Late in 2011 I decided to self-publish after a series of weather mishaps that threatened to end my writing for good. That book, under a previous pen name ultimately became Undone. It was the right decision for me at the time and I'm not sorry I went that direction, even though there have been so many changes in the market since. I seem to always be at the end of a trend. ;)
So, I published my little book expecting big things... then pretty much walked away. Not on purpose; my business required my time more than ever, but honestly, I didn't know what I was doing. Finding one little book on Amazon is like finding a particular grain of sand on that beach. I was learning about the footprint theory, and I learned a lot from that experience. In 2014 with more books under my belt, both partials and final drafts, I decided to restart my writing career. I started fresh with a new pen name, set a goal to publish three books before the Romance Novel Convention in July and three by the end of the year. I accomplished that goal and didn't see any reason why I couldn't continue at that pace for a couple years.I made a small spreadsheet to brainstorm my prospective minimum and maximum word counts for the year (by month). It was an eye opener. It can be adjusted on the fly when you see something coming up like a two week trip, busy summer plans, or a heavy workload. It's a wonderful tool to encourage you when you think your writing isn't getting anywhere. When I convert my smaller total into books, I get two or three novels, one or two novellas, or a possibility of 3-5 books for the year with the minimum written.
I anticipated being able to follow my "maximum" guidelines but then it was like Tom Brokaw came on TV saying, "We interrupt this lofty writing plan to announce some major changes in your dayjob, your husband's health, and the hit to your writerly budget. Oh, and by the way, did you forget to factor in the maintenance of your published books? social media? promo? newsletters? new covers, formatting and uploading revised books and new books? Add to that, scheduling of events and followup with readers and other authors?"
Boy, did I! In 2015, I only published 4 books (the reason for that second column ;) It took seven months to write the first one but it got done.)In December, I decided to remove my books from KDP select and put everything on Kobo, Nook, Itunes and ARe as well to widen my readership and hopefully increase sales. This took almost three months because there was constant correcting of files, pricing, descriptions, formats, links, "also by" pages... the list goes on.
By mid March my business was in FULL swing and I was again behind on book 5 of my paranormal series. So here I am having just put my newest book, Take These Broken Wings, up for preorder on those sites for September.
Once again I'm reminded that I can only do what I can do and have a semi-balanced life. Still the long range plan is to keep adding to that footprint. As of now, I have published eleven books. Hopefully, by the end of next next year, I'll be closer to twenty, but who knows? Life has a funny way of getting in the way.
Self-publishing is very hard work. You're the "man" no matter how things go. And if you're in it for the long haul, you just gotta keep plugging until you look over your shoulder and see a nice wide footprint.
Can you share your experience with publishing either traditional or self-publishing? Do you struggle to stay on track? I'm here to tell you - You CAN do this! Just don't give up.
Baby steps are better than no steps.
See all my books at http://liviaquinn.com/book.html
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