Sunday, June 8, 2014

Writing is a Career - So Why Are You Looking For a Job?

These days, unless you have an impressive list of awards and award show invites with your name on them, you may as well load the ink into your arm. When does 'writing' become the job that qualifies as a career - the honorable author not the cliche excuse? To your family, its when the sales and bank deposit slips equal the best job you could get  - in today's market and with the skills you already have. For the author, its often the moment you discover your first novel has sold, or when it is sitting on the library's shelf among all the favorites you read as a child.

Writing novels takes time. It requires a dedication not just to writing but also to marketing.  Having a book out often adds to your workload a complete list of duties which a publisher's marketing department has in-house but that you may be expected to do on your own.  Add
children, pets, housework, fitness, and other hobbies - more novels - and there just isn't enough time to move your book up the best-seller list - to those sales slips your family demands.

Moving from Fledgling Writer to Bestselling Author in a Busy World

Here is a list of worthy suggestions when your email hasn't been hacked by aliens and your writing hasn't been stolen by Templeton, hustled off to Charlotte to rescue criminally insane pigs, anyway. If you're still with me, then read ahead:

1. Grants
2. Magazines like Sunset
3. Blogs
4. Paid-to-Blog Sites
5. Kickstarter and other crowd-funding websites
6. Since you're already becoming SEO, SMS, and verified review saavy all on your own - why not try     Fiverr for gigs to help others?
7. Monetize your blog! Become an Amazon Associate or vendor.
8. Your mom's Christmas newsletter, but that's all ink in your veins. Afterall, you can always build a tent with all that paper, right?! And live under it.

If that list sounded discouraging, here is a list to help you keep going and places to turn for advise:



1.  Amanda Hocking - Best-selling Amazon Author, got her start in self-publishing
2.  CJ Lyons - Self-Published Best-Selling Author, New York Times Best Sellers List
3.  Joanna Penn - The Creative Penn.  Her YouTube Channel has advise on just about every topic in the book selling process.
4.  Crush it with Kindle - Book, YouTube Channel, and DVD series.
5.  Kindle Books' YouTube Channel - great advise.
6.  Fiverr.com - gigs that help authors who don't want to go it alone or are unsure about the marketing process in the book selling industry. (I mean, we shouldn't have to know everything, right?!)  These Fiverr's are pros - and you can do it with their help.
7.  PRweb.com - authors can purchase a little or a lot at the PR bar offered here.

The BEST place to turn when not sure if you should keep going? Read your book to children.  Their giggles and their comments will just help you keep going.  You can't deny the best review - when a child requests your book from the shelf at reading hour.  This last one keeps me going, and it's why I've been straight with you - write about the farm and the aliens, but don't let either take over your life.

Author is my job title.  Selling my books is my business.  Writing novels is my livelyhood. Mother's gasps are stifled among the pages I write.

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