On the Business of Impatience

The desire for instant success is an all too common human foible. Along with the need for validation, as I discussed in my previous blog post, it’s a manifestation of the untamed writerly ego. And leaving your ego to run wild never ends well. Disappointment is merely one of the more benign outcomes you will experience.

We’ve all seen previously unknown authors suddenly burst upon the scene with a lucrative contract from one of the Big Five publishing houses, their book high on the various bestseller lists, nominated for major awards and movie rights being optioned. Why them and not me, you might ask while envy eats at you from the inside like acid. Of course, that burning sensation could simply be the lousy curry you had for supper. Who knows? To quote the lyrics of a song from my favorite band, we all seek “fame, fortune, and everything that goes with it.” Yes, even I would be tickled pink if I were to suddenly find fame. But the chances of that are on par with my getting a hole in one playing golf, considering I haven’t hit a single ball during the last few golfing seasons to begin with.

We independent authors are, realistically (except for a tiny minority,) mid-listers, not New York Times bestsellers. We’re not the ones who’ll be credited as executive producers when HBO or Netflix makes a miniseries based on our work because our books will never be brought to the screen, big or small. And that’s okay. However, it does mean leashing the ego as we contemplate a realistic writing career.

What do I mean by realistic? First of all, the vast majority of us independents will never become household names, appear on Oprah or find our books on the shelves of the nearest Chapters-Indigo (or whatever your country’s largest bricks and mortar bookstore chain is.) That’s just a fact of life. The vast majority of us will also likely never make big bucks. And the vast majority of us will not become rising stars on the independent literary scene either. Of course if your motto is “ars gratia artis” then you don’t care. But most of us are in this not just for art’s sake but to build a career.

Yes, some independent authors find their audience with the first book they publish and never look back. But most won’t find that audience until they’ve published several books. Sadly, some will never find it. What does this tell us? One of my favorite expressions when it comes to independent publishing is that this is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes persistence and sustained effort to gain traction. If your first book has disappointing sales, and it’s not due to quality, cover and blurb issues, don’t get angry. Don’t flail about for magical solutions. Don’t enter pay-to-play contest. Don’t sign up with vanity publishers. Don’t give it away for free right off the bat. And please don’t become a self-promotion whore — there’s nothing sadder than authors spamming social media with variations on ‘buy my book.’

On second thought, there is something sadder: ‘buy my award-winning book’ when it’s clearly a pay-to-play award they bought for big bucks.

So what’s my prescription for lack of instant success syndrome? Write the next book. And the one after that. Anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that many, perhaps even most authors only gain traction after they’ve published several quality books, especially when those books are part of a series.

This is where the virtue of patience comes into play. Impatience can easily damage your brand, and there’s no recovery from that. Impatient authors looking for that quick success often imperil their careers before they even take off by making bad choices. The internet forgets nothing. That author spamming social media with ‘buy my most excellent book’ risks tarnishing his or her brand before ever gaining traction. Or paying for dodgy services with money they’ll never recoup. Or maybe an impatient author will try to gin up productivity and get a series out in record time by skimping on quality in the hopes of gaining traction. I’ve seen plenty of variations on the theme of impatient authors self-destructing since I first entered this business. And once your name is mud, you might as well walk away from it and start over under a new name.

But shouldn’t marketing get that first book off the ground? It might. But I’m probably not the right guy to discuss that subject, since I don’t spend much time and money on marketing. However, my sense of the indie universe is that the more books you’ve published, the better your marketing efforts will work because readers will see you as a serious player with skin in the game rather than a dilettante. If you’re asking readers to invest their time and money into reading your work, making it clear you’re not a one-hit wonder helps. For what it’s worth, I’ve noticed that my sales take off every time I publish a new book and my Amazon sales graph looks remarkably like it does when I get that rare unicorn of all marketing blessings, a BookBub feature.

So what’s the bottom line? If you enter into this business with low expectations, you might be pleasantly surprised. If you enter it intending to become the next big thing with your first book, you’ll almost certainly be disappointed if not devastated. Persistence is key. There’s an author group I belong to which preaches precisely that: build your catalog and eventually, you’ll build your audience. And guess what? It works. As a wise Jedi Master once said, “Patience you must have.” A successful independent publishing business isn’t built on a single breakout novel. Leave the pursuit of breakout novels to the traditional publishers — that’s what their business model increasingly depends upon. For us independents, the business model is a strong catalog developed over the course of several years. And that catalog must be supported by a professional brand.

