Okay, so it’s not quite two years, and as an author I’m not even as successful as the breath you take before saying J.K Rowling, but despite not becoming an overnight publishing success I’ve learnt a lot. I’m going to start out by saying that I didn’t really invest in the traditional publishing route when it came time to publish my books. I very briefly attempted to sign up with a literary agent, and after one kindly worded rejection, a whole lot of research, and what I believe was a gentle nudge from God, I decided that self-publishing was going to be the way I launched my books into the world, and then right or wrong, I did it.
I don’t know what the typical self-published author looks like, or even what the typical traditionally published author looks like. But I am a thirty something female with two children, a budget that covers the essentials (along with a few luxuries) , a bit of time to play with, and a life that won’t live itself. Which means that for me spending money on my writing has to be very carefully weighed, and I still need to be able to live a life I love while I do it. In this blog series I plan on talking about the things I constantly see in writing circles, the tools I’ve used, the problems I’ve encountered, and the solutions I utilised (or am trying) as I navigate this author journey. One of the prevailing things I have heard as I’ve worked towards writing and releasing my stories into the world is that “You have to spend money to make money”. This ‘revolutionary’ nugget is sometimes replaced with “You need to invest in your trade” or more simply “Buy my course” or “Pay for my essential service” . I’m not saying these things are bad, paying for a service can often render you an incredible product and it’s a heck of a lot easier than doing it yourself, but for some of us it’s just not realistic. I also want to suggest that you can ‘invest in yourself’ without spending any money at all. If you are anything like me then you want to invest in your author business. It is likely that you would really love to pay a cover artist, an editor, a website builder, a personal assistant and all the other people to create and do the things that will make your book a monumental success. Chances are you would be pretty darn happy if you made a modest but regular wage from your writing (rather than being obscenely wealthy though I can’t imagine you’d say no to that either) and were able to focus all your passion and attention on producing books rather than maintaining the avenues that help to sell your books. It is also possible that like me you have looked at the price tags attached to these services, opened your wallet and heard wind blowing the tumbleweeds through the expanse of emptiness that lays in the valley between the leather of your wallets mouth. There are plenty of people who have said to me that I need to take a ‘risk’ and spend the $5,000 - $10,000 dollars and ‘invest’ in my writing to be successful. Generally I agree with them. Perhaps to be financially successful I do need to spend money. But for now, not creating debt, ensuring my children are fed, and knowing I have enough cash so that my bills are paid on time (or at all) will always trump paying for editing services or doing a course that will help me ‘make a million dollars in passive income’. Just in case I’m not clear, I want to make sure you understand that I don’t believe getting into debt will make me successful as an author. I don’t believe that spending money I don’t have will ensure I make any money at the other end, not even the money to pay back my ‘investment’. Family is my first priority and their needs outweigh the needs of my book babies. Given that most people are members of families and care for living breathing creatures (this is very true going by all the authors with cat and dog writing ‘assistants’)I don’t think I’m the only author who has looked at the financial cost, looked at the impact on my family and said NO, I won’t be doing that. I am certain I’m not the only one who has had to decide if publishing is for them or not. Or the only one who when deciding they they would publish independently knew that they wanted to make their book as good as it could be, even if they had to act as editor, artist, marketer and every other job that goes hand in hand with creating content from start to finish. So, over the next few weeks I’m going to go into what you can do to help you write, edit, create cover art, publish and do any other book related actions that I can think of. Which means I want to invite you to ask questions, to share experiences, and to journey with me into becoming the best low/no budget author you can be. Im looking forward to doing this journey with you, and praying that what I share helps you to feel supported as you grow as an author, even if you don’t have two coins to rub together. God Bless Karla
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Karla RoseI'm a Christian, a wife, and a mother of two living in the wonderful Waikato Archives
April 2021
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