couple of things happened this past week that have caused me a bit of self-doubt and admittedly some tears and made me wonder when someone becomes known as a failure. Is it after they try to do everything that everyone says works and steering clear of the things that supposedly don't work? Or is it just as simple as, they are a failure when they think they are one?

1) I see authors behaving badly on social media. Responding to bad reviews, calling out their friends for not buying their books, bad mouthing other authors, and throwing themselves pity parties all because they’ve been doing this for so long and have nothing to show for it.

They do the one thing that every single Marketing book says not to do and yet they are top-selling in their genre. Although if you listen to them they are barely selling, but look at their numbers and they are tops in their genre.

This leads me to believe that maybe people really do inherently flock to drama. Maybe these authors aren’t so much “behaving badly” as they are marketing geniuses!

That’s crazy, you say? Really? On any given post on social media by an author bashing a bad review, talking about giving up because sales are low, or threatening to cull their friends lists to get rid of “haters” you will find – I shit you not- between 25-100+ comments on those threads. Either backing up the authors claims that the bad review is bullying, ego stroking them to tell them not to quit and recommending friends to buy the authors books, or begging to stay in that author’s “Inner Circle” because they are such loyal fans.

It’s a marketing win! Hello! These people are getting fresh exposure whenever they do these posts. It’s genius.

I still won’t go that route… But hey, they found something that works, and even better not a lot people do it (since we all read the books that say it’s a no-no). They reap the benefits. Good on them, but it still leaves me feeling blah about my own marketing. And so, I need to reevaluate my plan. Their plan won’t work for me but my current plan isn’t working so well either.

2) The other issue comes from family. Extended family, but family none the less. I could probably just leave it at that, since Family, even distant family, always knows how to hurt you most. They know the weak spots in our armor.

An extended family member asked me how my “little writing thing” was going. When I said, “It’s going.” They asked how many books I’ve sold… I hate that question. It seems so inappropriate. I would never ask someone how much money was in their bank account or how much cash they have in their wallet, but for some reason being invasive is okay when the person is merely writing “little stories”.

Anyways, I told them my numbers and they gave me one of these --> O.O <-- looks and said, “Wow… That’s it? I think it’s safe to say it’s time to throw in the towel and call it a good try.”

I didn’t feel up to arguing after that ego punch so I simply nodded and walked away. When I got home I let it eat at me. In truth it is still eating at me. I started looking at all the things I am doing wrong…

I’m spending too much time with my family. I could be writing more if we didn’t go do things or if I sent my kids to tutoring instead of helping them with homework. I spend too much time with my animals. I could probably learn something like formatting if I didn’t give them so much of my attention… But honestly these are things that I will not give up.

So I started looking at the other wrongs I’ve committed: I don’t have a dedicated editor. I rely on beta readers and numerous rounds of edits. Sure I’ve had people (several different people) edit my books, but I have no one who I have their full attention because the people I work with also write for themselves and have work of their own to do. So I started scanning the internet trying to find someone affordable… Still waiting on that.

I don’t know how to format. I have to rely on others and hope that I am not imposing on their time to get my stuff formatted.

I don’t know HTML… That could be useful too.

As my extended family member reminded me the other day: Successful authors pay for editing, formatting, and web-based stuff… Hell they have assistants, street teams, agents, etc… And I am here trying to do it by myself with the help of friends and trying to offset favors with trades and in the end feeling like I am spread too thing and failing.

I told my husband the other night “I’d rather quit than be a failure.” He said, “You’re only a failure if you quit.” (Which is what Alex said to me too.)

Would I really quit? No, not really. I just needed to say it out loud for a moment and embrace my own private pity party. I’ve been writing and telling stories long before anyone cared to read them. So no I am not quitting.

I don’t have huge sales, I’m not selling 50 books a month. I don’t have 100+ comments on my posts, but in the end what I do have is a handful of real friends who read what I write and tell me they love it. I have some solid reviews, even if they don’t number in the thousands. And lastly, I have my kids and ironically an estranged husband who are proud of me for doing what I am doing and for not giving up and who will always indulge me when I need to cry, or vent, or have myself a pity party.

That’s really all I need. I’m not here with delusions of making it big, hitting #1 spots on lists, or to have 5000 friends. I’m here for me, my stories, and for my friends and family who support me in this adventure.

Am I still feeling blah? Sure, but later today I’ll fire up Scrivener and write some more, because I can’t – not write – it’s in my blood and if I stopped I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.

P.S. After writing this all up I received an email about my Ellora’s Cave book, I got my first blog review for Twisted Revenge and it was a 4.5 star review. That helped make this day less gloomy. So while that has nothing to do with the self-publishing aspect it serves as a reminder: There’s always a silver lining.

Oh The Places You'll Go....

