Independent Creators Are Small Businesses (And Need The Same Kind of Support)

We all have that one local business everyone knows about, but no one ever seems to go to. Maybe it's that cafe on the side street, or the breakfast restaurant just off the square, or that secondhand bookstore that's been there as long as you can remember. While most of us know about these places, not a lot of us actually go to them. Not even once. We see them in passing and think to ourselves, "You know, one of these days I've got to go in there and check out what they've got to offer."

Most of the time, though, we never do. Then one day we're at a stop light, or waiting to cross the street, and we see that business shuttered up for good. And many of us think the same thing when that happens. "Damn... now I guess I'll never get to try them out."

Independent artists of all stripes are small businesses... and just like those bookstores, cafes, and breakfast joints, we need people to at least walk in the door to take a look around so that we don't have to close our doors.

Because we literally need you, or we will have to close up.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!

Local Businesses Can't Survive Without Support

All of us have seen this happen to businesses in our communities. From game stores to bookstores, from cafes to restaurants, businesses have shuttered their doors and disappeared from the local area. And every single one of them did this for the same reason; because they didn't make enough money to stay open. Maybe there were extenuating circumstances, but at the end of the day the root cause was the business wasn't making enough money to keep going, so it had to stop.

This seems obvious, but it often gets lost in these discussions, so I'm going to reiterate this point. Businesses close because they aren't bringing in enough money. I think that all of us can agree on this point, because if a business continues to turn profits, then it's usually going to at least maintain, if not grow.

Follow me on this, I AM going somewhere...

Businesses need customers, and generally they get those customers through a lot of different strategies. They might:

- Use advertising.

- Offer sample products or deals.

- Host themed events to entice people.

- Offer a unique, quality product.

- Engage online using social media, blogs, and videos.

At the end of the day, though, it doesn't really matter what the business does or doesn't do; it matters if people spend their money there. People who come in and buy things keep the business running, regardless of what the business chose to do or not do. A business can cut their prices to the bone, engage on social media all day, make fun videos about their store, and host raffles and giveaways to customers... if no one buys anything from them, it doesn't matter. And if it doesn't matter long enough, the business closes up, and blows away. That's the life cycle of commerce.

You May Have No Idea What You're Missing

Inevitably when I start talking about the life cycle of business, and pointing out that independent creators are small businesses, there's a slew of people who get defensive on the subject. Some of the most common remarks include:

- "I don't have to buy anything I don't want."

- "No one is entitled to my business!"

- "If they offered a better product, maybe I'd go to them instead."

The list goes on, and I'm not digging through my social media history to find all the examples. However, I feel like a lot of folks who comment on this issue are leaping ahead, or responding to things I did not say. So, I want to step back, and return to the point I reiterated.

Artists cannot survive, and keep making art, if they do not get support from an audience. This is just a simple statement of fact. Whether it's an audience who buys a certain number of books, or who watches a creator's videos, or who listens to their podcasts, or who buys their merch, the source of an artist's income is their audience. Period, full stop.

If no one buys, it doesn't matter what you make.

To be clear, here, you are not personally obligated to be a part of that audience if you don't want to be. You don't have to read anyone's books, watch anyone's YouTube channel, listen to anyone's podcast, or follow anyone on social media if you don't want to. No one is sitting here demanding that you immediately open your wallet, and spend all your time signal boosting the profile of independent creators, and to act like that's what's being said in this conversation is disingenuous.

The only point I want to make (and which I've made repeatedly on this blog) is that consumers need to realize how much power they have when it comes to whether or not independent creators are successful, and what directions their art takes going forward. More than that, though, it's important to remember that all of us are small businesses... and unless you've checked us out, you don't actually know whether you want to support us or not.

That's the message I wanted to deliver this week. Not that you are personally obligated to help me and every other indie creator out there. Not that you owe us anything. I don't want to give anyone The Hard Sell with a side of Guilt Trip.

All I'm saying is to maybe come inside, and have a look around. See whether our work is actually something you want to see more of, and if we as creators are people you want to encourage.

