Tina Boscha

(Phew. A long time between postings. Sorry. Work and promo and being sick suck up a lot of time.)

Amid all of the work that goes into getting the word about my novel, I’ve also been reading blogs by other self-pubbed authors as well as articles on self-pubbing.  It seems that within the span of a year the tone has shifted dramatically. It used to be, “Join in and ride the wave! There’s nothing but success to be found!” and now is, “Can you survive amid the stampede of self-pubbed authors rushing their books to the public?” (I like the idea of a stampede, but I confess it is not original to me.) Then we have Konrath bowing out of blogging directly (for good reasons), those who wrote “how to self-pub” books changing their tune about it (also for good reasons), and rumors of Amazon kowtowing to the Big Six.

Where does this leave me, the new self-pubbed author with just seven weeks of her book being live under her belt? Should I hang up my keyboard and call it a day?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the answer, and it’s tied to bigger questions in my life anyway, about how I define myself, who I ultimately answer to, and where I want to go with this writing thing. And I’ve decided that it leaves me just where I am: a new self-pubbed author with seven weeks of experience.

What I mean to say is that for me, I have to forge my own path and develop my own sense of patience here. I never went in thinking this was going to be easy and I would instantly make money. Before I ever uploaded my novel, I realized pretty quickly that publishing is a LOT of work. (I will post on that another day, but writing is just one piece of the puzzle. Formatting is its own beast… Anyway, I digress.) I knew that I wasn’t going to be an overnight success and that it would take work. Seven weeks in and every day I wake up with another idea or another person to contact about marketing or reviewing my book.

I can choose to listen to many successful writers who tell newbies like me that we must develop our brand, we must put out three books a year, we must develop a four year step-by-step plan to stay eight steps ahead…. All this is pretty sound advice, actually. Plan ahead, write, put out books and build yourself a list. It’s worked for many, and I don’t write to disparage anyone. Clearly I have a lot to learn in this business. But I do object to the tone. It seems as if I’m told that I’m doomed if I don’t do this. Suddenly the ride is over and you better hope and pray (and write AND publish three or more books per year while you’re at it) that you still have a chance. That tone, that “uh oh, now you’re screwed, sorry you came in too late” isn’t helpful and actually can be counter-productive.

For me, I can’t write three books per year. I have a FT job and another PT on top of it. I have a home, a husband, kids, and pets. I could neglect sleep, but then all of my work and my health would suffer. I also don’t have a series, and honestly, for me to try to put out three literary or three historical or three YA books or one of each would yield some pretty crappy results. Beyond that, to plan four years ahead is next to impossible, when I am just trying to go day-by-day. To many, that is a foolish way to approach business. I get that. It’s not that I am doing this willy-nilly; I do have set ideas of what I want to accomplish and I certainly have definite goals. But I find that if I don’t meet an objective by the time I think I should, I end up feeling panicky and scared. And when I feel panicky and scared, all I’m putting out into the world is negativity and all I’m giving myself is stress.

So this is what I have come to believe about that falling sky: it’s not falling but right where it’s always been. It’s me who could fall or keep walking. At the end of the day, I believe I have a shot at success because I believe in my book. I believe it is well-written and that readers will respond to it. (I shared tears with someone yesterday over the ending; it was a pretty spectacular moment!!!!) And this is my plan: every day, do at least three things to get the word out about my book.  Write 250 words on the next book. And most of all, let go of any predetermined outcome (which means to stop obsessing over sales) and instead, feel and express gratitude for what I’ve achieved so far, and for the possibilities to come. This isn’t easy, but it feels right.

After all, if I - we - have taken control over our own publishing destinies, it only makes sense to take control over how we feel about them.