For the record, I didn’t have a clue about this business back in 2014 when I basically tossed two novels into the mysterious Kindle Direct Publishing universe within two weeks of each other. I’d written them twenty years before and never found an agent, let alone a publisher. Each eventually spawned a multi-book series, one of which gave rise to three spinoff series. Those two novels didn’t generate stellar sales at first, at least by my current standards, but since I wasn’t yet serious about writing as a career back then, I wasn’t worried. I didn’t do much marketing, let alone spam social media with pleas to buy my books. I simply went on to write their sequels. It took those sequels and their sequels before my audience grew to the point where I gained traction as a publisher. Marketing helped, but nothing succeeds like hard work and persistence married to patience.

If you’re not willing or able to put in the necessary hard work over the course of several years, then perhaps you don’t have the right abilities or mindset to develop a successful independent publishing business built for the long term, and that’s okay. We all have different capabilities and aspirations, but we should all learn to restrain our egos and ensure our expectations match our efforts.

Seeking Validation is not a Valid Business Model

Writers are human beings with needs, feelings, and many questionable tendencies, just like everyone else. Shocking, I know. But in many respects, writers, akin to other creators such as musicians, painters, or graphic artists, are also more vulnerable than the average person. We need to be told our art is good. Not by our friends and relatives but by the world at large. What do we need? Validation. When do we need it? Now!

In my last post, I spoke about the proliferation of predatory pay-to-play literary contests. They and other phenomena designed to separate a hopeful and naïve writer from his or her money have arisen for a reason since nothing happens in a vacuum. Those of you unfortunate enough to remember Economics 101 (I’m sorry to bring up bad memories — really, I am!) understand where there is a demand, there will be a supply. Need validation? Someone will be glad to provide it — at a price.

Back before the days of ebooks and the independent publishing industry they unleashed, an aspiring writer had two paths. One was to spend years querying in the hopes of landing an agent willing to represent their magnum opus, no matter the chances were less than Bigfoot hunters finding irrefutable proof he exists. The other was to pay a vanity publisher to produce their book, but with no real hope of ever selling a single copy. Landing an agent, then getting a publishing contract was the holy grail. It signaled to the world that a book was worthy and its author a literary success. Validation at last!

However, paradigms shift, and we independent publishers have bypassed agents and publishing contracts. We not only write our novels, but we also put them up for sale ourselves via major online retailers. But that means no more jumping for joy at your work being publicly validated when an agent lands you a measly advance that you’ll probably never earn out, with no guarantee of the publisher buying the rights to any subsequent books. Yet us independents not only manage to put our books out there when no traditional publisher will even look at them, once we find an audience through determined marketing efforts and a bit of luck, we also make more money than most traditionally published mid-list authors. Sometimes a lot more money.

Hmm. Let’s see. Money, fine. Control over one’s writing career, fine. No gatekeepers. Excellent. Wait a minute! Where’s my external validation? Who and what will tell the world I’m a literary success?

The writer’s ego will not be silenced. It craves recognition, a place on bookshelves, a seat on literary panels, nominations for awards, long lineups at book signings, interviews on Oprah, on the BBC, and with Shelagh Rogers on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s show “The Next Chapter.” It craves reviews in major newspapers and a place on major bestseller lists. It wants to hobnob with Stephen King, JK Rowling, and George RR Martin. Human nature strives mightily to win every single time and the profiteers out there know it.

My last post discussed predatory pay-to-play book awards. Those are merely one manifestation of a questionable supply meeting a growing demand from authors in need of ego-stroking. That dream of a traditional publishing contract, even if it brings in less money? It’s still alive and well in the hearts of many because it means someone in authority (questionable as it may be) has deemed a book worthy. And if a book is worthy, so is its author.