Don't go too crazy. For example, if you see a book that looks cool, read the preview (you can usually get the first chapter or so for free). If an author has free work, like the cyberpunk audio drama above which I made for the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Weird War II tale Where The Red Flowers Bloom about a Japanese force dealing with a terrible curse on a Pacific island, check those things out to see if they're to your taste. Maybe read some reviews of their work, or check out their social media posts to see if they're the kind of creator you can jive with.

Think of it like checking out any other local business. If you walk into that weird little cafe, and you dig the vibe, then you should take a look at the menu and see what they've got to offer. If the prices are too high, or the food and drinks are not really to your taste, you aren't obligated to buy anything. If you go into that little thrift store, but most of what you find are knicknacks and clothes that aren't in your size, you don't have to make a purchase that day. If you're lactose intolerant, then maybe the local ice cream parlor isn't going to have something that really fits with your needs... but who knows, maybe they will?

The same is true for independent creators and their potential customers. If you're not into tabletop roleplaying games, or you don't like your games to have their tongues firmly in their cheeks, then you probably won't enjoy my RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic. If you don't like sword and sorcery novels with a rough country edge to them, then Crier's Knife probably isn't for you. If you don't like short fiction, then The Rejects probably isn't something you'll enjoy. And even if you like any of those things in concept, it's possible that when you check them out in more detail that you won't really be sold on the idea.

That's fine.

I'm not demanding that you use the power of your purse, and your social media signal, to immediately support all of us, anymore than I'm telling you to go out tomorrow and patronize every local business in your town. However, I would like it if more people who noticed a small business (or a creator they've seen around) decided to actually check them out instead of saying, "One of these days I'll have to see what that place is all about."

Just take a moment, and check us out. Maybe you won't care for our work, or it just won't do anything for you. Maybe you like the vibe, and you subscribe to our newsletter or follow us to see what comes out next. Or maybe it turns out that our work is the new thing you've been searching for, and you can't believe you were sleeping on us this whole time!

I'm not telling anyone to support businesses or creators they don't like. All I'm saying is actually find out whether you like someone before making the decision to support or not support their work.

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Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Even Small Goals Can Seem Out of Reach When You're an Independent Creator

One of the recurring themes on this blog has been the disconnect between how the public perceives the earnings of creative professionals, and what those earnings actually look like. Because as I've mentioned time and time again, most people only see famous millionaires (Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, etc.), or fictional authors (Angelica Fletcher, Richard Castle, and so on), so they have an extremely biased view of what a reasonable income would be for someone who writes for a living. And even if they know that most writers aren't bestselling millionaires, they assume that if you're a "real" author that you at least make the same as someone earning minimum wage.

Truth is, most of us don't. What's really frustrating about it, though, is that the numbers a lot of us need to hit to make a living are so low, yet we still can't manage them except through years of sweat, and occasionally lucky rolls of the dice.

Come on, come on... it's not that far!

Before I get into the numbers, you can help me reach my goals by becoming a Patreon patron today! And if you just want to stay on top of all my latest releases, subscribe to my weekly newsletter as well!

Some Examples of Small, Unattainable Goals

Before we get started, I want to lay out some numbers for you. I live in government-subsidized housing in a small town in the Midwest. So, the numbers I'm going to throw around are going to be nothing compared to what authors would need to live in big cities, or pricier suburbs. Additionally, if I make more than $16k in a single year I would lose access to what healthcare I have through the state of Indiana. So I'm not even talking about thriving in many of these situations, just paying bills and occasionally going out for tacos when a new book drops.

Something to keep in mind as I start laying out facts and figures for you.

This is also why I spread my eggs among many baskets.

Let's say I wanted to earn $12k a year. For most people that's a laughable wage that's far below the minimum, but we'll take that as an example. After all, since it's so small, it should be pretty easy to make that, right?

Well, if I wanted to earn $12k a year from Patreon I would need to clear $1k every month. I have over 700 followers on my author page on FB, and over 1,200 and growing on Twitter, and there are social media groups with 100k+ people who see my work on the regular. So, in theory, it shouldn't be too hard to find 100 of them to give me $10 a month, right? or 200 who could part with a fiver? Even a thousand people who could each give me $1 every month, which is less than the price of a Netflix subscription?

