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Do You Still Enjoy Writing? (And What to Do if You Don’t) [Guest Post]

February 1st, 2012 by Guest Poster

The following is a guest post from Michael W. Roberts and an entry in February’s Self-Publishing Writing Contest. Voting for the winner will begin on Thursday, February 9th. Want to help out your fellow indie authors? Consider entering March’s contest!

Why do you write?

What is it that gets you out of bed in the morning or keeps you up all too late to get your story written?

Is it the love of the craft? Is it the thrill of a finished project?

Would you still write if there was no way you could ever get paid for it?

I have to make a confession. I’m terribly ruthless when it comes to deciding how I spend my time. If I pursue an artistic endeavor such as writing, I’m always thinking of how I can capitalize on it. (If I can make money from it, then clearly I’m not wasting my time. Right?)

  • Maybe I can write a short story and sell it.
  • Maybe I can write an ebook and become an internet sensation.
  • Maybe, just maybe, I could become a professional author.

In short, I bleed the fun out of the craft by primarily focusing on the end benefits of the art. Wanting success isn’t wrong. But when it’s all you want, there’s a problem.

You know, I might be able to make it work for a while. I tell myself I’m focused on my goals, so it’s okay if I’m not enjoying writing. It’s okay that I constantly envy the success of other writers. It’s okay if I take another week off from writing as I consider my next strategy to “make it big.”

And then, one day, I realize I’ve lost touch with my craft entirely. I don’t want to think about a single character or plot point. I pack it all up and move on to the next artistic endeavor.

Thankfully, this hasn’t happened to me with writing, but I can name off several other pursuits that did fizzle.

What about You?

Are you writing because you enjoy it? We should definitely have goals and word counts and all of those other fantastic motivators. But are you passionate about the craft?

We all have “lows” in our enthusiasm. That’s part of the artistic process: the natural ebb and flow of our emotions. If you’re honest with yourself, though, you might see a lot more “ebbing” in your creativity than flowing.

If this is the case, you need to take a break from goal setting. Not from writing. Just the goal setting. Give yourself a pass for a few weeks, and just write.

Use writing prompts. Use stream of consciousness writing. Try out one of the character generator tools from Duolit and write a story about that person. Try writing a screenplay or poetry or anything new.

However you do it, discover what made you passionate in the first place.

Once you find that passion again, take time to re-align your goals. Becoming a full-time writer may not be the way for you to get the most out of life. The inspiration and experiences of your current daily activities may provide exactly the right fuel for your writing.

No matter what your future may hold for your career or writing pursuits, concentrate on finding your passions today.

About the Author: After some false starts, Michael recently rediscovered one of his true passions: helping others express their creativity. With thoughts about the creative process and directly applicable tips for writing, ReviveYourCreativity.com is meant to kick your art into high gear.

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The Long Game of Self-Publishing [Guest Post]

February 1st, 2012 by Guest Poster

The following is a guest post from Merry Farmer and the first entry in February’s Self-Publishing Writing Contest. Voting for the winner will begin on Thursday, February 9th. Want to help out your fellow indie authors? Consider entering March’s contest!

Photo: CompujerameyI once took a train trip from Orlando to Philadelphia. I was moving back home after attending the University of Central Florida and I’d always wanted to make a long voyage by train. The trip was 24 hours as opposed to a two and a half hour flight. I reserved my own little roomette that had a huge window. What unfolded was one of the most enjoyable travel experiences I’ve ever had. I got to see the landscape gradually change from tropical to Southern to Mid-Atlantic. The changing view of America flashed by my window to the steady cha-chunk-cha-chunk-cha-chunk of the train speeding across the tracks. It was literally hypnotizing. And it was also the best night’s sleep of my life.

I’ve been a writer since I was ten years old and realized one day that I didn’t have to wait for the teacher to assign a creative writing project to write something. But traditional publishing never appealed to me. Imagine my joy then last year when the world of Indie Publishing blew wide open. Suddenly it’s possible to write what you love and take it directly to the readers. No agents, no endless waiting, and the only rejection is from the readers themselves not buying your book. It’s a kinder, gentler rejection. But I still write my books, I still revise and have them professionally edited, and I still set them free into the world on my own terms and watch them fly.

So far my first two novels have soared out of my hands … and up into a nearby tree to sit there and roost a while … enjoying the view … hanging out … taking a nap.

Indie Publishing is like taking the train from Orlando to Philadelphia. It’s not a quick trip. No one is going to self-publish their first novel one day and have millions of dollars in sales tomorrow. It takes a lot of work to sell your baby to more than just your friends and family. And it takes planning. You have to be in it for the long game.

