Calculating ROI - and Accounting for the Intangible

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is our worst ROI ever. So many to choose from!

ROI is industry shorthand for Return on Investment. It's basically a calculation for financial health of a business. I looked up the origin and found out that Donaldson Brown created the term.

As the Assistant Treasurer [of DuPont] in 1914, Brown developed a formula for monitoring business performance that combined earnings, working capital, and investments in plants and property into a single measure that he termed “return on investment.” It later became known in academic and financial circles as the DuPont Method (or Model) for Return on Investment. The measure was widely taught in business schools and adopted by many companies as a means of benchmarking the financial health of their products and businesses.

That's interesting, because I wondered if it was an old model. Turns out it's over a century old!

Also, the term comprises much more than I think most writers mean when they use it. When I hear writers talk about ROI, it's always whether a particular effort - a conference, buying an ad, buying into an anthology - will be more expensive than the sales it generates. Many reduced it to the simplest math: "If I spend this much attending a con, will I earn more than that on sales of my books?" Often husbands are cited as putting forth this equation, usually as justification for wives not attending cons.

When asked for my opinion there (and sometimes even when NOT asked), I have always said that conferences of all types provide an intangible ROI. Networking and getting your books in front of people give long-term results that aren't always quantifiable. Since I was doing a bit of research, I looked up if anyone thinks the DuPont Model for ROI is antiquated. Turns out there's this:

We demonstrate that firms 'assets are becoming increasing more intangible, and the traditional DuPont Analysis omits this crucial piece of a firm's ability to generate profit.

Those folks are talking market equity, but it occurs to me that many authors looking at simple math and short-term sales are failing to account for the intangible value of building recognition for their work over the long term. 

But I digress. 

The topic today asks about my personal worst return on investment. Since I don't really do the calculations - see above - I don't know a precise metric. I can, however, share an investment regret. When my very first book came out, the essay collection Wyoming Trucks, True Love, and the Weather Channel, a friend of mine, Chuck, told me one of HIS great regrets was not buying a case of his first book. The first edition was worth a great deal and he was sorry not to have done that. So, I bought a case of my books!

Reader: I still have most of them.

See, my first book didn't sell tons of copies and I have not become an NYT bestseller with a TV miniseries based on my books, unlike Chuck. He meant well, and I adore him for thinking that I would have the same trajectory, but I'm not C.J. Box, alas! 

I suppose the key takeaway here is that there is no one size fits all advice. 

Also, that the ROI on cats is always solid.

 

Writer's Business

Most of the time, we writers labor in isolation whether writing or working the business side of publishing. Taxes, contracts, negotiations (if you don't have an agent doing that for you), covers, marketing copy, and hiring subcontractors - it can be a lot. But there are times where one lonely writer's business is every writers' business. The WGA strike is the perfect example. An entire class of writers aren't being compensated fairly for their work and that matters to all of us. If it doesn't, it should. What impacts one part of the publishing world eventually escapes containment to infect the entire industry. Writers who stick together to fight for fair wages and workers rights continue writing into the future without having to sell a kidney to keep food on the table.

Another way one writer's business becomes every writers business is via tell-all blogs and databases that call out the so called 'professionals' who take advantage of writers. Witness the SFWA Writers Beware website. This is a resource that exists solely to call out bad actors in the industry - those who prey upon writers with less than ethical practices. Other authors offer in-depth blogs, classes, communities, or mentorships around the best business practices for writers. Some focus on traditional publishing, others on indie publishing. There's information out there for just about every writer and, in some cases, the Writer Beware website can help route out those of dubious value.

While you don't want to be glued incessantly to the dramas engulfing the publishing business, you do want to remain aware. Supporting a writers' strike in one sector of the business has a net positive ripple effect on your own business. If nothing else, it teaches us to never work without a contract or complete control of our intellectual property. Writing and the business of writing can be isolating pursuits. Keeping a finger on the pulse of the industry, however, pulls you out of isolation a little bit. It gives us the opportunity to engage in the larger body of writers, leaning on each others' business experience and expertise.

Understand Your Brain

If you’re new to the writing game you may think that all you’ll be doing is writing. And while the writing part is the most essential—no words means no no business side—a major chunk of your time will be spent on the non-writing tasks.

That sounds strange, doesn’t it? 

As Jeffe mentioned yesterday, we’re creatives and not many of us are business majors. The marketing, the profit loss spreadsheets, and the inbox are things that we need to do. Let’s call them the necessary evils…and they don’t count as writing. 

I do enjoy spreadsheets because I love data. But I’ve never tracked writing time vs. business times. It would be interesting to have a real percentage. What I can tell you without plugging anything in is—and here is where my advice related to the business side of writing comes in—my business hours take place in the afternoon and occasionally the evening. 

Designating what hours I devote to the craft of writing and what hours are slotted for everything else, those necessary evils, is important. Once up on a time I tracked my productivity and from that data it was clear that my brain is most creative and productive mid-morning. 

Understanding how your brain works gives you another tool to level up your writing. If you're a night owl who gets visions of sugar plums dancing around your head in the middle of the night, that's when you should write. If your day job ends late afternoon and your brain turns on its fun zone, that's when you should write. Maybe you're one of those rare people who bounce right out of bed, ready to face the day and a blank page, that's when you should write. 

If you haven't taken the time to break down how you're wired, I hope you will. It could be one of the keys to your maximum productivity. 

The Business of Writing

This week at the SFF Seven, we're talking the business side of being a writer. 

In our fantasies of being famous and beloved authors, we envision many things: bucolic writing sessions, romantic candlelit garrets with wine- and quill-strewn desks, celebrations with adoring fans, bookstore windows filled with our bestseller. (What's yours? I'd love to know!) We (or, at least, I didn't) don't picture ourselves slaving at the computer, going cross-eyed over royalty statements or struggling to ramp up on the newest social media trend.

