Why Write? Why Not! 4 - It's about Passion

Part of the Passion is sharing.  My next book is set here!

When I say I’m an indie writer, people often ask, “Do you sell a lot of books?”  Which makes me smile. Not really important. I don’t count them.  I don't pay for advertising, I'm not famous, and I won’t sit outside the bookstores peddling my wares. When a new book comes out, there will be anywhere between twenty and forty sales that month and then it tapers off to a couple a month.

I don’t have to count them to know they sell. At the end of the month, royalties are paid and I know that I must have sold ten books last month. (Which is cool as I only put out 2 books last year and one is not even on the market because it's still waiting for some translation work from my partner.)

The separate payment stubs meant that one was an eBook and the other nine were paper or hard backs, but I didn’t run to my author dashboard to analyze which was which.  Because what I love is writing and telling stories.

If I worked for someone else - say - a publisher, I’d have to chase the statistics to sell more. I’d have to go to book signings or do podcasts. And that would be the death knell to how much fun I have dreaming up new stories. To use my favorite French expression of disgust, “Beurk!”

I love the fact that I control every aspect of creating my novels except for the costs of printing. But at least I get to choose how much or how little I make on the royalty.  And I love that.  I keep my prices down because I can.  I choose to make a dollar or a euro per sale.  That seems fair to me.  I've more than made back what I put into it.

There was a cyclone blowing outside -
but I was in another world 

My real reward is that day I first hold the book in my hand. Plus I am an impatient soul. Life is short. I could never deal with the delays, restraints, and finality of being published by a company - assuming I could find one who would want my mixed bag writing style.

 And why did I not go the traditional route and send off my books to the big 5 publishers or even all those little ones? Easy, I did. Back in 2005, when I wrote the first draft of CSA, I naively sent my manuscript to over 20 US publishers at great expense. I was based in France and if I had wanted those 300 pages back I needed to send a return postage. I didn’t. Months later and for the next year, the rejects trickled in.  These photocopied, standardized text notes with my book title inserted were disheartening. My husband told me it was unimportant and to keep writing for the love of writing.  If I needed to make money, I could tutor French people in English!

Since then, I've read a lot on the subject. Only 1 to 2% of new writers get published by the big companies.  Thousands of unsolicited manuscripts arrive at the major publishing houses every day.  These go into directly into huge "slush" piles.  The odds are large that when the lowly lackey who sorts the unsolicited manuscripts reaches yours they will glance at it and note that you are not Kylie Jenner nor have you climbed Mount Everest with only one prosthetic leg and put it on the 98% stack to receive a standard, “Thank you for considering our Publishing House. Unfortunately your submission doesn’t fit our needs. Good luck with your future writing projects.” 

Why our readers loved the blog... the south of France!

Fast forward, 5 years and 3 books into "writing for the love of it," my husband and I started a column for Yahoo about life in France. I was really writing it for my mom who was terminally ill and wanted me to be “Published.”  To our surprise, over 700 people checked out our first blog on day 1.  By the end of a week thousands had. We kept writing and even made a little money - about 45 dollars a month!

I realized the readers didn't care that I wasn't famous - they enjoyed the stories.  I decided to go Indie with the goal of selling affordable books.  I would publish my own work for no cost up front with KDP. It was the right thing for me.

As I said I am an impatient soul. Being published by a company - assuming one could get published - is a long process. The average time is 9 months to 2 years to wait after finding one who says, "Yes!"

Everyone has a story and people love to share and to be a part of other people's lives.  We're only here for a little while - so why not?  Your personal success or mine does not depend of finishing anything.  Success is breathing and being.  It's the doing and dreaming that give us real satisfaction.  

It's all about finding your joy.

You know what? Every post you put out there is a personal expression of who you are and the freedom we have to share.  It's amazing! 

 I'm rarely there on Instagram or Twitter but when I do get there I see an astonishing outpouring of what it is to be human.  Facebook is where I feel like I'm part of a family of friends, a few of whom I've never met.  

Keep on chasing your passion.  Keep on sharing your stories and know that I'll be checking in because I love hearing about the way life looks through your eyes.  

PS And yeah, guess-ti-mating from my royalties, it's somewhere over nine hundred books sold online so far.  And you know what?  That's way more than I ever expected!

My homework this month - learning about Fauvism for the next book.
And this is why I love to write.

Click here to return to the main page

Or to go the the last essay