Maybe She Was Born Lucky. Maybe She Worked Her Butt Off

1 Image credit by PIRO4D from Pixabay

 

In any creative field, there are those who stand out, and publishing is no different. You know who I mean; we call them overnight successes or media sensations, and talk about how they breezed through the publishing process. We refer to their work as lightning in a bottle, because of course the acclaim and attention it’s receiving is a one-off. There’s no way the critical acclaim and subsequent popularity could be the result of something as mundane as hard work.

And yet, it almost always is.

The thing is, when hard work pays off it invariably looks like luck. Why that is I’ll never know, but I’ve seen it happen time and again. For instance, a friend of mine started out ghost writing ten years ago, and back then she made about one hundred dollars per book. Now she makes in excess of ten thousand dollars per book, and has worked with some of the biggest names in publishing. 

Another friend of mine (see how I’m not naming names? That’s another aspect of luck—I know enough about the legal system to keep myself from getting sued for libel) released an unconventional YA book that shot up the charts, was translated into multiple languages, spawned three sequels and many reprints, and is currently being made into a movie. All the articles touting her “overnight success”—her luckiness—conveniently ignored the first five books she’d released in the same genre.

2 image credit: by Adina Voicu from Pixabay

Therefore, my friends, I must conclude that the appearance of luck is really the result of many months, years, or even decades of hard work. This may seem daunting at first, but I rather enjoy the concept. Any one of us can improve our chances of success by working hard, honing our craft, and continuing to put one foot in front of the other.

And that is how we make our own luck.

How do you make your own luck? Tell us in the comments, and as always, happy reading!

 Jennifer Allis Provost writes books about faeries, orcs and elves. Zombies, too. She grew up in the wilds of Western Massachusetts and had read every book in the local library by age twelve. (It was a small library.) An early love of mythology and folklore led to her epic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Parthalan, and her day job as a cubicle monkey helped shape her urban fantasy, Copper Girl. When she’s not writing about things that go bump in the night (and sometimes during the day) she’s working on her MFA in Creative Nonfiction. Get to know Jenn at https://authorjenniferallisprovost.com

Jenn’s latest release, Oleander, is available here: https://books2read.com/poisongarden-oleander

Luck Fuel

 How do we know that Marcella is back at the day job full time and that all the projects are on fire? 

She forgets everything. Everything. 

My humble apologies. But. To answer the question: Luck or Hard work

Luck is lovely and you definitely need all of it you can get in this business, but hard work is what makes luck in the first place. Working hard is luck fuel. Stockpile that stuff.

Serendipity and Success - Acknowledging the Reality

 

A lil reminder that my FALLING UNDER trilogy is now re-released and on Kindle Unlimited! These books are NOT fantasy, but are contemporary erotic romance. If that's the kind of thing you like, then you may like these! 

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is hard work vs. luck as applies to authorial success.

One of my least favorite pieces of advice from successful authors is when they declare something along the lines of "Just write a good book!" This happens a lot with debut authors, happily reveling in the out-of-the-gate success of their first effort. I say this because authors who've had lots of trunked books or only midlist success almost never say this.

Why?

Because they know that writing a good book isn't enough.

Yes, writing a good book is key. Improving our craft as authors is critically important. That's where the hard work comes in. At least, one kind of hard work, the foundational kind. If the books aren't written and revised and polished to the best of our ability, there's nothing to sell. 

On the other hand... luck is a huge factor in publishing. It just IS. That's why I roll my eyes at any successful author who fails to acknowledge the role of serendipity in their rise to (relative) fame and glory. As human beings - especially ones with egos sufficient to withstand the slings and arrows of creative life, which is rife with downs as well as ups - we like to credit ourselves with being awesome. Are we fortunate or are we just that good?

We'd all like to think we're just that good.

The thing is, lots of creators are really good. And lots of good books go nowhere. Acknowledging the role of serendipity in success not only keeps us humble - remember that ego is the enemy! - but also should reassure us when things don't go our way. Authors careers, as previously noted, are rife with ups and downs. We can't control the luck. What we CAN do is work hard and put ourselves out there so the luck can find us. 