Many of us creatives don't love the business side of being a writer. I mean, there's a reason we took literature, theater, and art classes in college instead of Economics, and that we only knew where the business school was because we occasionally had to meet one of our friends there. With a few exceptions, as creatives, business is not our favorite learn.

But we have to learn to do it and we have to learn to do it WELL.

If we don't, people will take advantage of us and, believe me, there are plenty lined up to do just that. There are ample cautionary tales of authors handing over the business aspects of their careers to someone else and losing everything. Even if it doesn't go that badly, we run the risk of making foolish choices out of ignorance. 

How much time do I spend on the business aspect of my writing life? A lot. At least as much time as I spend actually writing, possibly even twice as much, or even three times. Because I'm a hybrid author, self-publishing my books counts as me running a small, highly exclusive publishing company. It takes hours every day. On the trad publishing side, even though I have an agent who is amazing and efficient, I still have to spend a fair amount of time on back and forth with her - all business. And then there's conventions and conferences, which are basically all business. Chatting with my author friends is fun and social, but also? Business.

The way I see it, since I write full-time and have no other job, anything I spend my time on that isn't drafting or editing words counts as business. I take it very seriously.

 

The Business Side: Taking Time to Reward Yourself

 This Week's Topic: The Business Side -- Time Devoted, etc.

How much time do I devote to the business side of being an author? Depends on where I am in the cycle of production. Could be as little as an hour or as much as a whole damn day.

Promotions, sales planning and analysis, data tracking and analysis, advertising revisions and analysis, graphics design and analysis, website design and maintenance, social media, budgeting, continuing education, backmatter updates, and more are all part of the business side of writing. Were I in a cycle of pitching to traditional publishing, then the querying, synopses, submissions, and tracking would fall under this massive umbrella too. Heck, even penning this blog post falls under the business category.

So, how much time do I spend working on the business side? Normally, 1-2 hours a day. Yes, that includes social media time too. Haha, no I'm not particularly active on the socials, and I've gotten more reticent as the years march on. It's because I have nothing particularly interesting to share with the world. Instead, I'm all up in my head, playing in the fantasy I'm building. 

Naturally, if I'm putting out a new product (aka releasing a book), then I spend more time getting all the ducks in a row for the release, but that rarely takes more than a week. A day for ARCs (list cleanup, file distribution, etc). A day to handle any crises that came up during production. A day for all the uploads. A day to update the website. A day to build and schedule the promotions. A day for the newsletter (content creation and list cleanup). For anything that involves playing with technology, I automatically add an extra 25% in estimated time to complete the requirements because technology is great when it works and an expensive frisbee when it doesn't. Also, while I set aside the day for certain tasks, if the poltergeists don't attack, then once I'm done, I have free time. Ya know, the rarity of having no other obligations or responsibilities while still having the reward of completing the day's assignment?

Y'all do that for yourselves, right? 

Give yourselves breathing room? 

Celebrate the routine and minor accomplishments?

For those of you gasping over me taking a whole day to devote to business stuff, thus inferring that I do not work on the WiP on those days...you're correct. I don't. It's a micro-holiday. A mind refresher. A chance for my subconscious to fribble around with whatever plot point or impending sticky wicket in the story. Letting your analytical brain dominate while your creative mind cogitates belly button lint is a good thing. If your WiP is always on your mind--if it's a slave driver whipping you with guilt--then burnout is on its way. We don't want that. That's no fun. That takes forever to get past. 

Micro-holidays. Tiny rewards. Breathing room. Embrace them. Think of them as team building, if you must. You and your awesome team of one. Any decent business manager knows the importance of rewarding their employees. So, don't be a dick, especially to yourself. 

One Piece of Advice

 

When I look back on my journey as an author, many hard-fought lessons come to mind. But there's one bit of knowledge I wish I had taken to heart much earlier: 

You don't have to do everything, and it most certainly doesn't have to be done perfectly. 

Maybe that's cheating because it's two pieces of advice, I suppose. But the reason I put this advice as a single piece is because almost inevitably whenever I sat down and tried to limit what was on my plate, I immediately fell even more into perfectionism. It was as if saying no to doing some things (like building a following on every single social media platform or reading all of the newsletters in my genre or reading every report on trends and marketing) suddenly meant that what I did do had to be perfect.

The reality is that true perfection in our line of work does not exist. Not when you're starting out. Not in the middle. And not at the end. 

Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't proof your work or put in your best effort or that you shouldn't revise. 

You absolutely should. 

But there comes a point when you have to let go. If you wait until you think it's perfect or has no more room for improvement, you're going to accomplish precious little. And when I look back over my time as an author and writer, I realize how much I learned in the failures and mistakes. 

Trust me. There has been a lot of them. I can't say I enjoyed either the failures or mistakes (though some did give me funny stories for later recountings). But they taught me so much. Both in what I should do and shouldn't do. 

Not to mention that if you're doing things properly, you're constantly learning. Especially about your craft as a storyteller. You, as a person, are changing and continuously developing your voice. Especially when you're starting out. If you get swept away in trying to learn all the newest tricks for everything while also keeping up on trends within your genre or learning about all the different writing techniques and processes, you will get bogged down. 

In this hustle culture, it's important to remember too that you physically cannot do everything that an author could do. Not even if you sacrifice all of your mental health and physical wellness (and it wouldn't be worth it even if you could). You have to be selective. But sometimes the only way to determine what works best for you is to leap out into the mass of opportunities and test out different ideas, concepts, and possibilities. You get through them, reassess, and then try again. 

Once I accepted that picking something, focusing on it, failing and getting better was just a part of the learning curve, I found the whole process became so much easier. That was true in the first stories I released as well as in running the business end. 

Any author who has been around for a while has a host of mistakes and hard-learned lessons in all areas of the storytelling and publishing process. It's a rite of passage. Many of the most successful are the ones who seize those opportunities, narrow down what they're doing, and keep chugging along at the pace best suited to them.

