Career writing vs Hobby writing
Slow progress, is still progress
Today I listened to Sterling and Stone’s podcast on strategies for mid-list authors, however, what I gained from it was invaluable to the point where I wanted to write a response.
In the indie community, there’s a lot of talk of writing to market, marketing strategies and how to earn the most from your books. There are some stellar writers who can write a book a month, there are some earning six figures from their writing and there’s a growing number can make a living from their writing. But what this podcast episode highlighted for me was focussing on where you are on your writer’s journey. I recommend putting on the kettle, getting comfy and checking it out here, before reading the rest of this post. Don’t worry I’ll wait…
…you’re back? Great, hi! How are you? So now that you’ve caught up, what struck me about this episode of SPP is that it hit the nail on the head for me. I am a writer and an author but at the moment this is a hobby. I still have a 40 hour a weekday job that takes up a lot of my time and energy, but it’s something to be grateful for; it allows for social connections, I can pay my bills and fund my author dreams, and for now, that’s enough. I don’t think I’m in a place in my life where I would want to write full time and that’s for a number of reasons – the most important being that I live on my own and have a limited social circle here in Auckland, who all work day jobs. If I work for myself then I fear I’d lose the social connection that a career brings. Also, writing for me is fun and creative, it’s something to enjoy and if I turn it into a job and all about money, sales and book rankings then is there much joy in that? Yes, it’s good when you sell a book and are in a top 100 list but what if that’s not every day, is writing then a bad thing? No, because that’s the marketing side of writing, rather than the actual writing itself.
For me what I love about writing, is that I can create something from nothing, I can invent characters, places, situations and drama. I can create stories that I want to read and haven’t been able to find out there and if they’re any good, then I can get them to the point where I can share them with others to enjoy. My ‘why’ with writing has been to bring more LGBTQ+ characters into literature and help them become more mainstream and make queer literature accessible for everyone to enjoy. At the end of the day, I write characters and books that feature (at least in this case) lesbian heroes because I want more lesbian heroes in the world and change some of the negative connotation that can come with lesbianism (thanks, adult entertainment industry!). If I become focused on writing to market, and the sales and the figures, then history would suggest taking the queerness out of my stories because straight characters tend to sell better (this may not always be the case but generally speaking it’s an easier sell).
My intention is to put storytelling first
I’m in the process of producing two further books in my series and I imagine those are the only two books that I’ll publish this year, and that’s great! Three books in technically one year of publishing, while working full time (based on a September to September calendar) is a huge accomplishment. I will do some work on marketing when all three books are out but I want to focus on craft and becoming a great storyteller, rather than a great marketer who can cobble together an okay story. There are some who are masters at both but in finding balance, my intention is to put storytelling first.
Long term, yes I want to build a brand and have a good range of books available to readers. But I want to be proud of every single book I put out, and I want it to be true to me, think of it like a campfire, I want people to come round my campfire because of the experience they’ll have when they’re there. If they get told a crappy story, then they’ll go find someone else’s campfire. Make your campfire something people will want to bring hot cocoa, blankets and marshmallows to and I’m pretty sure that’ll be way more satisfying than someone who showed up and left within 30 seconds.
If I have limited time writing because of my day job then I want to be writing the story my heart wants to tell. I’m happy considering this is a hobby that I might make some money from and help build my credibility as a storyteller. As for the indie community, they’re such a great bunch, and I hope that while we continue to learn tactics and how to sell books, I hope we always circle back to how to tell a great story and build a campfire around our books, because that lasts longer than a short-term sales spike and feeds our soul and creativity for much longer.
Where are you on your writing journey? Do you write for yourself or to market? And if you listened to the episode, what was your takeaway?
Happy writing!
