Selling My First Book

This morning started pretty normally.  I drove to work, got coffee, and checked my email.  Hazily noting five new messages, I sorted and deleted them appropriately.  Something nagged at the back of my mind.  I checked the folder I've been sending all of my ebook information.  A new email had arrived today containing "requested" information.  Click.

"As per your request, we are writing to notify you of a sale."

My fatigue dissipated in about .3 seconds.  I have sold a book.  I can't believe it.  I really did it.

That 82 cents felt like more than my entire check for the last two weeks of clerical work.  I really wrote and sold a book.  Maybe it was a short story, and maybe it was erotica, but I wrote it, and now I have made money off of it. 

I don't think anything could have motivated me more than this one, beautiful event.  I sat down and wrote half of another story, created a cover for it, and wrote up the short blurbs of information required for posting.  Now I feel like I have an idea of what I'm doing correctly.  I have plans to adjust the cover of my first piece, which honestly just looks tacky in comparison to the second work.  The third work easily fits the cover theme, and I'm really just moving along so much more smoothly than I ever would have thought.

Is that 82 cents going to pay my power bill?  No, probably not.  And maybe this seems insignificant to you, either as an author of hundreds or thousands of sales, or as someone who's never been drawn to writing.  And that's ok.  But to me, this is a special, precious moment in time.  For the first time, I feel like a professional.  I can say I made something out of pretty much nothing.

If you are looking into writing, let me tell you that is a wonderful, rewarding thing.  My first work didn't sell, in the way I had it prepared.  So I tweaked things in the second piece, listened to and watched advice videos, and came up with something more attractive to the world.  Just keep going.  If I can do it, so can you.

So, You Want to be a Writer

Maybe you've always been an avid reader.  Maybe your story needs to reach the eyes of thousands.  Maybe you're just bored.

Whatever the reason, you've decided you want to be a writer.  First, congratulations!  You've committed to endeavoring a fantastic journey of discovery and fortune.  No one else will experience the same world you do, and only you can give that gift to others.

But how do you start?

1. Get out your keyboard, or pen and paper.
2. Put words on the page.
3. Save frequently.

That's all there is to it.  Don't stress about what you're writing, or what people will think.  That can all come later.  For now, just write.  Write about what you enjoy.  Stream of consciousness is fine, or dialogue, or blog posts.  Anything to loosen your wrist and get the creative juices going.

After spending some time getting words down, you'll start to ask yourself why.  Why are you doing this?  Why are you writing?  Write about that, too.  Journals are great practice.  Try to isolate your motivation and purpose.  For most writers, motivation lies in one of the following:

• Passion
• Money
• Relaxation

How and what you eventually write will vary, depending on which of these you choose to push you.  I'll briefly explain where to start from each of these three viewpoints.

Passion
Writing because you love it.  Writing to get your story out to the world.  Writing for the sake of writing itself.  The purest form of script, and the most flawed.  When passion motivates your writing, it's hard to adjust your story to be more accessible by the readers.  Passionate writers make beautiful things, but may be too stubborn to go anywhere with it.
The passionate writer should write what burns inside them, and subject it to the scorn of other passionate writers- these are the only people with enough fire to burn you back when you reject their criticism.  Join writing forums, and partner up with a small group of people.  Make an active effort to listen to what others tell you!

Money
Fame, fortune, and living happily ever after.  All writers want this to some extent, but for a chunk of the writing population, this can be a primary motivator.  Writers working to put bread on the table tend to be goal-oriented, use popular themes, and have the most to lose.  Do not take up the pen and forsake your job lightly- not everybody makes it in the writing world.
If you're writing for money, whatever you do, do not up and quit your job.  It may take years to earn enough income to cover your normal costs of living  Writing for money involves more time and research than other methods.  First, research what sells, and what's currently popular.  For example, I enjoy writing fantasy and science fiction, but there are hundreds of thousands of undiscovered fantasy writers in the world, and they really don't sell well.  Instead, I launched my writing career with fantasy erotica, which sells exceptionally well at a certain price point.  Do your research, and learn to sell.

Relaxation
Writing after work.  Writing before bed.  Writing because your doctor told you to write.  These works may never be complete, but you'll feel better just because you spent time on them.  Many writers fall into this category without realizing it.  You may never be rich or famous, but you will be happy.
If you're writing for pleasure and comfort, my advice is never to show the writing to anyone.  The moment you unveil your pages, you open yourself to criticism; with criticism come anxiety.  If you feel you must reach out to people, start a blog and disable comments.  Contact individual authors and friends and specify, very clearly, that you are looking for positive reinforcement.  Even if you think your work is the next big hit, keep it under wraps.  Having confidence in your work is good.  That means writing is having the desired therapeutic effect.  If you start introducing anxiety to the process, it will lose that effect, and you'll be forced to find a new relaxation outlet.  Just be careful.



Until next time, darlings,
Countess Maxine