When I graduated high school my grandmother followed tradition and gave me a copy of Dr. Seuss' "Oh the Places You'll Go." This book meant a lot to me because it showed that she believed in me and Dr. Seuss is one of my idols. What's the point of me telling you this? There's a few lines in there that really speak to me as an author:

“So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains.” 

Let's break this down and why I bring up these particular lines for the day. "So be sure when you step, step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act." As authors, artists, and just people we often tend to post negative things, some times out of frustration and sometimes out of jealousy. Now, we all have our moments where frustration comes out, but the problem is when that frustration is aimed towards attacking people. Spit. Jealousy. Sour Grapes. Whatever you want to call it, you don't bash others in your fields (Or other fields) publicly. It's bad JuJu and my friends that is not the type of attention you want. You will lose a lot of respect that way, you will be blacklisted by readers, and honestly you're just inviting trouble to yourself. (Think of the trolls on Goodreads and other websites, do you really want to show yourself as an easy target for them?)

There is a fine balance that you have to find. Yes it's frustrating when someone seems to become a big name over night, but they too had their troubles when they started. Ask any author, they won't tell you it was easy to get where they are. I'm always telling Mia that we have to remember that and not get discouraged.

"And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains."

And most of us will get that success, but it'll be those of us who actually put the effort in. How does one move a mountain? A stone at a time. Small steps. You climb one the same way. There are steps to be taken and stumbling stones along the way.

Again, why am I bringing this up? Because I read an article the other day where an author stated that a big name author should stop writing (adult) fiction to allow room for new authors. (she made it clear that said author could continue to write for children or for his/her own pleasure, because she would NEVER deny that to someone...) So instead of going on a rant about it, I wanted to remind people that no matter how successful you are or are not everyone started at the bottom. There are no magic words, spells or tricks to 'hitting it big' you have to work for it. And if you're not willing to do that, then you will fail.

Now, get over your sour grapes, you have work to do.

New Genre Territory

Keeping your brand clean is important. Not clean as in "squeaky clean, nothing dirty" but clean as in "clearly defined" Authors with successful brands stick to their genre and don't confuse their readers by venturing too far out in a different direction. If I had a huge following of fans for my paranormal romance switching my next book to a western suspense novel might throw some of them for a loop. Yet when some genres fall closely together, yet are totally different what do you do?

A)    Hope your fan base follows you along on this new adventure.

B)    Create a new brand for this new side project.

 There really is no C option. Those are your choices, take it or leave it. So I guess in a way there is a C option, it's called just don't do it. I am considering publishing some stories under a totally different genre and because of that, if I do it, I will do so under a pen name. But I have another dilemma, even though I am an indie author I also have been picked up with Ellora's Cave, and I do enjoy writing submissions for smaller anthologies. But those anthology submissions don't always fall into the paranormal romance/paranormal erotic genre. So the question becomes, what do I do? Do I still write outside my genre if it is only for smaller anthologies? Do I just say screw it and write what I want without worrying about my brand I am trying to build?

Right now I have no answers for myself. I do know if I go too far off my path it would require reconfiguring my brand, I think for now dabbling in the shallow end with small submissions might be okay. It's a question of branding vs. getting my name out there for people to take notice. And this early in the game, getting my name out there might be the more important piece of the puzzle.

How do you feel about authors jumping from different genres under the same name? Would you prefer they stuck to one genre and used a separate name to write something completely different? Let us know.

The Perceived Image of an Indie Author

Ah, the wonderful world of the internet. It's great for networking, wonderful to keep in touch with families, and it breeds drama, but it can also be a great place for open discussion. I tend to lean more towards conversations with indie authors, but occasionally I cross over and talk to traditionally published ones too when it comes to talking shop. My favorite is to talk to other hybrid authors, which Mia are now considered hybrid authors. That's important, because I'm getting ready to break down somethings that I found and or experiences on the internet this last week. I often like to pretend that there is no more perceived image of an indie author, that we can walk amongst traditionally authors with our heads held high, and no one will pick on us. Yeah, right. (Though to be fair, we pick on traditionally published authors.)

So let's quickly define indie authors, traditionally published, and hybrids.

Indie authors: Normally this refers to authors who have no affiliation with a true publisher. There are authors who are considered indie who have combined to make their own press, or even just one author who made their own press so there was a publisher name, but it's not a publisher that caters to other authors.

Traditionally published authors: Authors who has a publisher, regardless of it's a big five publisher or not.

Hybrid authors: Authors who are published both ways.

So now to the fun stuff, now that we're all caught up. On a Facebook post a traditionally published author poised a question in regards to the possibility to produce a large amount of writing as an indie author and it being quality writing.

