Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 34
August 8, 2019
If You Want to Write for Passion, Get Your Finances in Order
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One thing I noticed with the books that are written to market is that most of them start to sound similar to one another. Why? Because authors can’t afford to take risks with their writing. I know this because when I wrote to market, I went with what was safe. I scanned other books in my genre and picked out stuff (such plot, hero trope, and heroine trope) that seemed to resonated well with the greatest number of people. After a while, I felt boxed in. I felt like I had nothing fresh and new to offer. There were no story ideas that lit my writing self on fire because I’d already exhausted the safe stuff that interested me. I could never write something that went against my core values. I have to be comfortable with everything I write. Because of that, I ran out of things to write a lot faster than other authors would have.
I have noticed that books written to market tend to sell better. Obviously, there is a demand for those books, and they resonate with a lot of people for a reason. Maybe it’s the familiarity factor. I haven’t researched this idea, but the part of me that got a degree in Psychology is intrigued with this. If I had more time on my hands, I would delve further into this particular topic. But suffice it to say, my hypothesis on why writing to market is so lucrative is because most people gravitate toward things that are familiar to them. (Please note I wrote “most” people. There will be outliers. I happen to be an outlier. I hate the same old-same old. I love stuff that’s different, which is probably why I got bored writing to market.) Anyway, I think most people like picking a book where they know what to expect. That’s why I think there’s monetary value in writing to market. When you’re writing to market, you’re hitting up something that has already been established. It’s easier to ride the wave of what’s popular than to take risks with stuff that is different.
If you happen to be a writer who wants to write for passion, I think the path is going to be more difficult. After all the stuff I’ve read over the past 3-4 years, I think that most writers who embrace passion don’t make as much money as those writing to market do.
But there is hope for writers like us. It involves getting our financial house in order. The main reason writers are flocking to writing to marketing is money. If you can lower your dependence on book sales, you will free yourself up to writing what truly matters to you.
I know this isn’t easy. Most of us are not independently wealthy. We have to find a way to pay the bills and buy food. I totally understand because, even with a husband who is working, our four teenage sons eat all the time, and I have to use some of my writing money at the grocery store. But there are some expenses we can all cut back on. It’s a matter of searching them out.
I tracked my expenses for a couple of months like the financial experts suggest, and I was able to trim out some excess. The biggest one was eating out. I don’t enjoy cooking. I do it because it’s cheaper than eating out, and I’m finally at the point where I’m used to it. (In other words, I’m no longer grumbling about having to do it.) I also gave up my cell phone service. I am using a Google phone now. The Google phone hooks up to the internet so you don’t have to pay a telephone company or a cell phone company to use a phone. We cut out satellite. We shop at thrift stores for clothes (except for underwear; I can’t bring myself to wear underwear other people have worn). The Dollar Tree offers the same school supplies other stores do, though I notice even Walmart can be cheaper on some items, like Composition notebooks. I’ve learned to comparison shop and look for coupons. Also, we gave up newer cars to buy two 10+ year old vehicles, and we live in a house that is considered cheap in our area. When we bought the house, it was a fixer upper. We’ve been slowly working on the place as funds allow.
In my opinion, the best way to cut out expenses is to get out of debt because when you’re in debt, you’re making interest payments AND you don’t own the thing you’re paying on yet. Those interest payments can really add up. I know because my husband and I spent most of our 19 years of marriage living under the curse of debt. It wasn’t easy to get out of the debt mindset. When I lost half of my writing income in the span of a year, I realized how dangerous debt was. (For that alone, I can say losing money was a blessing in disguise.)
If you’re a writer who needs their writing income to make money right now, my advice is to write to market and get books out as fast as you can. Then save as much of the money you make as you can. A lot of authors will tell you to spend that money on ads, so be careful on how much you spend if you choose to do ads. I see ads as a short-term boost to sales. Already, some authors are seeing it losing effectiveness. And to be honest, I also think writing to market and publishing books quickly will also lose its effectiveness in the years to come. I just don’t see how the human brain can possibly keep up. I guess you could start farming out writing to ghostwriters, but then, what’s the point of being a writer if you’re having others create the stories for you?
For those who want to write for passion, cutting expenses, getting out of debt, and saving as much as you can are all things you can do to buffer yourself against the ups and downs of the indie publishing business. If you can get multiple streams of income coming in, then you’re in an even better position.
It’s been three years now since I got serious about being intentional with my money. I realized if I wanted to keep writing books, I was going to have to make sacrifices to get there. I needed to make myself as financially independent of book sales as possible. That way I could embrace the passionate side of writing and not worry about trying to market myself to the point where my health or my relationships were affected. I’ve heard of authors who’ve ended up with serious health issues and ending up in divorce because they made the pursuit of sales their main priority. I don’t want to end up like that. So that’s why I started cleaning up my financial house.