So don't let the pressure to do everything get you down. No one does everything alone. And you don't have to do everything to succeed. It doesn't even have to be perfect. So long as you keep pressing ahead and don't count yourself out, you're still in. 

We are all constantly learning and growing, no matter what stage we are at as authors. No one who succeeds does all the things. And thank goodness for that. You pick what works for you. Learn that as best you can and let go. Then you learn from that and repeat. And that's something any of us can do. 

Jessica M. Butler is a USA Today bestselling romantic fantasy author who never outgrew her love for telling stories and playing in imaginary worlds. She lives with her husband and law partner, James Fry, in rural Indiana where they are quite happy with their two cats and all of the wildlife and trees.

You can find her at http://jmbutlerauthor.com/.

The Financial Costs of Authorhood

This week's topic: Minding Your Business:

 How I Manage the Financial Side of Being an Author

The downside of being an indie author is that all the upfront financing comes from...me. Upside, I don't have additional layers of people with whom I share my royalties like a trad-published author would (no agents or publishing houses taking a percentage).

Now that I have eight books selling on leading retail sites, I have a fair idea of production and distribution costs. 

• Art can range from as little as $300 to as much as $5,000+. 
• There's an extra $200-$400 for social media and advertising art bundles. 
• Buying art may not include cover design (aka fonts, wraps, lettering, etc.). You might need to hire a designer in addition to the artist.
• Editing costs fluctuate with wordcount and the editor chosen. I've paid an average of $1,000 for 85k-word books and $3,500 for a 125k-word book. No, that's not a math failure, that's a difference in the per-word rate charged by different editors.
• Choosing the right editor(s) for your work is a topic for a different post. 
• Formatting for ebook and paperback is something I outsource. That's a couple hundred.
• While it's worth every sanity-saving penny to me, I am limited to what changes I can make in the future without incurring additional costs. Pro and con there.
• Production costs for print books and distribution costs for ebooks are higher the more graphics included in the novel. 
• In addition to a royalty share, digital distributors charge for file size.  
• Sure, I'd love to pepper artwork throughout the book, but that gets pricey fast.

Easy to see why indie authors may choose to pre-fund a novel via Kickstarter or Patreon, right? And the costs outlined above don't include the hours (aka months/years) spent writing the novel. 

I have not gotten into audiobooks because the upfront costs are too much compared to the odds of recouping those costs, much less generating net revenue. Good narrators are worth every penny. Bland or AI-generated narrators will chase away customers. Expect to pay for quality production (which should be part of the narrarator's cost-per-finished-hour rate), but don't expect this format to become your sales leader (compared to ebook or print). Yes, some narrators accept royalty-share payments, but that's not recommended for either party. A web search will provide many horror stories of why.

Advertising is a relentless money-eating monster. Welcome to the world of small business where making consumers aware that your product a) exists and b) is worth the purchase is critical. Sadly, there is no One Magical Success Formula. Unlike book production costs, advertising costs are ongoing and subject to constant fluctuations. ROI is a BFD and it must be monitored regularly to minimize losses. There are authors who spend thousands a month on advertising, and I am...not one of them. It's not in my budget to pay more for advertising than I do for my mortgage, health insurance, or total monthly cost of living. My income simply doesn't allow for it. 

Side note: Do not take out a personal loan for the sake of advertising (yes, it happens).  

How do I manage these finances? Basic math. Income - cost of living - splurges/savings/crises - book production costs - advertising budget. I use Excel to budget and track monthlies and YOY, though Quicken for Small Business is likely to come on the scene soon.

That Author Life

This week's topic at the SFF Seven is about how we manage our author business. This can get detailed, so I'll cover the basic organizational methods I use.

One thing I notice when chatting with newer authors is that many don't grasp that they are a small business. An entirely new way of thinking about yourself as an author and a brand AND the way you present and sell your product (your books) has to happen, and the methods used are often very different from writer to writer. Because everyone is going to run their business in their own way. It can help to get some tips, though, so you can see what works best for you.

For me, being an author requires days filled with nothing but accounting, mailing items to readers/influencers/etc, sending and replying to emails, and managing my online social presence and Etsy store, among many other things that don't equate to writing words. Thankfully, I've been in the writing world for over a decade and I've sat in on dozens of workshops and panels where these things have been discussed. So prior to this year when my publishing career truly began, I at least had an idea of what to expect, even if the reality hit way harder than I ever dreamed.

If you follow me at all, you know I'm a planner. I'm not sure how anyone can have a business without some sort of business plan and outlook, as well as proper record keeping. Here's a list of some of the things I do to keep track of everything:

1) I created a 5 year plan and broke it down into yearly and quarterly goals that can be adjusted as needed. 

2) I keep a Goal spreadsheet and update it every month-end and quarter. These goals include all my relevant social media numbers (Insta, TikTok, FB group, FB page, Bookbub), Goodreads review count, Goodreads adds, Amazon review numbers, newsletter count, money earned, books sold, and total Etsy sales. I can see the growth for the past 8 months at a glance. It's very informative, motivating, and keeps me focused on where I need to put a little more attention in order to meet my goals.

3) I keep Expense spreadsheets. This part became super intense really fast. I would've had an utter disaster on my hands come tax time had I not started keeping a record of all the expenses of my business. This includes everything from office supplies to character art to Etsy store supplies to necessary subscriptions/memberships and shipping costs. There's so much to track, so I have sheets for several things. I did an event recently and I put all my expenses in a spreadsheet labeled for that particular event. Next year, when I have more than one event, I'll create an Event Sheet. It would probably terrify most people to see the amount of spreadsheets I keep, but all I have to do at tax time is send my CPA my info and my taxes get done. The more organized I am on the front end, the easier things are on the back end.

