An aspiring author asked...

Hi folks!

An aspiring young author who knows I self- publish contacted me this week, asking about making time to write and the difficulty of writing while not knowing if my work would be profitable. These are very good questions, so I figured I'd post my response here in the hopes of helping anyone else who might have the same concerns. (the person's name has been removed out of respect for their privacy).

Hi [name]! Really glad you like my books.

I feel your pain. Don't be too hard on yourself. For one thing, as a new writer, you have to write a book, usually more than one, before you can get an agent, and even if you do and then actually get a publishing deal, you don't know if the book will be profitable. I know plenty of trad published authors who are still working day jobs with from two to as many as 9 books out. Conversely, I know several self-pub authors who make a very good living off of a few as one or two books. You just never know. The important thing is to write and get the work out there, whether through submitting to agents or self-publishing.

As for time, I still have my day job, so I only get between 1.5 and 4 hours a day to write, none at all on some days. My goal is to write between 1000 to 1500 words a day. I outline first so that helps, but it doesn't matter if the words are good. Just get them down, don't mess with them. The nuance comes in rewriting.

I hope this helps!