Ask the Author discussion

Did you know that Stephen Crane of “Red Badge of Courage” fame sold his share in a house he co-owned in Asbury Park, NJ to “self-finance” his first book titled, “Maggie, A Girl of the Streets?”

I have no idea if that book was good or not so good, but Crane’s experience enforces the basic principal in writing, keep plugging away and don’t let anyone discourage you or mock your self published book.

Richard Brawer
www.richardbrawer.com

I agree, Richard. Every day authors are achieving success by self publishing. Always remember a good story needs a good cover and the work of a good editor.

Patrick Parker

Hear hear! (golf clap).

Owww...I just sold my apartment. Should I go full time with my short stories?

S. wrote: "Owww...I just sold my apartment. Should I go full time with my short stories?"

It is not about going all out to become "full time author living off the earnings of novels" but rather about not being deterred from making your books become published art. I wouldn't quit the day job, everybody needs a secure income to feed the dragons that are "hunger" and "publishing"

Richard wrote: "Did you know that Stephen Crane of “Red Badge of Courage” fame sold his share in a house he co-owned in Asbury Park, NJ to “self-finance” his first book titled, “Maggie, A Girl of the Streets?”

I ..."

I love to hear these stories. There's tons of them and it really is encouraging. And Patrick is right, writers need a great cover and a professional editor. I suspect that those who skip these steps on the way to self-publish are the ones who give indies a bad name. Too bad because some of the most talented and creative people I know are indie authors.

Very brave, Stephen Crane.

This year I've self published ten books. I work full time and write full time. Sometimes I sleep. The point is to write, to tell a good story, to share those good stories with others in order to make them feel what your characters are feeling. My day is work day job from 7:45 - 5:00 go home and write until 11 or 12, mix, stir, repeat. On the weekends, I edit, produce, market, and write. The hardest part of all of this is balancing out all of that with my husband and three adult daughters and all of my other family and friends. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I could no more stop writing than I could stop breathing.

Eileen, you are an inspiration to us all!

Eileen wrote: "This year I've self published ten books. I work full time and write full time. Sometimes I sleep. The point is to write, to tell a good story, to share those good stories with others in order to..."
Wow! I'm blown away. That's impressive. Richard is right, you're an inspiration. I hope to publish ten books in this lifetime. You've done it in a year.

I've been writing poetry, stories for a long time. I had three poetry books (from ten or fifteen years of writing). I also had four books finished that I'd get to traditional publishers and they just never follow through to a contract. So there was a backlog of publishable material. I finished my second bachelor's degree last December and swore this year was going to be about WRITING! It has been. Now I'm working on marketing, writing, sales, writing, editing, writing... I use KDP, Createspace and Smashwords. They make it simple (ish) to publish... Sometimes you just have to jump in the deep end of the pool and hope your swim rings will keep you afloat.

Eileen wrote: "I've been writing poetry, stories for a long time. I had three poetry books (from ten or fifteen years of writing). I also had four books finished that I'd get to traditional publishers and they j..."
It's still impressive. My goal is three a year! Sci-fi, particularly sci-fi romance) is growing, by the way. I think it may be the next 'in' sub-genre. If I'm right, you'll be ahead of the pack.

And yes, I know, write what you love should come first, but writing what you love in a genre that sells is always a happy circumstance!

My Wayfarer series I wrote for my daughter. She loves space romance adventure. I've got three books out. I just finished writing the fourth. I was going to work on another project but the opening for the fifth book popped into my head. I had to write it... Right now I'm 35000 into the novel and hope to finish by the end of the week. These novels are about 50K long. Short, fast, fun... I love these characters and the stories that go with them. The original is one of my best selling books. I just need to figure out how to market them better... marketing is my nemesis right now.

It's tough sometimes for me to stay as motivated with the business end of writing as I am with my character development! I am enjoying the camaraderie of the Indie Author community, which helps a lot.

Carly Ellen wrote: "It's tough sometimes for me to stay as motivated with the business end of writing as I am with my character development! I am enjoying the camaraderie of the Indie Author community, which helps a lot."

Me too. I schedule it. Sunday morning I spent two hours doing sales analysis of what is selling and where. I can tell you 56% of my books sell on Amazon and my top three sellers are Moon Affirmations, Secret Past, and Wayfarer. The next step is to take this information and determine how to market. The question I'm mulling is - do I spend money on the books that are selling well to bring them more sales or do I assume they are doing okay and spend the money on the other books to help them do better?

Currently my marketing plan is minimal - post on blog, post on web site... I do get my blog onto Twitter and Facebook and post notices about updates to my web site on those two as well. My problem - I'm shy and don't like social media. I have to constantly remind myself that I control what goes out there and what people see and that it is a "business" persona (of sorts - it's me but without the very private parts)

Thank you for this, Richard! It is exactly what I needed to hear today. :)

I've noticed a delay in my foreign payments but not the US payments. I know there is an email option with them but try to get them to call you - you might get more direct action that way.