How Many Books Do You Have To Write Before You Can Survive? (The Answer Might Depress You!)

I have lost count of the number of friends, family, activity partners, and even casual acquaintances who have remarked on exactly how much time I spend working. Whether they're impressed with the grind, or they're frustrated it stops me from making plans, or they express that I should really take more time for myself (trust me, I would love to do that), there's always a throughline in these conversations. Sometimes it's said directly, and sometimes it's implied, but it always boils down to roughly the same sentiment.

"Sooner or later you'll have written so much stuff that you'll be able to take your foot off the gas, and relax a bit."

I laugh, they laugh, and the conversation moves on. However, there is a bitterness to my chuckle, because I know something that they don't. Something I'd like to share with all of you today.

Trust me, it isn't funny.

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! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

It Does Not Matter How Much Stuff You Make

All right, let me back up a step.

First things first, yes, the more stuff you create, the better the chance you have of succeeding. It's like rolling a 20-sided die. Yeah, you want that 20 to come up, but if your first roll didn't do it, being able to roll again, and again, does help. And, at least in theory, having an archive of stuff you've written means that anyone who discovers you for one thing at least has the potential to dig into your backlog to check out your other work as well.

Let's talk about that word. Potential. Because that is what a lot of us bank on, but it's also what a lot of average folks out there don't really grasp when it comes to this profession. They might understand it academically, but down in their bones they don't really get it.

Size is no guarantee of success.

I've seen dozens of different takes on this over the years. There used to be programs claiming you needed an archive of at least 400 blog entries/articles to really suck your audience in, get people reading through everything you had, and earning regular revenue from their traffic. There are programs out there right now promising that if you can write 20 novels (not an easy feat in and of itself) that you'll have reached the mystic number where your work becomes self-sustaining, and you can relax a bit.

The problem with all of these so-called solutions and promises is that they're bunk. Complete and absolute fables. And I say that so confidently because they put the emphasis on what you are doing as the author, and promising that if you work a certain amount that it's some kind of guarantee that eventually your career will be successful.

I am here to tell you that, unfortunately, that is not true. And it is not true for the simple reason that all you can do is create the thing, and do your best to promote it. The people who decide whether your work is successful is your audience... or lack thereof, in many cases.

No One Knows What Will Or Won't Succeed

I've mentioned this before, but if you look at every major publisher's book list, they have a handful of really big sellers, a few middle earners, and a lot of books that never really go anywhere. And if you ask an editor why publishers don't just publish the books that are going to be top sellers, the answer is always the same.

"We'd love to, but no one knows which goddamn books they will be!"

This illustrates the central point of this week's post. Because even major publishers with all the resources to promote the books they publish, and all the industry insight of experienced editors, cannot predict with any real accuracy which titles and which authors are going to be financially successful. They, like those of us who write said books, are literally rolling the dice and hoping for the best. Books that have everything going for them that should become beloved bestsellers go mostly unread and forgotten, while books by no-name authors no one has ever heard of become roaring, viral successes.

Why? If I knew the answer to that, I'd be sitting on a throne of royalties instead of writing this blog.

Seriously, writing books is WAY more fun.

So the answer to how many books you have to write, how many articles you have to craft, how many videos you have to make, is... it's a crap shoot.

Let me throw some numbers at you. Because as of right now I have:

- 4 novels

- 2 short story collections

- 326 articles on Vocal

- 150+ videos on YouTube

- 191 tabletop RPG supplement titles

I am not the most proliferate creator (and I left out the 1,500+ blog entries on this blog and my gaming blog Improved Initiative, as they don't pay me anything), but I have a rather sizable amount of stuff out on the market for folks to consume. And if I had a big enough audience, or something I made went viral for some reason, yeah, I could take a day off, kick up my feet, and relax. If for some impossible reason a thing I made drew thousands upon thousands of readers every month (or every year in the case of a book), I could theoretically stop making any new stuff and just coast on that popularity.

I wouldn't, because I like writing, but I could.