4) I keep an Income-Earned spreadsheet. I do this by quarters that are broken into individual months since I get paid by my publisher quarterly. However, I have Etsy income as well as editing income, so those totals go in their respective months every month-end.

5) I use Expensify to store receipts. I cannot do clutter, so I don't keep paper receipts. 

6) I keep digital and printed copies of all contracts in proper folders.

7) I'm working on adding my author business info into my will and our family trust.

This is just an overview of things that I can think of off the top of my head. I hope, if you're looking for info on what to do as a new writer, that this helps. This side of the author life can be overwhelming, so my best advice, as always, is to get organized.

Happy writing!

ALIGNING YOUR INNER READER WITH YOUR WRITER SELF

 AKA, It Took Me Seven Years To Figure Out I Was Writing The Wrong Niche

I grew up on Robin McKinley and Patricia C. Wrede. Tad Williams and Terry Goodkind. David Eddings and Anne McCaffrey. Later I discovered my two favorite authors ever, Michelle Sagara West and Anne Bishop.

Inspired, I began my author career in 2015. . . and in 2018 I burned out.
 
Part of that was due to external life circumstances, but part of that was due, I now understand in hindsight, to a lack of alignment. See, I was writing shifter romance, then later alien romance. And my alien romance in particular was always slightly off market. It occurred to me in late 2021 why that was.

I kept trying to write my science fiction romance like it was fantasy romance.

I devour Grace Draven and Bec McMaster. Laura Thalassa and Sarah J Maas. In the last year I’ve discovered Katherine Ann Kingsley and Quinn Blackbird and T.A. White, and . . . you get it. See a trend?

These are all authors of fantasy romance, and they are just the tip of my FaRo library.
What I was not reading was science fiction and shifter romance.

Back to #writerlife, it was taking me four months to write a 60,000 word book. To put this in context, once I finally began to write in the niche that I read and most love, I was dictating 4,000 to 5,000 word days. And though I enjoyed writing my paranormal and science fiction romance, it was the fantasy romance that sparked joy.

Suddenly, my productivity went through the roof. The comments I received from alpha readers and editors was that they felt the joy and alignment oozing through my manuscript. Because, duh, I was finally writing the kind of stories I devour on a daily basis.

Why hadn't I started out in fantasy romance?

The short answer is because of a plethora of well-meaning advice to write to market. And when I came into the indie author space, writing to market meant bear shifters. And wolf shifters. And dragon shifters. And every other shifter galore . . . plus vampires. I let myself get talked into writing stories that were adjacent to what I love, but not quite hitting the bullseye.

My current fae fantasy romance series was completely unplanned. I snapped one day at the end of November in 2021 and sat down at my laptop and began dictating a story that had been floating around in my head for several weeks. It was so vivid, the characters coming alive in my head in ways characters had never done so before.

I'm writing faster than I ever have while maintaining the complexity of character arcs, romance arc, opposing force, subplots, and prose.
 
Now, all of this isn't to say that I've dropped everything else. I am fortunate that I also write in a small niche with a rabid reader base and that niche is helping to support my catalog while I get my fantasy romance profitable, which I project will happen around Book 3.

Being an indie author is a long game. “Write to market” is solid advice, but I would caveat that with, “write to market in a niche you naturally read and love and devour.” In the end your stories will be better aligned with the reader, you'll produce faster (whatever faster means to you) and you'll have more joy, which is absolutely required because we all know this is a grind. Without joy, eventually even the most determined author will break.

Because this is a long game, money will come in time (if caveat: You Did Your Job with Cover/Blurb/Story.) What I have learned, is that for the sake of my business, it's better for me in the long run to write what I love instead of writing what I know will make money faster. I could churn out six to seven sci-fi romance books in a year and make good money . . . but I can't sustain that long term, as I’ve already proven to myself.

When I write what I love, carefully aligned to the tropes of that niche, then I can look down the tunnel of a 5- to 20-year career and look forward to the daily hard work rather than approach my laptop with low-level dread.

So I would leave you with some questions. What do you love to read? Who do you devour? Is your writer self aligned with your reader self? And if not, what plan can you put in place to shift your business slowly, without sacrificing income, in a direction that is sustainable for you long term?

Emma Alysin is a 40 mumble mumble bi-racial American Muslim mom of five who writes SFR, PNR & Fantasy Romance.

Her dragons, fae, and bears will most interest readers who like their alphas strong, protective, and smokin’ hot; their heroines feisty, brainy, too grown to give a *uck, and over the age of 30.

Her stories feature men and women of diverse backgrounds.

Separation of Duties

 

Listen. Writing is one thing. Marketing is another thing. Taxes are yet a whole other thing. All of these things happen in different parts of our brains. I adhere to the Ghost Busters school of thought: Don't cross the streams. Trying to get those different modes of thinking to work together is a recipe for madness.

This brings us to my theme sooner than I usually get us to a theme of any kind: Separation of duties.

Functionally this means that when I'm writing, I'm writing. It's all I do. Not because that's the best way, only way, or preferred way to do anything - it's because that's how my brain works. Other folks can write for an hour or so then switch it off and go do another thing. I need more commitment than that. I seem to work best in four hour blocks. (Which, admittedly, are in crushingly short supply at the moment.) When I've done writing for the day, however, I can switch modes and shift into another brain space to do something else like marketing or administrative work. One this is sure, though. Unless there's a really compelling business or marketing deadline, writing happens first. Everything else falls after. About every other week or so, depending on how lazy I am, I pick a day to dedicate to errands. These can be business tasks or marketing copy or mailing out books or what have you. That dedicated day is a planned writing break and pre-Covid also served as my day for going to a museum or an art gallery. It seemed to work combining an official 'catch up on all the stuff' day with something fun that was meant to refill the creative well. 