When I was an aspiring author, I was completely against self-publishing, and this was one of the reasons why. I saw a particular author releasing something almost every month and I thought, there is just no way that it's polished enough. My Hubby tried to play devil's advocate and questioned me as to why it wasn't possible. In the end I shrugged my shoulders and thought, 'we'll see.' Now that I'm an author, under two different names, one which is indie and one which is hybrid, I know it is possible. Everything I'm writing, with the exception of A Demon's Heart, are things that will be published next year. Everything I'm planning on releasing this year is written and either just waiting on covers or is currently being edited. Under one name, I'll be releasing six titles, three that are novels, and three that are short stories. Under Alexandra, I'll (hopefully) be seeing the release of two books with Ellora's cave and two indie releases. At a convention, I met several authors that work this way and now that I know how it works, I know it's possible.

So naturally...I jumped in wanting offer the perspective of a indie author. I wrote a well though out response that invited conversation, did not bash traditionally published, and was hoping for a well thought out response. What I got instead was a simple thanks for responding. Hm. So I continued to follow the conversation, one person pointed out that I had valid points, and we continued to discuss, but the conversation ended basically with this: Traditional is better because edits take time and the publisher is the best at that.

That is an age old argument. Indie books are not edited. That is not true. Granted, there is stuff out there that is not edited, but that is not the whole lot. Just like people tend to think: Traditionally published have better story lines and knows what sells. No. I've read some awful Traditionally published books and though they follow trends, they can't switch as easily. (I'm not saying write towards the trends people, just pointing things out.)

Now as for the editing. Worried about downloading an indie book and having it been unedited? Check out the sample first, that's a glorious feature right there. It saved me $10 on an indie e-book the other week. On a book that helps give indie authors a bad name. But back to the point, traditional authors still hold that idea that they are better because they are with a publisher, that their editors know more than editors we can hire or our betas, who are normally made up of our target audience. Am I saying that indie authors are better? No, what I'm saying is that we are all authors, and yes there is good and bad writing out there and good and bad stories out there, but they aren't exclusively indie. There are those indie authors who think that they are better, though and that is the wrong attitude to have. We can all learn from each other here people, so knock it off!

That brings me to my next point. There was an article going around social media that had mentioned how different hybrid authors are. It talked about how we aren't indies, which is partially true, and we aren't really traditional, which well, is kind of true as well. We have a foot in each world, but here's the thing. We are still indie, we still know and do all the work for some of our projects. In the article it talked about how the only way a hybrid author could survive in this world is if they were a New York best seller before they 'turned indie' like we're vampires or something. Turned. According to the author of the article, if the author was not a NY best seller, than they were no better than the indie authors.

Hold up. That gives hybrids  a negative image too. Again, can't we all be just authors? Can't we all get along? Probably not, because this is how life goes, it's a uphill battle for us all, yes even traditionally published authors. The perceived image of an indie author is still a negative one in some people's eyes. What we need to do is find a way to change this, regardless of the category that we fall in.

Selling Out?

Selling out? I've seen a lot of posts crop up in social media about writers selling out and what supposedly constitutes being called a sellout. If we really want to cut the fat and get down to the bare bones of it, doing anything for money is selling out. Honestly. But from a more subjective view point we as egotistical, elitist, human beings have defined selling out as "anything we can accuse someone else of that makes us feel better about ourselves" To be more clear the actual definition is: Selling out is the compromising of integrity, morality, or principles in exchange for personal gain, such as money.^[1]

So the question is this: (and the answers are solely my opinion)

Is writing to a genre selling out? No. Just because the genre you write in is a so-called "proven money maker" doesn't make you a sell out for writing it.

Is writing a freelance article selling out when you dream of hitting it big with the next big action/sci-fi/thriller book? No. You are doing what you have to do to get by so that you can pay the bills while you work towards making that big dream happen.

If you are writing to a genre you don't enjoy but are doing it to make a buck, and only writing in that specific genre because you feel like it is "easy" and a genre that "sells itself" without the author having to put any effort in, does that make you a sell out? No… Does it make you a disingenuous douchebag? Yes, it sure does.

For me it hits the same cord as stealth marketing. If you don't know the term let me give you this little scenario from recent events

This week it made headlines that certain YouTubers were sent an email from Machinima saying that if they mentioned the XboxOne in a positive light they would be paid an extra $3 CPM (per 1,000 views). All the YouTube content creators had to do was post 30 seconds of video, mention the XboxOne in a positive light, and include a tag which they could track so that Machinima and/or Microsoft would know how much to pay for these positive reviews. But they were also, supposedly, told that they were not supposed to mention the promotion.

That is stealth marketing. When you put something out there and keep hidden the fact that you are only promoting something for a profit. It deceives the public and fans and in the end it builds mistrust.

