Author vs Writer
Sometimes it is difficult for me to determine a topic for this blog. My primary readers are my family and a few friends. This is not a large audience, which means, I am not doing a good job of building my “platform”. Many of the experts I have read and listened to say an author’s success comes from building a social media presence and a large e-mail list. I haven’t done either. But I’m not an author yet. An author is published, so I am just a writer.
When I retired nearly two years ago, I devoted time daily to writing. Initially, I finished the novel I started in 2014. It gave me something to do and kept me out of my wife’s hair. Though my wife says she occasionally resents the time I spend writing, I have completed the first drafts of two novels. I have submitted the first to both beta readers and a developmental editor. The second is being critiqued a chapter at a time by friends in the local writing group.
First Novel Feedback
Feedback on the first novel has been encouraging, with comments like: “You should be very proud of this book. I had such a fun time reading it”; “This was a fantastic read! It ticks all the boxes of a good sci-fi novel; there is definitely an audience of readers out there who would gobble up a book like this.”
However, when it gets down to the details, there is still a lot of work to do. I am a bargain reader. I buy e-books but rarely spend more than $2.99 on a book. Often, I can get books for free through my Amazon Prime account. Before e-books became so popular, I bought used books. Neither of these is conducive to enriching the author.
What I am finding out is how expensive it is to move from being a writer to being an author, whether you publish traditionally or self-publish. I thought I could supplement my retirement income slightly by publishing and selling books.
Today, I am uncertain if I will ever be able to do that. It appears I will spend more to get the first book published than I can expect to earn back in sales. By the time I pay for editors, a cover design, and different software to help in the writing, editing, and formatting process, I will spend upwards of $5,000.00. If I price my e-book at $2.99 on amazon, I need to sell over 2500 books to break even. The competition is fierce, with a minimum of 1,670 new Kindle e-books published every day. (There Are Over 12 Million Kindle Ebooks On Amazon (justpublishingadvice.com))
Last Friday I had a call with the Developmental Editor, (https://www.savannahgilbo.com/), to go through a plan to rewrite my first novel. Her thoughts, though just suggestions, are based on years of experience and technical knowledge. Now, I must get into the hard work of rewriting and editing the draft with a greater focus on the reader. Wish me luck!
Coming Soon
As I go through my rewrite of the first novel, I plan on offering background information on the characters and the story to people who sign up for my email list. Look for these this summer. Until then, if you enjoy reading this blog, please sign up to receive notifications when new posts are added using the pop-up box.
As of February 21st, Going into the Unknown, I have been writing this blog for two years. I honestly didn’t think I could make it this long.