At time of writing I have 39 patrons. I deeply appreciate all the help they give me, however, my monthly take-home support from them is less than $300. And even at the highest subscription numbers I ever had on that platform, I never made more than $320 or so per month.

Given there are people making thousands to tens of thousands of dollars a month on Patreon, that goal doesn't seem unreasonable. But I've been on the platform for years, and I've reached out in all the ways I can, but it's never grown anywhere near the level I would need it to be at to make a living. You could help that by becoming a patron today, though!

Okay, but what about my books?

Let's move onto the next basket... what about all those books I've written? From my Hard-Boiled Cat mysteries Marked Territory and Painted Cats, to my sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, to my independent books Crier's Knife and The Rejects, I've got a sizable archive of stuff for dedicated readers to check out.

So what would it take to make that very small living just selling those?

Well, I make about $3 or so per sale. There's variation depending on platform, format, etc., but we'll use $3 to lowball it. So, I'd need to sell about 4k books a year to make bank. That's about 1k books per season, or three hundred and change a month. 10 books a day, give or take. And since there's over 300 million people who speak English in the world, surely it's not unreasonable that I could sell at least that many novels per day?

At time of writing, that's just not the case.

From my Ring of Fire books (two cats and the space marines), I get paid once every 6 months. That check has been consistently in the $120 range, which isn't nothing, but does translate to about 40 books sold over a 6 month period. Far as the pulpy sword and sorcery novel and the independent short story collection, I'm lucky if those move any copies at all these days. Doesn't matter where I link them or how I promote them, they're just a tough sell, and I don't have any companies backing me up on the marketing for those two.

Again, it's not an impossible number... it's just one that feels impossible to reach without the next best thing to divine intervention. Almost as impossible as actually getting people to read the books and leave reviews. You only need 50 of them for Amazon to start promoting you to other browsers, but the best I've managed to do is 25, and that's on the oldest novel I have out. None of the others have even broken 20 yet (though anyone who decides to finally leave their rating and review could make a big difference there).

What about all those RPG products you work on?

One of the biggest earners I have is the sheer bulk of RPG supplements I put out every month (all of them collected on a pin board for the tabletop folks reading this). With roughly 120 supplements with my name on them out at time of writing, one would think that I make all sorts of bank off of them. After all, even if my royalties are a small cut of the overall sales, they've got to add up when we're talking about such a large archive, right?

Yes and no.

While my royalties and affiliate earnings have gone up over the years as the archive has grown, we're still talking very small numbers. The largest amount I receive from any of my supplements is $1 per sale, and that's only for a handful of titles. The rest range from $0.10 on the smaller end, to $0.60 on the larger end (such as for Ironfire: The City of Steel that you see above). So after 4 years or so of hammering away on title after title every month, what does that add up to? On average, between $200-$250 a month. Sometimes it's higher than that because I was part of a big bundle or a popular deal, but that's the range I'm looking at right now. And I didn't start regularly earning over $200 a month on those sales until May of 2021.

So I'd basically need to increase the earnings on those five-fold just to make less than minimum wage. A feat that, all other things being equal, could take me 20 or so years of additional labors.

All of These Things Require The Audience To Act

One of the unfortunate truths about being an author is that I actually possess very little power to change my own situation when all is said and done. Because it doesn't matter how many novels I churn out, how many blog updates I write, what conventions I attend, or how I tweak my keywords... because at the end of the day what makes or breaks creative professionals is you. The audience.

Without you, we are nothing. You are the crowd, and our rise or fall is determined by your whims alone.

Are you not entertained!?

So if you made it this far and you want to help, there's a lot of things you can do. If you have the spare dosh consider becoming a Patreon patron, or buying some of my books and games. If you're broke (just like me and everyone else), consider leaving a review of anything of mine you've enjoyed. Follow me on my social media links below to help boost my signal, and share around any books or supplements you think are cool. Hell, check out my Vocal archive and give it some reads (since it pays me based on how many reads my work gets)! There's over 200 articles in that archive, and you're sure to find something you like and want to share with your social media circle.

And remember this whenever it comes to other creators out there who make the things you like. Because except for some very notable exceptions, we're trying to ice skate uphill and could use the help.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing!

If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!