I have a strategy. My debut novel, The Loyal Heart, the first in a trilogy, hit the eBook markets on September 30th of 2011. I smiled and told all my friends … and now I’m waiting. What am I waiting for? The second book in the trilogy, The Faithful Heart, was published December 24th of 2011. And then I went on a massive media blitz and spammed everybody on Twitter and Facebook and Goodreads and shouted from the rooftops, right? Nope. I’m still waiting.

When the third book in the trilogy, The Courageous Heart, comes out sometime this Spring, then I’ll act. Then I’ll trumpet the entire trilogy. Then I’ll have postcards printed up to send to everyone I know, to take to as many writer’s and reader’s conferences as I can sign up for, and then I’ll be bugging you all to do guest posts on your blogs.

And then do you know what I’ll do? I’ll go write something else. It’s all about the writing. Always writing.

The beauty of eBooks, even more than the accessibility they give us as authors, is that they don’t go away. They never go out of print. They never get yanked off of shelves for not selling enough and they never have unsold copies mailed back to the publisher, doomed to feed a hungry shredder. I’m not entirely convinced that they’re immortal, but the whole indie publishing format gives us something that traditional publishing only offers to the top few. It give us the ability to plan long-term strategy. Time and again I’ve heard the advice that if you want to be truly successful as an Indie Published Author you need to be marketing multiple books at the same time. You need to have series.

Great, I say. Bring it on! I fall in love with my characters anyhow, so why not write as much about them as I can? Where my strategy diverges from some of the loudest advice givers is that I don’t see a problem in doing the actual book-by-book publishing now and marketing later. I will have multiple books for sale someday, five by the end of 2012 if I stay on target. In the meantime, I’ve got The Loyal Heart, The Faithful Heart, and a plan.

Self-publishing is a journey by train. It takes a long time. There are a lot of stops along the way, you might spend long hours staring at nothing, senses numb as it feels like the world is passing you by. You might wonder why you’re taking the scenic route. But every mile brings some new wonder. Every step is an adventure. And in the end if you hang in there you’ll reach your destination.

About the Author: Merry Farmer is an award-winning author of Historical Romance and Romantic Science Fiction. Her debut novel, The Loyal Heart, a swashbuckling medieval romance with a modern kick, is now available. She also loves writing about History and hot guys for her blog and lives near Philadelphia with her two cats who keep pestering her to write them into her novels…or maybe they just want to be fed.

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Writing Goals: Don’t Just Make’em, Meet’em!

January 25th, 2012 by Shannon

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller

It seems like we blinked and the first month of 2012 passed us by in a blur of annoying political ads, above average temperatures and boxes of Christmas decorations headed back to the attic. We all needed a little time to get our bearings in the New Year, but now the adjustment period is over and it’s time to get down to business.

If you spent all of 2011 saying that you were going to write a novel, but then coming up with a long list of excuses why that plan didn’t come to fruition, get ready to leave those excuses in the dust. We’ve put together five easy steps to not only setting your 2012 goals, but making sure that you see them through to completion.

Step 1 | Choose a long term goal.

For most of you, this should be simple: Write a book. You can be a little more specific and name your plot, characters, whether you want to complete just the first manuscript or actually make it to the publishing stage, but the overall endgame is to get a completed novel in your hands before the Mayan calendar runs out and we all turn to dust.

Step 2 | Fill in the gaps with short term goals.

Once you’ve set your long term goal, you need to establish a few short term goals to get from start to finish. These checkpoints can be really specific like creating outlines, character profiles, etc. or you can focus on the numbers and go for word count or chapter goals. The key is to put dates on each short-term goal to keep you focused (and ward off that pesky pest known as procrastination!).

Step 3 | Decide how you’re going to reach your goals.

Just because you set your goals doesn’t mean that all the pieces of your novel (and the time it will take to write it) are going to fall out of the sky. It’s a goal, not a wish. After you establish your goals, it’s time to figure out how you’re going to accomplish them. Deciding on your writing schedule is key. When will you find time to write? We’ve talked about this a lot in the past (including in our How NOT to Write a Book eCourse) so you should be an expert by now. Make your schedule, plan your writing times and set those keys on fire!

Step 4 | Share your goals with someone else.

This is a crucial step; everybody needs a little accountability to stay on track. Find someone you can share your goals with who will keep you honest and push you toward reaching your objectives. One important point of clarification: Pushing and nagging are not the same thing. You don’t want someone who’s going to harass you, but someone who will give you a swift (but soft) kick in the pants when you need it. If you don’t know someone, reach out to the Duolit community. We writers stick together and I’m sure you can find someone who would be happy to help!

Step 5 | Keep track of your progress.