The changes I made that helped me get a better financial foundation were gradual. I started with a small change that didn’t scare me too much, and then I slowly added more changes as time went on. I’m still slowly adding more changes. This is a process. At least it’s been a process to me. I can’t go cold turkey on everything at once. I tried it, but I ended up falling back into old spending habits. I had to ease myself into the changes in order to make them permanent. I know Dave Ramsey talks about cutting everything out right away, but that didn’t work for me. If it works for you, then do it. You’ll progress faster than I did.
And now to my final thought on this topic…
When you start to feel discouraged (because the road to progress is never smooth), remind yourself of why you want to write for passion. Write it down if you need to. Get a picture to look at that inspires you to keep going. Print out an email from a reader who encouraged you. Whatever motivates you, do it. This is not going to be easy, but it’s worth it. If your main goal is to write books you love without having to worry about the ups and downs of sales, then getting your financial house in order will help you get there.
August 5, 2019
And This is Why Writing is Fun
This morning, I’m going through and editing what I have so far in The Outlaw’s Bride to get ready for when I start writing later this month. I have half of this book already rewritten. (This was originally The Stagecoach Bride, and I had written it with Stephannie Beman.)
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Anyway, in the new version, Mic and Lillian marry right away, and as they are heading for his remote cabin, they’re having this conversation about how some things in life are unfair, and this makes Lillian think that there are some things outside of a person’s control (such as when they are born and when they die), but then she starts thinking that the one thing a person does control is the choice he/she makes. For example, she made the choice to go to Wyoming when she could have stayed in Virginia and married the man her brother wanted her to be with, but she made the choice to escape because the man wasn’t going to be good to her.
While reading over this scene, I had an “ah-ha” moment because it suddenly occurred to me what the theme of this series is going to be. The overall theme of this series is the power of choice. Every choice we make in our lives, even ones that seem insignificant, stack on top of the choices we made in the past. We’re unable to go back in time and change anything. All we can do is move forward and hope the choices we’re making are going to improve our lives. Also, our choices aren’t independent of those around us. Our choices impact someone in some way. Other people, in turn, make their choices, and those choices end up impacting us. Hence, the chess game analogy.
The characters built within the world Stephannie and I created years ago are in a chess game. The choices all of these characters have made, are making, and will make will change the course of their lives. The only character who is aware of this (at least at the moment) is Lillian. I had written this scene two years ago, and it only dawned on me this morning what was really going on in the scene.
The writing process is done at a subconscious level. The heart of the creative spirit is outside of a writer’s immediate awareness. It’s why a lot of the time, it’s hard to know what a character will say or do until the scene is being written. Sometimes a writer will have an idea of what will happen, but the details don’t come into focus until the writer is immersed in the story. Sometimes a writer can’t see the full ramifications of a character’s choice until they are writing the consequences of that choice. In this way, writing mirrors real life. Just as real life isn’t predictable, a story isn’t predictable either. Look, I write romance. Yes, I know there’s a happy ending. In that way, you could argue my stories are predictable. But the thing is this: how do the characters get to that happy ending. That’s where the appeal in romance comes in. That’s what makes writing fun. The roadmap to the end is unclear when the journey starts. There are often surprises that emerge along the way.
I don’t always find a main theme that emerges in every story or series I write, even though I’m sure they do exist. When those themes occur to me, I remember why writing for the pure joy of writing is the life blood of a writer. These are stories that, I feel, can be read more than once. There will be something new to pick out with each new read-through. I’ve watched movies like this. It seems that no matter how often I’ve watched them, I pick out something new I didn’t notice before.
The best stories are those that are layered. These layers are little nuggets that enrich the story, and I love it when I find stuff like this in my own work because that’s what I aim for when I set out to write something. I like to layer both my individual stories and my series. I view all of my books as a quilt. Each story builds on another in some way. This is why I like crossing over series and inserting small details from series into another.
To me, all of my books are connected. They all take place within the same world. They’re just set in different locations and different time periods. I did put one nugget in with Nelly’s Mail Order Husband which spans time periods, but I don’t know how many people will pick up on it when that book comes out in September. If you have only read my Regencies or if you’ve only read my historical westerns, you’re not going to pick out this particular nugget. (I don’t want to give away the surprise because I think some of you will be delighted when you find it.)
Anyway, that’s what was on my mind this morning while editing The Outlaw’s Bride I had done so far, and I was so excited I came over here to ramble on about it. 
