The business of writing is, quite simply, everything that happens after you have a finalized, edited and proofread book in your hands. For authors who are under contract with a publisher, big or small, their involvement beyond marketing (i.e. book signing events, tours, conventions, etc) is pretty much over and they can concentrate on producing their next magnum opus.

But for those of us who are independent publishers, whether we’ve set up our own publishing companies or simply wish to publish under our own names, real or pen, the hard work begins. As I’m fond of saying, I’m not only Sanddiver Books Inc.’s sole author, my alter ego (the real me, not the pen name) is also the publisher in the legal sense, the graphic designer, web master, IT systems administrator, accountant, marketer and chief bottle washer. That means I’m literally responsible for all aspects of my writing career, save for editing and proofreading my work – Sanddiver Books Inc. enjoys the services of a dedicated editor and proofreader. I possess enough self-awareness to know some things are best left to another set of eyes.

And though it sounds like a full-time job, the business of writing isn’t that difficult to master, or that time-consuming once you’ve set up your routines, your documents and your workflow. Nowadays, I don’t need more than a few hours per month to manage the business aspects, except when it comes time to prepare the business tax return, but that’s another story. However, one must understand what to do and how to go about doing it, which means research. Yet there’s a lot of conflicting advice and opinion out there. What’s right and what’s wrong? There’s an expression I like: “only listen to people that have skin in the game.” In other words, don’t just listen (or read) what another author says about a particular subject, dig a little deeper and try to figure out what they do. Is someone offering a course for big bucks to teach you how to make oodles of money selling your books? Take a look at their own success as writers. You’ll often find they turned to teaching as a way of making money because they’re not particularly successful as authors. You’ve probably heard of the expression, “those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” It may not be true in the realm of education, but it certainly holds a ring of truth in the domain of independent publishing. I’ve seen a number of authors who can’t give away their books turn to teaching. The same goes for every other issue facing independent publishers. I wouldn’t take accounting advice from someone who’s not a CPA, or marketing advice from someone who seems to be struggling with sales. In fact, there are a lot of areas where it’s best to hire a professional and simply ignore anything that comes from fellow authors (tax advice being a major case in point!)

Over the months and hopefully years to come, I’ll be posting my thoughts and views on any number of subjects concerning publishing. What I will not do is discuss the art of writing or the science of editing. My focus will be on everything that happens afterward. And what you will read here are my opinions, which means you need to keep the immortal words of Inspector Harry Callahan, played by legendary actor Clint Eastwood, in mind:

Finally, if, in your opinion, I’m out to lunch or even offensive, refer to the above. Publishing is a serious business, but we publishers should avoid taking ourselves too seriously.