If I'm in a position to need to format a book for indie release, say. I fold that into the writing schedule in my project plan. It doesn't get counted as 'business', in part, because formatting a book follows logically on the heels of editing for me. I have a background in tagging content, so book formatting makes programmatic sense to me. Mostly. But most other tasks for which I am not qualified - cover art leaps immediately to mind - I 100% advocate hiring out. I feel like there's a sliding scale for return on investment. What you can afford to pay to offload anything that's not writing pays you back in writing time. When you're a broke writer not yet pulling in $$$ on books, it's a very DIY business. So split it up and put on different hats. Write when your write. Market when you market. Be a shark, if that's your thing, when you're working business. Spend money on those things that will give you the biggest ROI - for me that's editors and covers. For someone else, the greatest ROI might come from hiring someone else to format a book because that's black magic. But eventually, the goal is to begin offloading the parts of the process you don't enjoy (and I'm sorry, but if you're imagining hiring ghost writers, maybe consider finding something else to fill your time and drain your bank account?) to vendors or an assistant.

I'll give you a rare glimpse into the author assistant interview process. Spoiler - I think she nailed this interview.

Wishes for Younger Writer Me

 If I remember rightly, this topic might have been my suggestion, and I think I suggested it because at the time I imagined it would be easy to drop a top ten list and waltz away.

You'll notice there's no top ten list.

I've spent the week contemplating what I'd tell younger writer me if I had the chance. It was stuff like 'being published doesn't equal success'. 'Being published does not mean you have it made.' 'Polish up your armor, you're going to need it.' It's all super depressing stuff and the key piece that finally made me pull up short on a "Hey. Wait a minute." was the fact that not a single thing I could think of to say to younger writer me is actionable. 

Maybe I've grown jaded, but cryptic advice without concrete, actionable goals/outcomes aren't worth the breath to utter them. Or the heartbeats spent listening to them. 

So I've had a rethink. What actionable things do I wish I'd known before I'd been published. Okay. I suppose the first piece is that I wish I'd known that agents could do as much harm as good - but the kicker is that there's no way (assuming you've done due diligence around knowing who you're hiring) to know until you're in the situation. The actionable piece to that is to enter into that business relationship with eyes wide open and with the full knowledge that a day may come when one or the other of you may have to sever the relationship.  I wish I'd known to have a plan for both best case AND worst case scenarios regarding options clauses. That means I wish I'd come up with a plan for what I'd do with book three whether my publisher wanted the book or not. I didn't. So I flailed. In hindsight, I perceive how devastating flailing is for me. A writer needs a plan and this writer in particular needs a plan, even if that plan is nothing more than drafting a novel just for the fun of seeing how the characters spark and ignite.

I notice that most of what I wish I could communicate isn't actually about writing, it's about the business thereof. I believed I had a reasonable grounding in the business of publishing because of RWA - and maybe I did, but in no way was I adequately prepared to face some of the challenges that came with being published. It is true that driven by those challenges I took a couple of crash business courses aimed at entrepreneurs. They helped - it was there that I learned to plan for both the best and worst case scenarios. I think if I could only give younger writer me a single piece of actionable advice, it would be to take those business classes before getting published. The ride might still have been bumpy, but it might have involved slightly less flailing. Or maybe different flailing.

That's the thing about changing the past. You never know what kind of snowball effect it'll have on the future. 

Huh.

You know what? I take it all back. If I could tell younger writer me anything, it simply be "Write. Never give up on it. Never give up on you."

A Few of My Favorite Contractors

This week at the SFF Seven we're talking about Contractor Best Practices. And already Charissa, James, and KAK have posted great articles about communication and clear expectations. I whole-heartedly ditto everything they said. 

So, instead of reiterating, I thought I'd share my own favorite contractors. It's a great opportunity to give them a shout-out. One of the best parts of being an author who self-publishes is that you become the source of work for other people. I love that I, by creating words, am a font which then flows money out to the people who do work for me. They are vital parts of my business and I'd hate to be without them.

These days, after years of honing my practices, they're a pretty lean team.

My Assistant

First and foremost, my amazing assistant is the fabulous Carien Ubink, aka book blogger Sullivan McPig. Whenever someone asks what my assistant does for me, I reel off the list and then - for about half an hour afterward - I'm adding "Oh, and she also does this!" We've been working together for years now. (She could tell you how many, which is one of the things she does for me.) She's the best.

My Cover Artist

While I occasionally use other cover artists, my go-to and favorite is Ravven. She's done the majority of my covers and I hope will do many, many more. She has an uncanny ability to take my inadequate descriptions and hand me back a gorgeous cover that exceeds my imagination. She's timely, helpful, goes the extra mile. No one else comes close to her in talent, skill, and clean business practices.

My Proofreader

Crystal Watanabe at Pikko's House handles all of my editorial. She's super fast, thorough, and a delight to work with. She also operates a business that offers the gamut of editorial services. I highly recommend checking out Pikko's House.

My Formatter

Yes, I farm out my formatting - largely because my formatter, Paul Salvette at BB eBooks, is so fantastic. He accommodates my sometimes screechingly tight turnaround times, always doing a stellar job, and with a great attitude. There's nobody I trust more to get the job done right. 

Top 5 Writing Resources

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. This week's topic at the SFF Seven is our Top 5 Writing Resources. I have so many websites, books, and software programs that I love, so it was hard to choose just 5, but I did and I'll tell you why each one made the cut.