July 30, 2019
I Will be Homeschooling One of my Kids This Year But I Will Also Keep Writing
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Yesterday, I submitted the paperwork with the county superintendent and the school my kid attends letting them know I’m going to homeschool my youngest this year. It wasn’t an easy decision to come to. I’d been bouncing back and forth on the issue since November when it became clear he might not be a good fit for a formal school setting. I think he’ll thrive better in a one-to-one learning environment. My other three will still be going to school. This was their choice, and they benefit from being there, especially my deaf kid who is at a school that helps with transitioning deaf and blind people to the work place.
I don’t know if anyone’s heard of Abecka, but that’s the one I picked because it has an accredited homeschool program. I picked the accredited program option for two reasons. One, if he ends up going to school next year, the transition will be smoother since the core subjects he took was from an accredited program. Two, if we’ll continue homeschooling through high school, the program comes with a diploma that will be recognized by the military. My kid is considering going into the the military after he graduates.
The program has video streaming where the teachers give the lessons, and it comes with all the course work already created for me. This will cut down on the amount of time I have to spend on planning out the homeschool activities. That’s how I’m going to be able to keep writing. I did take some education courses in college after getting my bachelor’s degree in Psychology, so I’m familiar with creating lesson plans and such, but I’d rather use that time writing. The way I see it, this program is designed to take half the burden off the shoulder of the homeschooling parent, and I see no reason not to take the help.
I told the other kids they’re stuck taking the bus to school and taking the bus home to free up more of my time during the day. I want to do everything I can to max out the writing time I’ll have available. I don’t know yet what the schedule will look like, but my plan is to write from 7:30-11am with 15 minute breaks along the way. (When you live out of town, the kids are gone longer than the kids who can walk home. In my case, the kids get picked up by the bus at 7:10 and don’t get back until 4.) I don’t know if I’ll be able to cram four books into this like I was planning, but I know I can do three comfortably because that’s what I’m used to doing in that time frame during the school year.
Thankfully, my kid is going into the 8th grade, so he doesn’t need me to watch him all the time like he did when he was a little guy. He can do more independent work in the mornings if he wants, but it sounds like we can get the lessons he needs done from 11:30-4. If not, I’ll adjust accordingly, and though he might not like the idea, we do have weekends and holidays.
I’m actually looking forward to this. When I first looked into homeschooling back in November, I was in a panic because it seemed so overwhelming. But the more I got adjusted the idea and started telling myself that I could do it, I found myself pressing through the fear. Now I’m excited about it. I’ve already planned out the Art and Music main lesson that will last for an entire semester to complete. I just need to break these down into weekly plans.
One of the things Montana requires for homeschool education is Career Education, and since he wants to write a story, I figured we’d go through the process of publishing a book. We’ll go through doing a first draft, second draft, and (since he’s new to writing) a third draft. He’ll learn the basics of editing. Then we’ll go over the proofing process. After that, we’ll look at making a cover, picking out stock images, fonts for the name and title, coming up with the description, formatting the book in Word, converting to pdf, and then creating the paperback. Don’t worry. This won’t be put up for sale. It’s only for personal use.
There’s a site called The Book Patch that lets people publish books for commercial and personal use. I know Lulu does, too, but I find The Book Patch more user friendly. I’ve used The Book Patch a couple of times, and the quality of their books is excellent. I like them better than what Amazon produces, to be honest. Though, because I have someone out there who is copycatting my paperbacks, I have to have my books published directly through them. Amazon listens better if they can see the book in your dashboard. I use The Book Patch copies for my bookshelf and keep it unlisted to the public.
July 25, 2019
I Resume Writing in the Middle of Next Month!
Before I get into what I’m writing this Fall, I want to let everyone know that Fairest of Them All is available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Apple.
I put it on Google Play for pre-order, but it “needs action” for some reason. I’ll check back on that in a week or two. There’s just too much going on at the moment for me to worry about that.
A quick heads up about Payhip: I will be putting the book up there on August 31, and I’ll offer 50% off over there again. (Payhip doesn’t allow for pre-orders at this time.)
This book is one of my top favorites. I was only able to gloss over key elements in the Snow White fairy tale. The apple, the mirror, the emphasis on beauty, and a villain’s selfishness all play a role in this book. It just doesn’t play it out like it did in Snow White. My characters had their own ideas on how the story should play out, so I wasn’t able to make it line up like the Snow White fairy tale that we’re all familiar with. But Snow White was the original source of inspiration that launched this book.
There is a definite villain, but it’s not obvious who that villain is. It was fun to write this book and wonder up until halfway into it WHO the villain was. Once I found out who it was, I had to go back and revise portions of the story to line up with the final reveal. Honestly, I loved that the person I originally pegged as the villain didn’t turn out to be the bad guy because it kept me on my toes while I continued to write the story. I had to trust my subconscious mind to piece things together at the right time. As always, it did.
If you’d like to pre-order this book, here are the links:
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I’m still working through edits for Nelly’s Mail Order Husband and Forever Yours, so I’ll gloss over those books at this time.
