Our true story begins about three years ago when my youngest son decided to use my email address to create a Spotify account. I had also used this email for my Findaway Voices account. Findaway Voices was a distributor I was using to upload the human-narrated audiobooks I have. (Thankfully, I was unable to pay for more than five of them and only managed to narrated two. So I’m not out my entire catalogue at this point.)

But fast forward to this year where we are now at in this story. Findaway Voices is closing. All the audiobooks are moved over to Spotify. Since the email I used in Findaway is the same as the one my son used for his account, guess what happened? He had full control of this new Spotify account, only he doesn’t remember the password, and he hasn’t been over there for three years. I tried looking for a “forget your password” option to at least take full control of the account. Sometimes when you forgot your password, you can get an email allowing you to change the password that way. On the Spotify account, I was unable to find that option. I needed my son’s password, and as I said above, he doesn’t remember it.

I did manage to invite myself through another email, but I could not get access to my audiobooks that way. I tried to remove my son from the administrative dashboard in hopes that it would kick the access directly to me. That ended up with both of us being locked out of it now.

I have already sent an email to Spotify and explained the situation the best I could. I don’t know if it’ll work. All I know is that this business side of writing is a big pain in the butt. I realize this is what I get for not having a publisher. It’s a price I’m willing to pay because I want full creative control over my work.

I was fighting this for most of the day. It’s not resolved. It might never get resolved. I have no idea if Spotify is any good about working with authors. Some places are better than others. I finally came to the conclusion that worrying over this isn’t going to solve anything. I have done everything I can. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out.

Then I got myself ice cream and am eating a small apple pie and a couple pieces of chocolate to help decompress. I rarely eat dessert anymore, and today was a day that I needed it.

A side note that has nothing to do with the business side of writing but contributed to why I’m frustrated at the moment:

The last two weeks have been rough. I spent all last week going with my husband from a family care doctor to an ER doctor to an optometrist to figure out what was happening with his eye. Then I had some stress involving my deaf kid. Deaf people miss so much. They do not read the written language the same way hearing people do. Anyone remember that game of telephone where a group sitting in a circle would whisper something to the person sitting next to them? By the end of the circle, the message was different from what the original person said? It’s like that. The deaf person has a concept of what was said but often lacks the exact context. For someone who grew up hearing, I’m sure the situation is much better. But for someone born deaf, like my son, this is definitely an obstacle. What makes things worse is that some deaf people can misunderstand on their end, too, and they get upset with other people. I have to explain to my son that people did not mean things the way he believes they did. He doesn’t hear the way something is said, and sometimes a person’s facial expression can take on a meaning that really isn’t there. For example, if I am feeling overwhelmed because I woke up late, dropped a plate of food on the floor, and am trying to clean it up before I’m ready to drive him to work, he assumes I am mad at him because of the expression on my face and my frenzied movements. Sometimes we are too late for me to sit and explain exactly why I’m upset. I have to do it later in the day. But that kind of thing does create friction for deaf people.

Back to topic:

I also got news today that Radish is going to be closing its doors at the end of the year. This means I’ll have to go in and remove all of my Radish links. With a hundred books linked up, this is going to take some time. Some of my Barnes and Nobles links don’t work because Barnes and Noble did some adjustments to the urls. I didn’t even get a notice on that one. But I don’t even know how many people actually go to the links. I spent so long on them in the past, and I think it wasn’t even necessary. I think having the links when the book first comes out is good enough, really. I’ve been doing this since 2009, and I have gotten a lot of feedback, but the links are not one of them.

Draft2Digital is now transferring my books from Smashwords to my Draft2Digital dashboard. I hope that goes smoothly. I don’t need another Findaway to Spotify debacle. At the moment, I’m aware that some of the books will be doubled up. There’s supposed to be some way to resolve that. I have bookmarked the information in case I need to use it. But that is going to take a while because I published almost 100 of my books on Smashwords. I do know that Draft2Digital has good customer service, so if I run into problems, I should be able to get the help I need.

So anyway, it’s never a dull moment when you’re an author. You’d think that you could get away with just writing. I remember when I started putting books up on Amazon and Smashwords back in 2009, and I honestly thought I would only be writing.

I guess if I were to talk to someone new at this writing thing today, I’d say this:

Make sure you keep a list of your income and expenses because you need that information for tax time.

The more widely you publish, the more time you’ll need to maintain the books on those platforms, and if a place closes up or transfers to another one, there might be bumps in the road. I am not exclusive to Amazon with their Kindle Unlimited program; however, I can see how being just in one place would simplify things.

On the flip side, being widely available helps to offer a buffer in case something does go wrong on one platform. For example. right now, I am so grateful I have audiobooks available on sites other than Spotify.

Realize that you will not just be writing. You will have to do the business end of things as well. You are not just the writer. You are also the publisher. The work doesn’t stop after you get the cover and editor. Books need to be maintained once in a while. You might need to update back matter. You might need to fix an error. You might need to change a cover or the book description. You might need rewrite the whole thing. If you run into an issue with a retailer, you have to deal with it. It might not be resolved in your favor. (Do all you can but realize you can’t do everything. For example, if Spotify won’t help me, that is something I ultimately have no control over.) But for the most part, you can take care of things without a retailer’s assistance.

Join writing groups so you can have support and advice. The writing community is good about helping each other.

As much as I’d like to say otherwise, your book will probably be pirated. I’ve watched authors run after pirates, but in the end, it’s like playing whack-a-mole. However, an author should never have to deal with someone stealing a book and trying to make money with it on Amazon or some other retailer. That is the worst that’s ever happened to me as an author. Don’t let it stop you from publishing because it’s your dream.

Anyone who tells you that you can’t write a book primarily for yourself is wrong. Yes, you want to share your book with the world because there is bound to be someone who’ll enjoy it. But that’s no reason to avoid writing the book with you as the primarily audience. If you write the book you love, you’ll be more likely to create a much better story than something you’re only writing that “other people” want to read.

So even if there is some unpleasant drama that comes with writing, it’s still worth it because of the books.

Okay, I’m done rambling. I had to get all of that off my chest. I hope it helps someone.