1. KM Weiland's Helping Writers Become Authors website. I've linked to KM's story structure series which is one of the very best I've come across. I've read KM's books too, but I refer back to her story structure series any time I get stuck or feel like I need a refresher. Even for those writers who don't plot, understanding story structure can help build much stronger fundamental skills and aid in creating cleaner drafts. There's a ton of other info for writers on this site as well, and I recommend reading as much as possible. Helping Writers Become Authors is truly a one-stop-shop.
2. Jane Friedman's Writing Advice Archive. We won't talk about how long I've followed Jane, but I can tell you that her publishing industry and writing advice is always on point. If you aren't sure how to navigate the publishing world, I highly recommend perusing her Writing Advice Archive. She covers everything from getting started as a writer to rights and legal issues. Most importantly, she's been in this business for 20 years with a vast range of experience, so she knows what she's talking about.
3. Writer Beware. I've had several inquiries lately from new writers about publishing routes, and I was sad to learn that most every person who reached out to me had experienced bad dealings with vanity presses or scams. I was also surprised how many new writers don't realize that you do NOT pay for a literary agent. To make certain you're dealing with a reputable publisher, I advise researching agents, publishers, and editors thoroughly. Writer Beware can help with some of this.
4. Hiveword. Man, how I used Elizabeth Spann Craig's Knowledge Base when I was a newbie writer tiptoeing into this writing world. I can't begin to tell you how beneficial this website (now Hiveword) was for me when I was starting out. I'm pretty sure there isn't anything you won't find here in your writing quest, so if you have a question, hit up this amazing search engine and delve into thousands of writerly articles.
5. Writer Unboxed. This site is excellent for the technical parts of the writing journey, but it also has posts from veteran authors who make you feel far less alone on this journey. They share their insight and struggles, and the community is strong here. I see this site as 'nourishment' for the writer's soul, a very important and often overlooked part of a writer's life.

That's it!! Now go read, research, and write, write, write! 

XOXO,

Best & Worst of Publishing

What is the best and the worst thing about publishing?

Best: Getting to share my stories with the world!

Worst: Most of the world being unaware of the existence of those stories. 

~takes knife through the heart~

~collapses to the floor~

~single tear dribbles down cheek~

Career Leveling Up: What Jeffe Is Doing

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is "Room for Growth." We're discussing one aspect of our writing or publishing careers - that we can control! - that we'd like to improve this year.

This topic is apropos for me right now because I'm in the midst of a push to boost (wedge, shove, or squeeze) my career to a new level. I should caveat that I know I'm doing relatively well. I'm grateful for the success I've realized in my writing career and I never want to lose sight of the fact that many excellent and deserving authors haven't seen the same success. 

But I've reached a real sticking point.

For those who don't know, my husband has early onset Parkinson's Disease. He's over ten years into diagnosis, so while his progression has thankfully been quite slow, he's reached the point where he really can't hold down a job. That leaves supporting our household up to me and my books. I'm stubbornly resisting getting a day job again, so this year will really be the make or break on whether I can make enough money to pay the bills and have a cushion for the future.

So, what have I been doing?

Since I can't bottle lightning - which, I admit, I've kind of been hoping to do as getting a book or series that takes off into the stratosphere would be super nice - I've been learning to *shudder* market and advertise.

I attended Romance Author Mastermind in December. Something I'd been leery of before for many reasons. My bestie and sister author Grace Draven talked me into it and I'm so glad she did! I learned so much from it! Mostly I came to the realization that it would behoove me to treat my business like an actual business. 

The other thing that happened is I completed my contract with St. Martin's Press (all but for page proofs on book 3) and they passed on my option book, which is one I've mentioned, DARK WIZARD. They passed on it - even though my editor loved it and the house loves me - because they feel like they can't move fantasy romance in the print numbers that they'd like to. (They don't care about ebook sales. They want what they can sell at Walmart, which is Cowboy Romance and sweet contemporaries these days - so a tidbit for those of you who write that!) 

Once I got over the initial sad, because I loved working with St. Martin's, I took this as a Sign. While my writing income had been pretty close to 50/50 between Indie and Trad for the last few years, in 2020 that changed to 65% Indie - and my Trad income was only 75% of what it was in 2019. That's not a good trend. At Romance Author Mastermind there were many former Trad authors who been where I am and said they'd made their money switching to Indie. Yes, I've heard this before, too. These people showed the numbers. 

I decided that, instead of taking DARK WIZARD on submission to other Trad houses on submission, I'd self publish it. So, DARK WIZARD, book one in my new series, Bonds of Magic, will come out on February 25, 2021. (I loved writing this freaking book so much that I'd already written the whole thing!) 

(If you want a sneak peek of the cover of DARK WIZARD and what it's about, it will be in my newsletter going out Monday. Sign up here.)

Then, because I'd already planned a new series, Heirs of Magic (unrelated, I didn't realize the series title echoes until too late, ah well), with book one THE GOLDEN GRYPHON AND THE BEAR PRINCE releasing on January 25, 2021. You can preorder it here, or here are some handy buttons.

   

That means in 2021, I'll be taking advantage of the fact that I'm a relatively prolific writer - not writing anything for Trad - and releasing two Indie series. My release schedule will look like this. 

The Golden Gryphon and the Bear Prince (Heirs of Magic 1) 1/25/2021

Dark Wizard (Bonds of Magic 1)                                                 2/25/2021

The Sorceress Queen and the Pirate Rogue (Heirs of Magic 2) 4/19/2021

The Promised Queen (Forgotten Empires 3)                                  5/25/2021

Bright Familiar (Bonds of Magic 2)                                         6/26/2021

The Long Night of the Crystalline Moon (Heirs of Magic 0.5) 7/15/2021

The Dragon's Daughter and the Winter Mage (Heirs of Magic 3) 8/25/2021

Bonds of Magic 3 (Bonds of Magic 3)                                     11/1/2021

The Storm Princess and the Raven King (Heirs of Magic 4)         12/31/2021

Of those, three are already written, so it's not as intense as it looks. Also, because I track my productivity so intensely (something I always recommend all writers do, so we know exactly what we can and can't do), this is a doable writing schedule for me. (Hopefully. I'm pretty sure I can do this, but light a candle for me.)

I'm also doing things like reading books on marketing and advertising! I very much recommend David Gaughran's AMAZON DECODED: A MARKETING GUIDE TO THE KINDLE STORE. It's easy to digest and full of excellent, practical advice, absent the ickier kinds of self-publishing shouting. I bought the Publisher Rocket app and have been taking the online classes on maximizing keywords. 