Whether it’s a monthly blog post or a detailed writing journal, you’ll want to keep track of where you are in the process. If you had some setbacks, that’s okay, but talk about what they were and how you can avoid them in the future. If you met your goals, celebrate it! Every accomplishment along your path to success is worth a celebration.

Follow those five easy steps and you should not only be able to set your writing goals in 2012, but meet them!

Friendly reminder: Help us with some prompts!

If you missed our post on Monday, we are working to gather some weekly blog prompts to share with you guys. Our goal is to help everyone add valuable content to their blogs and generate more traffic for their blogs with weekly prompt link-ups, which will start in February. If you have prompt ideas (they can be about anything from creative writing prompts to basic profile questions to writing experiences) leave them in the comments on Monday’s blog. We’ll announce February’s prompts on Friday so if you have some ideas, please share them!

Later days,

- Shannon

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How to Make Sure Your Book Marketing Goals are SMART

January 18th, 2012 by Toni

Have you written a blog post about your personal goals/resolutions for 2012? Be sure to add it to our Self-Publishing Linkup!

The start of a year new year often means setting new goals – but how can you be sure you’ve set proper goals? Aiming too high or too low can be detrimental to the success of any goal, both in terms of you sticking to and ultimately meeting it.

Book marketing goals, in particular, can be problematic. Do I try to shoot for a certain number of sales? To add 50 new fans on Facebook? How do I know if a goal is appropriate and reachable?

The SMART system for evaluating goals gives you 5 quick and easy points with which to evaluate your goals. To make sure your 2012 book marketing goals are SMART, they must be:

Specific

Your goal must answer the following questions: Who (is involved)? What (do I want to accomplish)? Where (will the goal take place)? When (due date or period of time)? Why (benefits/reasons for accomplishing the goal)?

Measurable

You must have a way of objectively identifying progress toward your goal — be sure there’s an aspect that answers the questions “how much?” or “how many?” This can be easy for many marketing goals, as the end goal is a certain number of sales, new readers, likes on Facebook or followers on Twitter.

Attainable

Any goal you set can be attainable — but this is totally up to you. Ensure that you are completely willing to put in the time and effort to reach your goal. You MUST be realistic (see below)! If you think your goal seems out of reach, perhaps split it into two smaller goals that are more easily accomplished.

Realistic

As we said above, your goal must be something that you are WILLING and ABLE to work toward. Don’t be scared by lofty goals, however — they are often more frequently reached because the motivation (and reward) is so much greater. More work, more reward!

Timely

There’s no way around this one – you MUST have a due date/deadling for completion of your goal. Establishing a timeline allows you to not only create “baby steps” to get there (which hold you accountable) but also gives you the motivation to work harder as you see that due date approaching.

Is Your Goal SMART?

If your goal meets each of the criteria above, meaning it is (S)pecific, (M)easurable, (A)ttainable, (R)ealistic and (T)imely — congratulations! You have a S.M.A.R.T. goal!

Evaluation is Key!

No matter your goal, we always want to note that you MUST evaluate it on a regular basis (monthly usually works well). This lets you make any necessary adjustments on-the-fly while still moving forward. Don’t wait until the goal is totally lost (or, even worse, the end of the year) to take another look at it!

What Do You Think?

What book marketing goals have you set for 2012? Is the SMART system a good tool to use to evaluate goals? Share your thoughts in the comments (or, on your own blog)!

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New Year’s Resolutions/Goal-Setting [Self-Publishing Linkup]

January 13th, 2012 by Toni

Have an awesome idea for a post that’s not related to goals/resolutions? Consider entering it in our Self-Publishing Writing Contest for a chance to win Amazon.com gift cards and much more!

If you read Monday’s mega-announcement post, you already know a little bit about what we want to accomplish with our Self-Publishing Linkups. In case you missed it, however, here’s the gist:

Indie authors share a ton of knowledge and experience through their blogs, and sometimes we feel like we can’t keep up.

Shannon and I were discussing how great it would be to have all of the posts centered around a given topic gathered in one place — voila! The Self-Publishing Linkup was born!

This week’s topic is “New Year’s Resolutions/Goal-Setting.” Here’s how to participate:

1. Leave a comment on this post with the following information:

The post can be on any blog — yours or someone else’s. If you find (or write) a great post, share it!

2. Let others know you particpated in the linkup! Share a link to this post (or your post) with the hashtag #selfpublinkup on Twitter. Here’s an example:

  • Just shared my post on New Year’s Resolutions/Goal-Setting on the #SelfPubLinkup: http://bit.ly/x8JFUU

The more authors who participate, the more information and resources that will be shared! Get started by leaving your link in the comments below!

 

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