These days we have vanity publishers re-branding themselves by offering ego-stroking for a steep price. Here’s the basic rule that overrides everything else: money flows only from the publisher to the author, never the other way. A publisher who contacts you to praise your latest book and offers to publish it for you under a co-payment program where you invest a few thousand dollars is a vanity publisher — a crook. Authors should never be asked to pay for publishing their work. And that contract the publishing firm Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe sent you out of the blue isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. Worse yet, it’ll probably make you surrender all rights to your work in perpetuity. How’s that for external validation? Sign on with a vanity publisher and all it validates is that you’re an idiot. Send a publisher money because it’s a co-payment publishing deal, and you just validated yourself as a fool. Always check Writer Beware https://accrispin.blogspot.com/ to see if the nice publishing house that reached out to you is looking for an easy mark. Chances are almost 100% it is.

Then you have the crooks who specialize in offering desperate authors ancillary services such as marketing deals for a steep price. Hey, pay us a few hundred dollars, and we’ll list your book at the Whateveritis Book Fair. Sure, they might even do so, but if you think it’ll bring on the sales and the recognition, you’re validating yourself as a naïve bumpkin. Again, consult Writer Beware. Spend a few hours reading the entire website. You’ll come out of that exercise more knowledgeable, less foolish and utterly cynical.

Legitimate small presses are a different beast, but can still present serious pitfalls for authors. Sure, you get validation in that a legit operation thinks your book is worthy of their imprint. You might even enjoy decent editorial and graphic design services at no cost, but you’re essentially at the small press’ mercy. And life hasn’t been kind to many of those small presses, leaving authors without income and with their rights locked up. Again, consult Writer Beware before signing up with a small press. The story of ChiZine Publications is a cautionary tale worth reading: https://accrispin.blogspot.com/2019/11/scandal-engulfs-independent-publisher.html If going with a small press is because you can’t or don’t want to handle the business part of publishing yourself, fair enough. If the main reason is for external validation, you may wish to rethink your motivations.

What’s my bottom line? Seeking external validation comes at a price unless you’re the next big thing in literature, and chances are pretty good you’re not. Sometimes that price can be steep. Sometimes it’s devastating. If you’re intent on a career as an independent publisher, a better solution is changing your validation paradigm. Sure, I’d love to meet Shelagh Rogers in person. I’ve enjoyed her radio programs for decades and would be honored to answer the Proust Questionnaire on her show. But I know that’ll never happen. Nor will I ever enter into trad pub contracts except for subsidiary rights, such as audiobooks, foreign language rights or the like, because I can make so much more money publishing my English-language books as an independent. Sure, it’s more work, but that’s what independent means. It is, however, more lucrative. When I look at the typical advance paid to mid-list science fiction authors nowadays by the trad pubs, I have to laugh. Rarely will that advance ever earn out with the measly royalty rates grudging given to authors. I often make more within the first few weeks after a book’s publication, let alone over its lifetime. External validation, even from entirely honorable and legitimate channels, carries a real cost.

However, all is not lost. Independent publishers can condition themselves to find validation from their readers through sales, through reviews and ratings, through Kindle Unlimited pages read and through the money deposited in their bank account each month. Sure, that’s a big paradigm shift. The ego will resist dismissing all of what it craves in favor of small validations each time a new reader enjoys your books. It will resist the mercenary-like validation of money even more because a writer’s ego needs plaudits, not filthy lucre. But it can be done.

For the record, I derived a sense of external validation when Tantor Media approached me for the audiobook rights to three of my novels. Yes, I’m just as human as the rest of you despite the scurrilous rumors. But it hasn’t been particularly lucrative and has hardened my determination that I will never enter traditional publication contracts except for subsidiary rights. It also proved that external validation comes at a price. I’ll share a little secret with you. I like to consider myself one of the most financially successful Canadian science fiction writers no one’s ever heard of, and I smile at the fact that many of my traditionally published peers still need to hold daytime jobs while I don’t. Perhaps one day, I’ll become known, but that’s not something I worry about. Should Shelagh Rogers’ producer ever contact me to appear on her show, I’ll let you know when the interview airs. But don’t hold your breath.

If the above makes you think about the cost of external validation, then I’ve done my job. I won’t think less of you should you keep seeking it, so long as it’s done intelligently. The ego is a hard beast to master. Few of us succeed at doing so consistently. But giving money to vanity outfits will earn you a ticket on the ship of fools currently docked at pier sixteen. Do your research, then make informed choices.

What the heck is the “Business of Writing”

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.