July 21, 2019
Why is Money the Main Objective In the Writing Community?
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This is a personal gripe I have with the writing community as a whole. I’m tired of how obsessed a lot of authors have become over making money. This mindset has crept up in the writing community ever since self-publishing really took off around 2012-2013. I like money just as much as anyone else, and I think it’s great that authors can make money with their books. But everywhere I turn, the emphasis is more on how to make money off of books instead of writing good quality stories.
It wasn’t all that long ago that authors were self-publishing because they loved to write, and they were glad they could have full control over their stories. We could publish books that lined up 100% with our vision for the story.
For example, in 2008, I had submitted Eye of the Beholder to two different publishers. One publisher wanted a lot of angst between Dave and Mary (my two main characters). They didn’t like how much the two characters got along for most of the book. The publisher said it wasn’t a romance unless Dave and Mary had a lot of fights. But that wasn’t who those two characters were, and yes, it was a romance. You don’t need two characters arguing all the time in order for a book to be a romance. You need a love story central to the story and a happy ending. That’s it. I went to another publisher, and this one liked the overall story but wanted a lot more description. I hate tons of description in the books I read. I feel it bogs down the plot, and quite frankly, it bores me to tears. I just want to get to the action. That being the case, why would I write the kind of book I would end up skimming?
So what did I do? I published Eye of the Beholder myself to keep the vision I had for it intact. If I had changed my story to fit what those two publishers wanted, I might have been able to say I had a traditional publisher, but I would have hated the story.
To me, the heart and soul of a story is the writer’s vision for the book. That vision shouldn’t be boxed in by someone else’s opinion. The spirit of self-publishing that existed around the time I started publishing ebooks (2009) was that of freedom. It was freedom to control the story. That was the main objective of every other self-published writer I talked to, and it was why we were excited to finally have a viable avenue to get our books into the world. We were able to make ebooks and paperbacks at no cost. We were able to fulfill a dream many of us had since childhood.
And then money got in the way.
Like I said above, I’m not hating on money. I like it as much as the next person, but I don’t want money to be the reason I keep writing. And yet, this has become the main objective for many authors. Their primary objective isn’t the love of the story. They want to make money.
A friend told me about an author who’s been pretty much taking the same story idea and just repeating it over and over in her other stories. She changes characters’ names and probably a few details, but my friend noticed the stories were pretty much the same. When she asked the author about it, the author told her, “That’s what sells.” This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of this happening. I’ve heard of it at other times in the past, too. There are lots of posts and discussions online dedicated to explaining how authors can write stuff that will appeal to the largest number of people in order to make money. This is why writing to market has become so popular in the community. This is why so many books look a lot alike. Same kind of cover, same kind of title, same kind of description, and same kind of plot. When I was a kid, my music teacher had me sing a song called “Little Boxes,” which was a song about how everyone ends up doing the exact same thing. There’s nothing to distinguish one person from another. They all live in the same houses, do the same jobs, etc. This is what’s happening to a lot of books right now. These books all look and sound just the same. It’s like they were all rolled off the assembly line.
And I’ll add in another example. While I was on Facebook, an author mentioned getting a magazine that was written for indie authors, and the main focus of every single article in this magazine was money. How to make more by using keywords on Amazon. How to make more money by giving public speeches. How to make more money by putting books in Kindle Unlimited. And on and on the articles went. Everything had to do with money. Not a single article had anything to do with writing for the pure joy of writing. There wasn’t anything about improving the craft of storytelling. Nope. It was all about money.
I see this stuff all over the place, and it just makes me sad. Books are supposed to be more than a product to sell. Books should be stories that are so engrossing that the reader becomes a part of the story. The reader should be so immersed in the story that they shouldn’t even be aware they’re even reading. As soon as I get bored of a book, I move on. I don’t go to the end. But give me a book that makes me dive right into the story, and I’m the happiest reader in the world.
That is what should be a writer’s main objective. It should be telling a story that is so compelling that it consumes all of the senses while writing it. This is passion in its purest form, and it is the most wonderful feeling in the entire world. These are stories that mean something. These are stories that satisfy. These are stories that have made self-publishing perfect for so many writers. These should be stories the writer falls in love with. The characters should be a part of the writer who writes them, and the characters should feel like family.
It shouldn’t all boil down to money.
This is why I say self-publishing is going to decline. But it’s going to decline with authors who are only in it for the money. The money has already started drying up. The gold rush of self-publishing is over. Those who love to write will stick around because they’re in it for the right reason. The human spirit was created to find fulfillment in life, and money (in the end) isn’t going to satisfy in the long run. But writing for the love of it will.
July 16, 2019
Redefining Success as a Writer
But is it really?