Best of luck to you all!

93% Hard Work; 7% Luck

 This Week's Topic: Luck vs Hard Work

“Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity"

-- Roman philosopher Senec

I have to agree with ol' Senec on this one. There's a lot of luck needed to be successful in any business, but no amount of luck will propel you to the commercial heights of King, Steel, Roberts, or Patterson if you don't put in the hard work. With an ever-moving goalpost of what defines success for each of us at various stages of our career, we simply cannot sit on our laurels hoping for "the call" that will vault us into the next level of achievement. Would I love to have a Scalzi or Bardugo eight-figure publishing deal? Suuuuure. Would I be beyond giddy if Netflix or Amazon purchased, produced, and aired one of my series? Yup, yup, yup.

Do I have the sales to attract that sphere of attention? [slaps thigh, dies laughing] Erm, no. Do I have the fan base or critically-placed influencer to put my work in front of the right people? Not that I'm aware. [Yo, I love the fans I do have!] Do I have the angel investor whose resources will ensure my licensed work will survive the gauntlet through the graveyard of abandoned projects? Again, no. [I keep checking the feathers in my yard, but they all came from buzzards. Sigh.]

So many things go wrong behind the scenes over which authors have zero control, be it a traditional 2-book publishing deal or a tv-rights purchase. For the sake of my sanity, I can only stress about the things I can control. The rest is up to...luck. 

There are chances I missed because I wasn't ready for them. I thought I was, but no. I hadn't done the work that would've made me eligible, much less competitive. There is no one to blame for that but myself. Opportunity knocked and I couldn't answer. Sucked, no doubt. Lessons learned the hard way are effective motivations, though. So, now, I put in the hard work. I focus on what I can control. Regardless of whether fortune will favor me, I continue the write, to improve my craft, to organically grow my fan base, and to build a revenue-generating backlist that proves to myself that I've done the best I can.

Should luck visit on the heels of opportunity, I hope to be ready this time. After all, success is 93% hard work and 7% luck. 

What I Do for Health Insurance Rant

Funny that health insurance should be our topic today. I'm in the process of navigating the travesty that passes for healthcare in these United States. I'm up for a hip replacement. I'm going to physical therapy first because I'm a firm believer that strengthening muscles around a bad joint might delay the necessity of surgery and if it can't, it will only speed the recovery from said surgery. But. Today, someone who works in a teaching hospital associated with a local university sat me down, looked me in the eye and said, "Get a second opinion." I must have looked blank. She shook her head at me and said, "Listen. Everyone in a medical specialty is making a Porsche payment. Don't be someone's Porsche payment."

I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. You'd like to believe that healthcare is there to care about you, but all too often, I find that isn't the whole story. Or even most of it. I think long and hard about the story of getting a hip replacement in Portugal. Surely you know this one. It goes:

For what it would cost to get a hip replaced in the USA, I could move to Portugal for a year, rent an apartment for that time, see all the sights, learn to speak Portuguese, even. Then I could have my hip replaced in a state of the art medical facility, pay cash, stay for two more months to recover, and STILL have paid less that what a hip replacement in the USA would cost.

We're all being taken advantage of in this country. Health insurance feels like a scam that could finally put a Nigerian prince to shame. Still. The alternative is ruin. So. We carry health insurance. I'm lucky. My partner is employed by a company involved in the healthcare industry so our insurance is -- reasonable. They don't like me much because I'm kinda complicated. They like to come at me from time to time with tsking letters about what providers I choose to see because I'm not impressed by their doc-in-a-box preferences. But for the most part, we get along while eyeing one another with distaste and distrust. Their current 'it's a benefit' shill is trying to assign me a nurse to 'help' me manage my healthcare. The sales person who called to get me to accept the 'benefit' made the mistake of mentioning that the nurse could give me all kinds of information about where I could go to get care. Heh heh. Yeah, no, nameless health insurance company. I'm not playing your game of asking permission to manage my own well being, thanks. 