I'm going all in, people. Wish me luck! (And buy my books :D) 

Indies & Agents

Working with an agent: Would you? Could you? Should you?

As an Indie, I don't work with an agent currently, mostly because there's no need. There's no publisher, studio, or third-party corporation who is trying to buy the rights to my work or to whom I am trying to sell my rights--be it in the US markets or International.

The moment a business of any ilk wants to buy any segment of my rights, that's when I'd look for an agent, or at the very least, an IP lawyer. A business is always out for its best interests, which usually aren't my best interests. I suffer no delusion of being able to outsmart an entire legal department for whom IP contracts are old hat, thus getting an agent who is well experienced (and/or whose agency is) would behoove me.

Would an agent take me on? Possibly, if I already have an offer from a large publisher. Depends on whether there is money to be made--now and in the future--that is worth their time. Would an agent take me on with just the catalog I have and no offers on the table? Oh, gosh no. I have nothing for them to sell.

What if you're that one-in-a-billion unicorn Indie author who is approached by a publisher that wants to buy your already published works to which you still own all rights? Congrats! YES, get an agent before you sign anything. Reputable publishers will not balk at you asking them to hold that thought for two weeks while you secure an agent. When querying agents at that point, be sure to put "Query: Have Offer From [Publisher Name]" in the subject line.

When To Take the Market into Consideration

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is our most frequent story starter -- idea, milieu, character, theme, what-if, trope, editor request, etc.

It's an interesting question because when people ask me in interviews where I start with a story, I always say a particular character or sometimes a specific image. But in reading this week's suggestion, I realized that I've changed on this somewhat. It's not that the ideas themselves don't start for me with characters in a particular situation or image - that's absolutely true - but I also have a LOT of ideas, all dutifully listed in my notes. So, as far as a story starter is concerned, I've realized that it is largely affected by the "editor request" category.

By that I mean, what editors are looking for, what my agent thinks she can sell, what my non-compete agreements allow, or - for self-publishing - what I think readers are most likely to pay me for!

In short, what "prompts" me to start a story these days is a business decision. For traditional publishing, my agent (Sarah Younger at Nancy Yost Literary Agency) and I discuss what steps might best advance my career. We talk about goals, publishing houses, possible advance money. We also have to navigate agreements with my current publishers not to compete with the books I'm doing with them. I really love that she brings this business perspective to the table, because I am trying to making a living with my art.

This is something I discuss with authors when I'm advising them on making decisions about an agent. (I seem to be doing a lot that lately.) One key criterion in choosing an agent is do you want someone who will advise you on your next project this way, taking market considerations into account, or would you rather write your next story without input and give it to them when it's ready?

Both methods are valid, and different artistic temperaments work better with each, or somewhere in between. And agents fall out on the same spectrum.

Also, with my self-publishing career, I could make a choice based on my heart - what story do I really want to get out there? - and I've done that. But when I have an eye on paying the mortgage for the next year, I have to be practical and think about what I can write that I'll love, but that my readers will love, too.

A very long time ago, when I was an aspiring writer with a few publications but not much more, a pro writer friend advised me to enjoy that time. He said being able to write whatever I wanted without practical considerations was a freedom I wouldn't have once I became established.

It was good advice, because that's largely true. As a newbie author when you're still casting about for your voice and what story will work, there IS a tremendous freedom in that, a kind that's worth savoring.

At this point, however, I find that applying practical considerations isn't at all stifling, the way he implied. Instead it helps me filter out all the many wonderful ideas. AND it helps pay the bills.

Win, all around.

****
Speaking of win!

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is our most frequent story starter -- idea, milieu, character, theme, what-if, trope, editor request, etc.

It's an interesting question because when people ask me in interviews where I start with a story, I always say a particular character or sometimes a specific image. But in reading this week's suggestion, I realized that I've changed on this somewhat. It's not that the ideas themselves don't start for me with characters in a particular situation or image - that's absolutely true - but I also have a LOT of ideas, all dutifully listed in my notes. So, as far as a story starter is concerned, I've realized that it is largely affected by the "editor request" category.

By that I mean, what editors are looking for, what my agent thinks she can sell, what my non-compete agreements allow, or - for self-publishing - what I think readers are most likely to pay me for!

In short, what "prompts" me to start a story these days is a business decision. For traditional publishing, my agent (Sarah Younger at Nancy Yost Literary Agency) and I discuss what steps might best advance my career. We talk about goals, publishing houses, possible advance money. We also have to navigate agreements with my current publishers not to compete with the books I'm doing with them. I really love that she brings this business perspective to the table, because I am trying to making a living with my art.

This is something I discuss with authors when I'm advising them on making decisions about an agent. (I seem to be doing a lot that lately.) One key criterion in choosing an agent is do you want someone who will advise you on your next project this way, taking market considerations into account, or would you rather write your next story without input and give it to them when it's ready?

Both methods are valid, and different artistic temperaments work better with each, or somewhere in between. And agents fall out on the same spectrum.

Also, with my self-publishing career, I could make a choice based on my heart - what story do I really want to get out there? - and I've done that. But when I have an eye on paying the mortgage for the next year, I have to be practical and think about what I can write that I'll love, but that my readers will love, too.

A very long time ago, when I was an aspiring writer with a few publications but not much more, a pro writer friend advised me to enjoy that time. He said being able to write whatever I wanted without practical considerations was a freedom I wouldn't have once I became established.

It was good advice, because that's largely true. As a newbie author when you're still casting about for your voice and what story will work, there IS a tremendous freedom in that, a kind that's worth savoring.

At this point, however, I find that applying practical considerations isn't at all stifling, the way he implied. Instead it helps me filter out all the many wonderful ideas. AND it helps pay the bills.

Win, all around.