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My 8th grader took a class called Financial Literacy this past school year, and the very first assignment was to answer the question, “What is wealth?” On the surface, the natural response is, “Wealth is having a lot of money.”And that is what I first told the kid. But then, I realized that is a very superficial definition of wealth. Wealth doesn’t have to be about money. It can be so much more than that, and really, it should be viewed as more than that.
This is true in all areas of life. A person who has a chronic illness might say real wealth is having good health. A parent who loses a child would probably say real wealth is not losing a child. A person who needs a wheelchair once told me, “I’d give anything to be able to get up and walk on my own two legs.” So really, what is wealth?
I propose that wealth is different depending on who you talk to. Since I deal with writing, I’m going to apply this topic to defining real wealth as a writer.
I’ve written books to market with the goal being making money, and I obtained it. I’ve written books to appease my critics, and I obtained it. I submitted two books to an indie ebook award competition and won first place for one book and second place for another book. I feel like King Solomon in the Book of Ecclesiastes. He spent all this time seeking fulfillment on things like pleasure and work, and in the end, he came to the conclusion that it was all vanity and grasping for the wind. All of the stuff I’ve done over the years has been just like that. I look at it all, and I find no real lasting fulfillment in any of it.
There’s only one thing I’ve found fulfillment in, and it’s writing the story I want to write. It’s pursuing what is in my heart.
So, as a writer, what is real success? Is it not to be fulfilled? Isn’t it the ability to look back on what you’ve written and say to yourself, “I’m glad I wrote that book”?
Sales swing up and down. Pleasing the critic only lasts for a short time because you might not be able to please them again. The thrill of hitting a sales ranking at a retailer or getting an award quickly wears off. You’re left wondering, “Can I do this again? Have I fizzled out?” These things are all temporary forms of happiness. They are temporary forms of success. And no matter what heights you reach, there will always be someone who does better than you. Someone will write a better book. Someone will sell better. Someone will get a better award. Someone will please your critic more than you. Eventually, it will happen, if it hasn’t already.
And then what? Will you quit writing because you were unable to keep up the version of success you have formed in your mind?
A lot of writers do that. They give up. They throw in the towel. They move on to something else. They figure it’s better to stop than to invest in stories that will truly make them wealthy. They have lost sight of the fact that real wealth isn’t about money or another person’s opinion.
Real wealth, real success, as a writer comes when YOU are happy with your book.
If you can speak passionately about your own stories, then you are a writing success. These are your stories. They don’t belong to someone else. As writers, we often fall into the trap of focusing on things we can’t control. We can’t control who reads the book, who likes the book, or how well the book sells. And pursuing those items outside of our control leads to frustration. Frustration leads to anger, which leads to resentment, and then ends up in depression. Pursuing factors outside of your control will kill your enthusiasm. It will destroy your passion. How do I know this? Because I’ve been through it. I spent two years in that crazy cycle of pursuing things that were outside of my control. It almost killed my ability to ever write again.
If you give yourself completely to your story, you will be blessed in ways that override the external rewards. Joy comes from within, not from without. No one can make you happy. You have to do it for yourself. As a writer, the only thing you have complete control over is your story. At the end of the day, if no one else cares about your story but you love it, that story was worth writing.
I’ve written almost 80 romances (I’m almost at 100 books if we count other genres), and I have never once regretted writing a book that was written for passion. I go back to reread those books once in a while, and I’m glad I wrote them. That is when you know you’ve succeeded. And if someone else happens to pick up your books and also enjoy them, that is just icing on an already delicious cake.
So I encourage you to redefine the truth worth of your stories. Think beyond the temporary satisfaction of the moment. Think long term. Think of what you want to have on your bookshelf years from now. The money isn’t always going to be there. (No book stays at the top forever. Sooner or later, even the best selling books come down from the charts.) But that story will always remain. It’s permanent. If you wrote stories that truly satisfy you, then, in my opinion, you are a wealthy writer.
July 14, 2019
The Wedding Pact is Available!
This is Book 3 in the Marriage by Fairytale Series!
Here are the books in the series:
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I am adding a 5th book, and that will be The Duke’s Secluded Bride. I don’t have a cover for it yet but should soon. I don’t know if there will be a Book 6 or not. I wasn’t originally planning on a Book 5 until the idea came to me last month. So we’ll see how things go.
As a quick note, I want to say that I’ve had a lot of fun with this series. It’s been my experiment with gothic elements within a romance, and I’m very pleased by how it’s turning out. In my opinion, each book in the series keeps getting better and better. My personal favorite is Fairest of Them All, which will be out next month.
Here’s the description for The Wedding Pact:
On her 21st birthday, Ophelia was due to marry her guardian. Only she didn’t know it.
