Something we don't talk about: publishing is more business than dreaming

Hey writers, you know that dream you have? You know the one. It's that one where you sell your book and it magically goes from manuscript to book and everyone buys it, and in the mean time you write your next masterpiece without so much as a care about the rest of the world? Yeah, that's a lie.

I know I'm not the first,  but I sort of feel like it should be mentioned that there's a reason most people only put out a book a year and it has nothing to do with all the time it takes to write a book. It's because of everything else. There's the writing--of course--then there's the editing. Then there's the crafting a pitch (long, medium, short, and super short), the author bio (I hope you've been working on that cause there's nothing more nerve wracking than explaining yourself in third person to complete strangers), marketing material, editing, editing, editing, proof reading (both the MS and the Galley), then there's the promotion, the chasing down leads, the helping other people because if you don't have friends and support, how are you going to get the word out there when it's your book's turn?

And that takes a lot of time. I mean a lot of time.

 I had hoped to be up to drafting my shiny new idea by now, but suddenly, there's a big line in front of it. It's stuff like "read manuscript One. Last. Time." and "Write Bio." and "Do I write the acknowledgement now or later?" (pro tip, if you have to ask, now is the time; you can always edit it later!) Then there's the "prep manuscript for submission," task and the "prep other manuscript for querying based off of recent feedback."

These things all take time, and not one of them is in the "write and edit the original book" category.

And the funny thing is that so many writers talk about this, but until you're in the midst of it, you can't see it. I remember reading about Shannon Messanger talking about this stuff. Beth Revis talked about it, too. I really looked up to them, but when they went on about the business side, I sort of wrote that off under the "must be nice" category.

And it is.

But I haven't written a new word in months, and that's not healthy for me or my writing. My goals all along were to get back to writing by the end of June. Do you know what month it is? Do you know what it's not looking good for?

Admittedly, most of my last 18 days of crazy stem from tearing out floors, walls and ceilings (vlog to follow soon, I hope), but it's still a real thing. I'm still not up to writing the next book. 

A wise person would set aside the writing, finish working on the house, and get back to writing when the house is in a livable state.

Let us be clear, my friends: I am not a wise person. I'm also not superwoman, so it's time to adjust some goals, and maybe recognize that the drafting isn't going to happen. (or maybe I can find a way to sneak in some minutes on my lunch break... Yeah, that's healthy, work ten hour shifts and spend my thirty minute lunch writing a novel, that's totally reasonable!)



And what about you all? How do you handle the crazies that come with the business side? How do you balance the "simple" things like having a family and writing?!

The Second in what I hope is a recurring theme

I mentioned earlier this week that it was a big week on the blog. First I got to help reveal an awesome cover! No seriously, if you haven't already seen it, go take a peek.

Second, I get to share a secret:

So last year, right around the time I was supposed to be working on my NaNo project, I was packing boxes. On my way to work one day, I had an idea. I told some of my writing friends about it, and they said "That's the one!"

I was pleased to have such an enthusiastic response, but then I entered a couple of writing contests--stop me if you've heard this one before. Those contests, well, they were rough. What made my story different? (didn't I say that in the first sentence???) The market is too clogged with YA contemp books, yours would "really have to be different." Everyone is writing sports books right now.

Right.

This is nothing new. I'd been in that place before, but I was hoping for a steady climb: first book, no requests, second book partials, third book fulls, fourth book agent. It seemed logical, but no one was biting for this book. I thought it was a goner. I was ready to hit Delete and move back to my happy space, but this character had me and demanded more of me. I don't usually tell contemporary stories. I like blowing things up, and there isn't a single explosion. HOW? How could I write something without aliens, unicorns, or explosions?? (also, no Dragons, and I'm Liz With Dragons; I can't write something without dragons!)

But this book had me in its clutches, so I took a chance. My publisher is just starting a new imprint. In the past, Curiosity Quills has focused on Genre Fiction, specifically, Science Fiction and Fantasy: my wheelhouse. As in, they have been on my radar since day one. Yes, they are small. No, they are not one of the big five.

So when I heard they were starting a YA contemporary romance line, I thought to myself: they'll never want to publish my book, right?

Right?

Somehow, I convinced myself that they would have ZERO interest in my most recent book. Zero.  I mean, my book wasn't even in their target genre set. It was YA contemporary with a splash of romance. In fact, it was really about the sport of Fencing (near and dear to my heart, FYI).

So you can imagine my shock when they said they wanted my YA contemporary with a hint of romance.

SWEET MOTHER OF SCIENCE, WHAT??

My Contemporary YA, OF PENS AND SWORDS by Bridget Adair is going to be published!

Here's the blurb:

Seventeen-year-old Cyra Berque wants two things in life: a date with Rochan and a chance to show the world a one-handed girl can fence in the Olympics. When Cyra’s coach tells her he’s taught her everything he can, he sets her up with another coach, one who could take her all the way to the top, but the new coach costs more. With her dreams slipping out of reach for lack of money, Cyra agrees to tutor a ballerina with a rich father and a D minus in English. He’ll pay Cyra three times her usual tutor rate if she can get his precious daughter to a passing grade. The ballerina only has eyes for Rochan, and she’s promised Cyra to turn her D into a full fledged F if Cyra doesn’t help her win the heart of Rochan.

OF PENS AND SWORDS is a YA contemporary retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac with the gender roles reversed. 

The next step in my bid for world domination: book two!

So yeah, happy dance, and there will be some changes around the blog here.

Marketing and Kites

I see a ton of people releasing their books or gearing up to release books (congratulations!), and so I thought I’d talk a touch about marketing. I haven't released a book, but I'm related to a person or two with business and marketing degrees.

Let’s start with some facts:

Marketing sells things. Marketing even sells books.

Marketing is an unsustainable effort.

Marketing is not the only way to have your book take off.

You will have no control of whether your book “takes off” or not.

It’s time for an analogy. Releasing a book is a lot like flying a kite (from the selling and marketing side, at least). There are factors out of your control, weather, for instance. There are factors in your control: the build of the kite, the length of the string, etc. You might be able to change your location, but without going to extremes, you’re probably stuck with your weather.

Sometimes when you go kite flying, everything is perfect, and your kite just leaps into the air with hardly any effort from you. Sometimes when you go kite flying, there isn’t enough wind to move a quark. On days with no wind, you might try running to make a breeze for your kite. So you run and run and run. Your kite has a sort of wobbly flight, but it's up.  This is the marketing. The running is marketing.  It’s fake wind. Remember, even if it is fake wind, it still sells books. Sometimes it sell thousands of books. But remember the running? You probably can't keep that up forever.

Sometimes, you run long enough and hard enough, and you can get your kite into the magical upper winds where it can then remain high sailing with little to no effort. Sometimes, no amount of running will get your kite into those upper winds, and it is destined to come back to Earth.

This is why some books flop and some books take off (seriously, who could have predicted the super mega hit of 50 shades???), and why plenty of completely wonderful books die in obscurity. There are factors out of your control. You cannot change the wind, though you can run for a little while. Sometimes the marketing really does work. Sometimes it really taps into a bigger audience. Sometimes, the audience is hiding. 

These are factors beyond the control of any author, so if you’re smack dab in the middle of running to help your kite fly, I feel for you. If you’re still putting your kite together, make sure you pick where you try to fly it.

Good luck out there writers, and I hope it’s breezy in your markets.

(still building my kite)