* * *

Speaking of win!

I'm participating in the Romance for RAICES fundraiser! You can win a critique from me and genre analysis - which means I'll help you figure out the right agent for you, if that's what you're looking for. Such a great cause!

 

Since I suck at prognosticating, here's my wish list instead.

Predicting trends in the writing biz? Me? Oh dear, I’m afraid I’m the last person you’ll want to consult for prognostications. I kind of fail at them.

Back in the querying stage, I did a crudton of research on the market: what was selling, who was selling it, who was writing it, how they were selling it, what the covers looked like, what movies or television shows were sort of like the stuff that was selling. Even that crudton was barely a crumb on the surface of this gigantic, seaming pile of…er, research you can do. And people were there all along the way, advising me to research more, know more, learn more. Ack!

In the end, I learned that I was basically Jon Snow. I knew nothing.

I signed with an agent three years ago, and holy hell has the book business changed since then. No one predicted the convulsion our industry has endured, and I honestly don’t believe anyone has a clear handle on where it’s headed from here. We think trends are toward more optimistic, fluffy stuff. But tomorrow’s news story stands a good chance of yanking the stuffing right out of us. Alternately, if we go dark and current events go darker, I can’t imagine readers are going to follow us down into the pit of despair. And bless them for not.

So since I’m failing so completely to predict, how about I wish instead? That's what futuristic fictioneers do, after all: we build a world to our own spec. And if I were building the near future of the publishing biz, here are a few trends I would like to see:

• More characters of color. Not just because representation matters (though it definitely does), but also because that's the way the world looks. Humans are a wonderfully, wildly diverse lot.
• A resurgence of cyberpunk or more specifically, post-cyberpunk (e.g., Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash). Technology is eating us alive right now in the real world, so fiction where we pwn that stuff would be empowering.
• Gay characters who exist in stories that aren’t about gayness. You know, where they’re just people, peopling. 
• A retreat from trope-stuffing. One or two are fine, but commercial fiction has become overloaded with tropes, and the stories suffer from this bloat. At least we writer types should seek to invert or turn a few tropes sideways. 
• Less mocking. Mockery isn’t funny, and I’m tired of reading books where “comedy” occurs at the expense of someone else. 
• Consent. So much consent. Consent on every page. Heck, a whole cast of characters who are oh-yeah, all-in enthusiastic about the sexytimes. 
• On a related note, I would like the word “mine” in a romantic context to become archaic usage. People don’t belong to each other and are not objects to be won. 
• Actually, instead of stories about horrible characters doing horrible things to each other, how about some books about good people doing awesome things for each other? 
• I mean, if you need stakes and stuff, they can always save the world. I’m so over being told that I as a reader like to see characters making poor life decisions. I don’t. 
• Oh! And this: a gory, blood-spattered, 'bout-time end to cliffhangers.

Yeah. I feel better now. Probably haven't predicted anything at all, but I definitely feel better. How about you? You got anything specific you'd like to show up on your to-be-read pile? 

Picking the Good Ideas for a Novel - How Do You Know?

I just got back from the RT Booklovers Convention in Atlanta. Here's Sonali Dev and Grace Draven, after accepting their awards for best Contemporary Romance and Best Fantasy Romance, respectively. Two of my favorite people, among so many wonderful people at that convention. I had a wonderful time!

“Where do you get your ideas?”

This is a question authors get all the time. And we have a pretty stock answer for it, which is absolutely true, that getting ideas isn’t the hard part. Most authors have tons of ideas stockpiled. While writing one book, we get ideas for something totally different. Sometimes lots of other ideas. The hard part, we say, is in the execution, in actually preserving to write the entire book and do it well.

That’s all true.

But there is another level to it.

What author has not read a book and thought, “Damn, I wish I’d thought of that!” We often look at books our friends and heroes write and wish we’d had that idea. For myself, I have five or six series that I sincerely wish I’d written. A lot of that is in the execution, but they’re also ideas that never occurred to me.

The other piece is that, when we go to those long lists of ideas – on spreadsheets for me, naturally! – it’s not always easy to choose the GOOD ideas.

Ideas are everywhere. GOOD ideas? Maybe not so much.

That’s our topic this week: how do we know which are the GOOD ideas.

Recently I gave my new agent Sarah a long list of possible projects. I think about a dozen, in various stages – most just twinkles in my eyes – of ideas for books and series I could work on. She went through and ranked them in terms of which she thought were the best for me to work on.

That’s part of her job. In this case, “GOOD idea” meant what she thought would be most likely to sell right now. She also filtered in terms of genre, bookshelf placement, future directions of publishing and reading, and her own intuition.

What she ranked #1 was not my personal favorite.

In fact, my personal favorite idea didn’t make her top five.

Does that mean it’s not a GOOD idea? Not necessarily, but it does mean something. When I finding myself wishing that I wish I’d thought of Hunger Games (and what author hasn’t??), I also know that I never would have. It’s not my thing. But, among the stuff that IS my thing, I’m aware that my favorite ideas aren’t always ready for the world. Don’t worry – I keep them! But I put them pretty far back on the shelf in the larder to ferment a little longer.

Every author, no matter where in their career, has to choose among their many ideas. When I was a newbie, aspiring author, this often came down to gut. Sometimes it still does. Nothing wrong with choosing that way. But as we progress in our careers, other factors come into play. I have a couple of series concepts that I might not yet have the chops to pull off. Also, working as a career writer, recognizing what will sell becomes much more important. Things like groceries and electricity need to be paid for.

So, through this lens, a GOOD idea has many parameters. How we recognize those is a combination of intuition, experience, and professional expertise – both our own and from the people we work with.

There’s also that magic something, that just knowing. I’ve had it a few times. Suzanne Collins says she knew about Hunger Games.

I’m looking forward to hearing my fellow authors in the SFF Seven weigh in on how they recognize the GOOD ideas.