Miss Ophelia Crowe has led an extremely sheltered life. After her parents died when she was five, she went to live at her guardian’s country estate. She went on to live a life where everything was managed for her. From what she could wear to what activities she could do, each and every day had been carefully structured by the servants.
The problem was, she didn’t know who her guardian was.
Until the morning of her 21st birthday when the maids present her to him looking more like a doll than a lady who would like to have a say in her future. And a doll is exactly the way he treats her. She comes to realize just how much he’s structured her life so that she’s been trained to be the kind of wife he wants.
Well, she’s decided she won’t marry him. In a bold move, she runs off on a horse in the night in order to escape the fate everyone has set out for her ever since she was a child.
All Vicar Julian Roskin wants is to lead a quiet life. He’s caused enough trouble in the past. He doesn’t need any more problems. But, late one night, his safe and predictable world is turned upside down when a beautiful young lady ends up on his doorstep in need of protection. Protection, in this case, will require him to marry her.
Reason tells him not to do it. Nothing good can come from marriage to a lady he doesn’t know anything about. But something about her demands he take her up on her offer. Dare he take the risk, or should he do everything he can to send her back?
This is loosely inspired by the Little Red Riding Hood story.
It’s available at these places:
Payhip (use the coupon 9G1N1NDJ8Z to get 50% off) – offer only good through July 16
July 12, 2019
Thoughts on Ghostwriting
This post is just my opinion on the topic of ghostwriting.
There are two main reasons I can see someone using a ghostwriter.
1. You have a story idea or know a nonfiction subject matter really well, BUT you aren’t good at communicating those thoughts through writing.
Some people have a ton of great ideas, but their strength just isn’t in presenting it in written form. Communicating through the written word is a craft that comes more easily to some people than others. This isn’t to say you can’t learn the craft. You can. But sometimes it’s not practical to devote the time and effort needed to learn a craft. It could be that you’re better off using that time and effort into something else that is a strength for you already. A ghostwriter can assist in this area by taking the burden of that job off of your hands.
Going along with the idea of writing not being someone’s strength, let’s say that you also hate writing. To you, it’s a chore you’d rather not deal with. You don’t have the desire to even learn the craft. But you still have some ideas that you’d like to offer the world in written form. Maybe you’re a great speaker, so you can give online presentations and give public speeches, but you also want to have your material available in written form for people who’d rather read it. In this case, a ghostwriter can be a good thing.
2. It’s best for your business.
There’s a growing trend in the indie writing community that involves the use of ghostwriters. Indie publishing has done away with the myth that excellent writers can’t write fast. A lot of them do. But even a fast writer needs a break. People aren’t machines. They can’t write all the time. The human brain needs time to relax. So writers who rely on their writing income to make a living might find it necessary to hire ghostwriters.
Earlier this week, I saw a posting for ghostwriters wanted. This was specifically for the romance genre, and the ghostwriter would be expected to write about a certain word count a week and had to be able to commit to writing an entire series for the author who hired them. The ghostwriter would have to agree to receive no credit for the work.
I think we’re seeing a growing need for ghostwriters in the indie community because of the increased pressure authors feel to get more and more books out. And the fact is that some retailers reward a rapid publishing schedule. The quicker you can get books out, the better your chances are of making more money. Also, I hear a lot of romance readers say they read 1-2 books a day. I can see how speed gets rewarded with money. The more books an author puts out, the more money they usually make. And if this author has done a great job of building up a fan base, then it makes sense to put out as many books as possible.
We can argue the ethics of a fiction writer using a ghostwriter all day long, but my point is that if you’re a business-minded person, you’re going to do what is best for your business. The truth is, it is harder to sell books if you’re writing at a slower pace AND if you don’t write to market. I’ve been tracking financially successful romance authors for years now, and it’s become clear to me that to better your odds of making money, you need to get books out quicker AND write to market. Right now, I’m seeing authors producing a book or two a month. Some do it more frequently than that.
I think a wise author is going to utilize the help of a quality ghostwriter to maintain this kind of production because if the author doesn’t, the author risks doing serious harm to their health, their sanity, and/or their relationships. The human mind was not created to act like a machine. It requires breaks. Our minds are connected to our bodies, so it’s best to take care of both. If you don’t give yourself time to rest, something is going to give.
Just the other day I was watching a You Tube video where this very issue came up, and I think it’s worth listening to. I’m linking to it below. Sarra Cannon mentions an author she knows who ended up in the hospital due to major fatigue and burnout. This is a good moment to reflect on the dangers of pushing yourself to write too much to often. Start at 14:56 and goes through until 16:10 to hear her warning. (If you want to listen to the other stuff she has to say, feel free. It’s a great video.)
When you take care of yourself, you’re taking care of your business.
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The reason I can see someone not using a ghostwriter.