The same is said for writing in a genre only because it is a "money maker", it's putting something out there under false pretenses and while I wouldn't call it selling out, I would call it a dick-move. Saying that one particular genre is "easy" is an insult to every hard working author in that genre. It's insulting to say "you can sell thousands of books in this genre without even marketing it, it's so easy." No, it really isn't "easy", nothing ever is.

As a fan and an avid reader of paranormal romance I would feel a sense of betrayal to find out that my favorite author didn't like the genre they wrote and that I had invested years of time reading and money buying into it. I would feel like I had been faithfully supporting them for years, and in that event I would feel a sense of loss. More importantly the loss I would feel would be the connection I felt towards the author and the characters if I were to find out that they had no love of the genre and it was just a paycheck.

A genre is more than just a book's classification. We find life long friendships based on these genres, we gravitate towards people who like the same books as us. We form fan pages, conventions, we buy merchandise, books, we freely promote our favorite authors with our shout outs, word of mouth, and absolute adoration of them. Meeting our favorite author is much like a groupie meeting their rockstar, they are our rock stars. And if we were fans of a rock band we'd be pretty hurt if we suddenly found out they hated the music and only played it because it made them boat loads of cash. We'd feel betrayed, and as readers we have every right to feel that way about our authors.

If we label one thing as selling out then were do we draw the line? When it comes right down to it we all sell out. If we have ever done anything that resulted in a profit, money-under-the-table, goods, services, food, etc then we have "sold out" and we all have to make money. We all have to survive and some of us have families to support.

Money does, indeed, make the world go 'round. I acknowledge that.

Writing a freelance article for a magazine doesn't make you a sellout. Taking a job as an editor while waiting for your dream to come true doesn't make you a sellout. Making a profit doesn't make you a sellout.

And yes, even making a profit while writing romance when you don't even like the genre, doesn't make you a sellout. It just makes you a giant douche. No body likes to be tricked, and with the close emotional connections that readers make to their favorite authors writing something disingenuous just to make a profit because your "non-genre specific", "unusual", or "different" novels didn't sell as well as you thought they should, is an insult to the very people who spend their hard earned money on the book you just wrote and to the other authors who pour their heart and souls into the very genre that you mock with your "this genre sells itself" mantra.

So I guess in the end there are two paths to choose from:

1)   Be genuine. Write the stuff you love, the stuff you'd like to read yourself. And be rewarded with amazing and loyal fans. Even if they don't number in the thousands, be grateful for each and every one of them because they will enrich your life. And hey if you make a profit then congratz! That's just icing on the cake and no one can call you a sellout no matter what genre you write.

2)   Or write something you aren't passionate about, insult an entire writing community by stating that the genre "sells itself" completely disregarding all other authors hard work in that genre, and that you have no knowledge about having to take other peoples work, deconstruct it so that you can find the working formula and make a profit. It still won't make you a sellout. But remember that when your fans feel that sting of betrayal when they find out that you don't write with heart (and they will eventually) then just know, you could have chosen the first path and not been labeled a great big bag of dicks by the internet.

^[1] wikipedia

Success

So the one thing I have to remind myself over and over about is that success does not happen over night. Not even for authors with big name publishers. There's a lot of work, networking, marketing, a lot of everything that goes into success. The problem I'm seeing around social networking are authors who insist that they are entitled to success. They want it over night, they deserve it over night, because they are so much better than the thousands indie authors struggling out there. Sure there are authors who can drop hundreds of dollars on ads, hiring a marketing person, and using every possible resource to their advantage, but let's face it. Not all of us have that kind of money.

What we need to remember is to have patience. I'm not saying don't do any marketing, because that's not going to help the matter. But be smart about it. Explore your avenue, be open to trying new things. I've talked to several authors who have been indie authors for three years and they are doing great. It helps that they have a great product. Do your research, for example, did you know there is an algorithm on amazon that you can use to your advantage? You get the best change of being seen if you publish something every thirty days, your chances are lowered if you post something every sixty days, and after ninety days you drop out of their algorithm and start all over again. Am I suggesting you write crap and threw it up just to take advantage of this? No, no I'm not, because there is enough crap out there already, but start planning on it. Try to get a head of your writing and soon you'll be able to starting putting things up, short stories, novels, novellas, co-written books.

Sit down and write a five year plan, but be reasonable. Put down things that you know will be a challenge, but will be attainable. Set short term and long term goals and deadlines. Stick to them. Don't be afraid of making friends with strangers, network with authors inside and outside your genre. Talk to people and share what you know. Yes writing is a solitary career, but marketing is not done alone. Be personable, don't air your woes and marketing troubles on Facebook. Don't threaten to quit just to get a rise out of fans so that they'll stroke your ego. And most of all...don't give up.

I've come a long way in a year, with both names that I write under, but I know I still have a long way to go. Some days the road seems dark, but then I remind myself. Success doesn't happen over night and it doesn't come without work. We are not entitled to anything.