There are a few reasons that I might one day leave the USA to live elsewhere but let me assure you this Machiavellian structure we call 'health care' is right at the tippy top of the list

The Good and the Bad of Writing

 Health Insurance

Last week I was invited to a friend’s house for lunch because she wrote a book!!! She had so many questions about next steps and her options. It got me all excited talking about the book world and how unique it is! 

Sadly, it’s not all champagne and chocolates and health insurance, our topic of the week, is one of them. 

I’m blessed to have a husband with a corporate job that provides medical coverage. My chronic disease isn’t very common, though sadly it seems to be on the rise, and requires specialists and what feels like endless lab testing. So yes, we pay my providers well for being out of network. It’s part of life. 

I don’t want anyone to jump into the book world and be blindsided. Which means authors need to talk about what it’s really like being an author. The good and the bad. And being mindful of healthcare costs while weighing the pros and cons of jobs and careers is important. 

But let’s not let the negatives overshadow the positives. Talking with my friend brought me back to my beginning and reminded me how excited I was to learn all about the book process and discover communities of people working towards the same goals. Listen to the words to the wise comments, but don’t let it diminish your joy! 

May your weened be filled with words and maybe some eggs!

Announcing My Mentoring Patreon! Also Health Insurance

 Exciting news! I've officially opened my Patreon: Jeffe's Closet, A Mentoring Community for Newbie, Intermediate, & Expert Authors. The Patreon leads directly to a Discord community where all kinds of conversations will occur. I'm super excited to make this into a vibrant community. Right now the Discord is open, but pretty quiet - which means you'll get a lot of personal attention from me. Come and join in!

As far as our topic this week, what we do for health insurance, I self-insure. As a full-time author, I have no employer to provide me with health insurance (or other benefits). My husband took early retirement from his career and was insured through them for quite some time, though each year the premium was sucking up more and more of his retirement stipend. Soon we were going to have to pay in - ugh! Then the concierge health insurance service became available through SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association). SFWA collaborated with other writers' organizations to make this service available to our members. I was able to transfer my husband onto insurance via the Affordable Care Marketplace - and both of us together ended up paying over $1K LESS EVERY MONTH. I'm a fan! Thank you, Obama - seriously. 

Health Insurance: It's Private

 This Week's Topic: Health Insurance

It's likely you, dear readers, don't want to endure my lengthy diatribe on the rapacious US Health Industry, our longstanding corporate death panels, the staggering increases in insurance premiums so the insurance companies can rake in over $350Billion in annual revenue, private equity firms crippling private practices with undue administrative burdens, how the hulking medical complex routinely punishes the unmarried, nor my objections to religious groups operating medical facilities (thus imposing their beliefs on anyone seeking care).

Instead, I'll share what I --a single, self-employed, not-incorporated-- author does about the necessary evil that is health insurance. I have private insurance that is not through the ACA Marketplace. I got it after I left corporate, before the ACA was a thing. It is not part of a guild-sponsored program, so I can't speak to whether those are cost-savers or not. Naturally, I did (and continue to) look into plans offered by the ACA; however, aside from ridiculously high deductibles, the bigger problem is finding doctors who accept that insurance. I'm fortunate to live in a city where hospitals and medical specialists abound, yet it is still a struggle to find practices that accept ACA-provided insurance. Alas, my health insurance is more expensive than the mortgage I have on a 3br townhouse in an urban historic district in a major metro area. This year (last week, as matter of fact) my insurance company informed me of a 30% increase in my premium. 

30% Increase
30%
The national inflation rate
that incited political and cultural warfare was 7% by comparison

Funny how insurance companies send out those premium-increase notices after the ACA Marketplace open enrollment closes, eh? Yes, it makes me incandescent with rage that we have no recourse. Yes, I'm aware that the ridiculous congressionally-sanctioned robbery that is health insurance is all that stands between me and bankruptcy caused by medical expenses. Yes, I know there are tax deductions that can be taken, however, one still has to pay the premiums even if book sales are at rock bottom. 

Do I wish our federal and state governments would overhaul our healthcare system? Gods yes. Health Insurance is the greatest fraud and extortion perpetrated upon the US population.