To help give this blog post some balance, I will add a thought on why a writer should not get a ghostwriter.
I’m the kind of writer who needs the story to be exactly the way I want it to be. This is why I went into self-publishing to begin with. I wanted 100% control over my story. I didn’t want a publisher coming in and telling me to change anything.
A ghostwriter is providing a service, but they are the ones creating the story. Even if an author gives them the idea, they’re executing it, and in my experience, two people can start with the very same idea (say a plot where a father is forcing his daughter to get married to someone she doesn’t want). Regardless of the fact these people are using the exact same plot idea, the two will produce two different stories. There might be some similar points along the way, but in the end, the story is unique because the creative mind takes all kinds of twists and turns along the way.
Characters evolve as the story is being told, and what one character does for one author, another character one won’t for the other author. That’s because each person writing the book is coming at the plot idea with two distinct personalities, two distinct backgrounds, and two distinct likes/dislikes. The subconscious mind takes over the creative process in subtle ways. That’s why you won’t get the same exact story from the same plot idea.
That’s the beauty of storytelling, and it’s why I love it so much. I never know what will happen. Each story starts out as a blank map that is filled in along the way. Granted, I don’t plot first, but I imagine even when a writer sits down to plot, they don’t know everything that’s going to happen when they start plotting on a blank piece of paper. That stuff usually gets filled in as the story comes together in the writer’s mind.
So if I were to tell a ghostwriter, “This is my idea, and I want Character A to be like this and Character B to be like this,” I doubt the ghostwriter would write the exact story I want, and I would not be happy with the story. I would have to rewrite the story so that I’m satisfied with it. If that’s the same case with you, a ghostwriter probably isn’t good for you, and it’s a good reason not to use one.
July 8, 2019
What if Someone is Trying to Claim Copyright to a Book You Wrote? (Update)
This is just an update on the scenario I recently ran into when someone stole one of my paperback books, published it as if they were me, and then claimed that I stole the book.
My paperback book is safe and sound on Amazon, and I got the scammer’s stolen book removed!
That’s the short and sweet of the update. But I thought I’d share some other things that are going on in my mind right now regarding the importance of protecting our copyright.
As it turns out, there is an alarming trend where thieves or scammers (whatever you want to call them) are taking paperback books and publishing them. Their goal is to get people to buy that book and make money off of it. This, in turn, will make it so that the legitimate author does not get paid. It’s a scam. Another author shared this blog post detailing it on Facebook. But to make long story short, I’m not the only one who’s been hit by this. The thing that made my situation unique was that the scammer actually sent Amazon a takedown notice on my own book. (For those unaware, a takedown notice is basically a “copyright infringement” claim. You’re accusing another person of stealing your work.)
As a quick disclaimer, Amazon is not the only retailer that is vulnerable to scams. I remember last year (or was it two years ago?) when scammers were taking a lot of Kindle Unlimited (KU) books and publishing them on Apple. (Most authors in KU can’t have that ebook anywhere but Amazon.) In that scenario, the scammer was pretending to be the publishing house for those books. These authors found out about this, and as far as I know, they were able to get rid of those scammers. I haven’t heard of anything since. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t something going on. It’s just that I’m not aware of it.
Anyway, I know most authors won’t heed my advice about registering the copyright of your books based on the cost, but I still highly recommend it. The paperback book that was stolen from me makes me $0 a year. But it’s my book. I wrote it. The characters are a part of me. The story means something to me. To see someone steal my characters who were in my story was a lot more painful to go through than any of the income losses I’ve taken over the last few years. It was like someone came after one of my kids. I had to fight to protect it, just as I’d fight for one of my kids.
To me, paying $55 to protect one of my books is worth it because it was my first line of defense against the scammer. A second line would have been contacting a copyright lawyer. Back in 2011, I hadn’t registered any of my books with the US Copyright Office because I didn’t think anyone would steal them and try to sell them. But I was wrong. I had three books stolen and put up for sale by someone pretending to be me. These were the ebook versions. Amazon did remove two of those books, but they weren’t removing the third one because I had only published it on Smashwords. It was only a few pages long, and it wasn’t a romance. I saw no point in having it on Amazon. It cost me about $100 to get a copyright lawyer to contact Amazon in order to get that book removed because I didn’t have a Certificate of Registration to prove I was the copyright holder.
I guess you could argue that since I have over 90 books total out there (and all copyrighted) that I have paid way more over the years than I would pay a lawyer, and you’d be right. Seeing a lawyer would be cheaper. But these books are going to outlive me, and their copyright will extend beyond my lifetime. Someone is going to have to deal with my books after I die, and if I can make their life easier by having registered my copyrights, then that is a gift I gladly give to them. Also, I don’t know which book(s) the next scammer will pick. It’s in my best interest (and my estate’s best interest) to protect all of them.
