So my Second Book is out. What now?
So. I released my first novel on Amazon last week. I have a new Editor going through that right now. I may have to do then do (yet) another 'Release' to get right what I didn't previously.
I've kind of been rushing this.
Why? I set my intention to have this book, and my second book (my second Novel) released last year. But...
You know. That thing called COVID happened, and with all of the insanity surrounding the events of Jan. 6, 2021, I went into a steep dive in my motivation. What I had (perhaps a little too brazenly) planned for much of last year... Didn't.
Even now, as I had struggled to get this book final edited and then laid out for publication, I found myself continuing to edit, long past when I should have felt that this book was "locked." The Writing and Editing done.
But being a perfectionist (and still suffering from the PTSD of the last four-five years), I was not able to feel like the best of my work could be released.
Yes, I know. Bad idea. But I got wrapped up in the idea of releasing this book (which, btw, has a "happy ending" with a wedding attached) in the month of June. You know? Having a marketing 'theme' to wrap the release in?
And that, along with the fact that I couldn't get my ambitious aims done the previous year, spurred me on to what is 'not completely in my best interest' -- putting it out into the world before it was completely "locked" and loaded into the PR cycle.
Which brings me back around to another of my issues: Organization and the whole "Lone Wolf" thing of being an Independent Publisher of my own books.
I have chosen this route, even though it has so many issues and to do's attached to it for several reasons.
The first is: I am not writing all of the books that I will be bringing out over the next several years in only one "genre." Most Publishing Houses (like Random House, Harper Collins, and Simon and Schuster), don't like that 'lack of direction' anyway. It represents a "marketing issue" for them.
Never mind that unless your name is Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, or one of those other sorts of 'recognizable' names, they don't do that kind of marketing for you any more anyway. Not until you rise to that level of 'easy name recognition,' that is.
And also that I am working to distinguish myself as the "21st Century daVinci™," and I am not only a Writer, but also an Artist (among other things) as well, would not sit well with them either.
Until my name becomes synonymous with that level of recognition.
And the 'second' reason basically comes down to Money.
Were I to be contracted to be with one of the Major Publishing Houses, I would only be able to count on receiving -- perhaps -- $.34 per copy sold. That would mean that I would have to sell 100k copies to get anywhere with that.
As an Independent Publisher publishing my own writing, I not only take on the responsibilities that were once the part of the Publishing Houses, but I maintain more of the profit that comes from it.
This is not an easy road (obviously). Matter of fact, it's a downright hard road ('row to hoe?') to travel down anyway. It's hard enough just to write the damned things! (Well, writing is not that hard. Editing now...)
And lastly... I will not be told "We're sorry, but that goes against our Corporate Interests." In other words, as long as there's a market that will buy my books -- however 'micro-' that market might be -- I can still write and then publish. It's all a 'waste of my time' on 'my own dime.'
Being put out by one of the Majors in this business is not a guarantor of success either.
So. Hard as it might be, it's my own road to travel. Much like my other Creative Directions, it's what the "market will bear" and buy.
I chart the course that I am going to take. I reap whatever profits that might come from it. I direct my own path, and don't need to argue with a Company about how much of my "Rights" I'm going to give away. The Books will hopefully roll into Films that I will also Produce and Direct, bypassing those other avenues of conflict.
And in the end, it's all a crap shoot anyway. Until I reach the point where I go from, "Who the hell is he?" to "Gee. What's Robin doing now?"
Till then...