I don’t think I’ve seen the last of these scammers. They hit me in 2011 and again in 2012 (2012 was under a pen name’s books). And they’ve now hit me again. I’m not negative. I’m actually a positive person. But I am a realist. If this has already happened to me three times now in the past 11 years since I first got my feet wet with CreateSpace (which used to be Amazon’s paperback publishing platform) and in the past 10 years that I’ve been in ebooks, it’s likely that I’ll have to go through this again.
All I can say is that having registered my copyright made things a lot easier than they did when I didn’t. This time around, I scanned in the Certificate of Registration I got from the US Copyright Office and sent it to Amazon. Amazon kept the paperback up. After that, I went to the copyright infringement form on Amazon’s site and filled it out on the scammer’s copy of my paperback book. I was able to give Amazon the registration number for the book that came from the US Copyright Office. (There was no option to scan the form in again and send it to them.) It took a week, but the scammer’s copy is now gone. I appreciate the fact that Amazon worked with me on this issue, and I truly believe one of the reasons they did was because I had registered my book with the US Copyright Office.
I’m sharing this information in case anyone needs it in the future or will run into someone who will need this information.
July 5, 2019
Swapping Out One of the Books on my “To Write” List for This Fall
Marcy’s cousin’s book (This is a Regency.)
I finally decided to call The Duke’s Secluded Bride. (I don’t have a cover for this yet, but I have contacted the cover artist about working on it.) It’ll be Book 5 in the Marriage by Fairytale Series. This series has been my experiment in a more gothic type of setting, and I’ve been having so much fun with it that I’m reluctant to part from it. I don’t know if there will be a Book 6, but I know there will be a Book 5.
The Outlaw’s Bride and The Rancher’s Wife (These are historical westerns.)
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These are Book 1 and Book 2 in the Wyoming Series.
I have to go back and reread what I’ve written so far of The Outlaw’s Bride because I haven’t touched this one in two years.
***
Now for the one I’m swapping out…
Okay, so the book I had to ditch was the historical western idea of the woman with the kid(s) who marries the guy with no memory. I do want to get to this story at some point because I like the premise.
But this is what happened…
I was on the Period Images website looking for a picture of the couple who best fit for historical western idea above. I find it a lot easier to write a book if I have the cover to look at. Anyway, I noticed that Period Images now has a gallery of pre-made book covers. All I would have to do is add the text, name, and/or series (or logo).
And as I was scrolling through the images, I found the perfect pre-made cover for Miss Lilly Lowell and Mr. Morris. They initially showed up in The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife. Lilly was Claire’s superficial sister who wanted a to marry a titled gentleman for the prestige, and poor Mr. Morris had been desperately trying to get her to marry him. Now, I knew they would ultimately end up together, but the details always eluded me. I knew she would do something to trick him into marriage. I just never knew what the trick was or how things would play out. So I was unable to write the book.
After spending all these years looking for the right plot to come along for their book, I saw the pre-made cover on Period Images that made everything click into place. The title came to me, and then I thought, “That’s Lilly and Mr. Morris’ book!”
And I knew Lilly will end up doing a lot of things a proper young lady isn’t supposed to do in order to win the favor of Mr. Morris. I plan to bring in a single Lord Edon and a single Mr. Robinson. This book will take place between the events in The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife and A Most Unsuitable Earl. So we’ll get to see Lord Edon when he was playing the role of a rake, which will be a lot of fun. I love Lord Edon, especially when he’s with Mr. Robinson. I’m not sure what other characters I can weave in.
So far, I have a request for Lord Toplyn, and I think I can bring him in, though it’ll probably be in a small way. The main characters will be Lilly, Mr. Morris, Lord Edon, Mr. Robinson, and someone who is close to Mr. Morris (a friend, sister, brother, etc.). Anyone got any Regency character you’d like me to bring in? I can’t promise I’ll be able to do it, but I’ll try.
Okay, so now for the cover reveal:
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A quick side note: I am currently rereading The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife where Lilly and Mr. Morris are introduced, and I chuckled when I realized Lilly was a blonde in that book. Stuff like that gets missed when an author’s been away from a book for a few years. I love the cover as is, and I want the woman to keep her dark hair in it. I’m going to have Lilly wear a blonde wig because she thinks blonde hair makes her more beautiful. That’s the way I’m going to explain away the different hair color. I’ll be looking for other little details during the course of reading through The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife.
Back to the post…
I have no idea if this book will be part of a series or a standalone. I’m going to write it and let the story lead me wherever it wants to. I’m tired of trying to come up with a series every time I start a book that is not #2, 3, 4, etc down the series line. I find it easier to relax and just write the story if I’m not worried about what happens after the book is done.