Because at the end of the day, it does not matter how much stuff you produce as a writer. It matters how many people consume what you're writing. If you write a single novel, and half a million people a year buy it for the next decade, you don't really need to write another one unless you want to. By the same token, you could write 20, 30, or 40 novels, but if no one buys them, it's the monetary equivalent of never having written anything.

Your Audience Decides Your Success (Not You)

You, as the author, should do everything in your power to create the best quality work you're capable of. You should write a good story, fix all your spelling errors, make sure there's no dangling plot threads, and so on, and so forth. You should do your best to pick enticing cover art, to find folks to review your book, and to promote it as best you can.

None of that is going to earn you a dime unless people buy your book.

It does not matter how much you write. It does not matter the quality of your work. It does not matter if you have a massive social media presence, if you go to conventions, or if you make an entire vlog channel documenting the book's journey. If people do not buy your books, or consume your content (in the case of articles, videos, etc.) then you do not get paid. Period.

For instance, folks who want more of this serious should buy copies!

The point, to hammer it one more time, is that you cannot write yourself to success in the way so many people think. If a creator needs more money, they can't just write more articles, make more videos, or put out another book... it's sales, not word count, that matters.

If you've got a successful series with a lot of readers eager for a new installment, yes, a new book will probably get your audience to pick up copies... buf if you don't have the audience who is supporting you, it doesn't matter how much stuff you make, because no one is buying it. You're the proverbial tree falling in the forest, and no one is around to see you or hear you.

An author's success (and how hard they have to work) is determined by their audience. So if you have an author who you want to pay their bills, and work a reasonable day instead of pulling 12 hour shifts at their desk, do what you can to support them. Buy their books, leave reviews, follow them on social media, boost their signals, leave comments... do what you can to help them build up the audience. Because without an audience, it doesn't matter what we do... all of our earnings comes from you. Full stop.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

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. 

Darkness is Meaningless Without Light (Showing The Humanity in Your Monsters)

"I wasn't always like this, you know. I had a family. A wife. Two kids. I had a life. People said I lost it... but that's not true. It was taken from me... taken from me by people like you. I can't take it back, not after what you did. But I can stop you from ever taking it away from anyone else, and that's what I'm gonna do."

Consider this sentiment. A short paragraph outlining a tragic loss, an implied threat, and a character's deliberate walk into darkness. It's a familiar song for a lot of us, but because of that familiarity we sometimes forget that even if we are striving for a grim and dark tone in our stories, you need some kind of contrast in order for the edges of that darkness to have an impact.

Because if it's been all dark, all the time, then your readers are just stumbling around in an unlit room wondering what the hell the point of any of this is.

And we're going to start with a pretty popular cultural touchstone...

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!

Why It Matters That Frank Castle Had A Family

The Punisher is perhaps one of the most infamous antiheroes in comic books. He's a brutal killer waging a one-man-war on criminals, and he's a dark counternote to a lot of the costumed heroes out there who have catch phrases, weird powers, and codes of honor. Frank Castle doesn't have weird gadgets (most of the time), or supernatural powers (again, most of the time). He has military training, an iron will, and a grim determination to cross however many lines are necessary to get the job done.

But it's his past that truly throws what he's become into focus, and while we sometimes forget that past, it's central to who and what he is now.

Because the hollowed-out harbinger of doom that is the Punisher was once a husband. There was a day he wore his uniform and said, "I do," to a woman he genuinely loveld, and wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He had two children with that woman. He may not have been a perfect father, but he loved those children, and he wanted to do his best for them. He was a marine, and he served his country with distinction, performing acts of heroism that had been recognized by his commanding officers. When his family was killed, and those killers walked free, something inside of him broke, and he started his long war.

That tragedy, and the darkness that Frank Castle has steeped himself in ever since, is why his fall into the Punisher was so hard. Seeing everything he had, and the kind of man he could have been, is what makes his character so chilling. And without that backstory, and those glimpses of the family man and father he once was, it would lessen the impact of who and what he is now. If Frank Castle had just lived a terrible life since his youth, and he grew up to be nothing more than a killer who lashed out against others like himself, then he might still be interesting... but his darkness would have so much less impact if it was never contrasted with the light of a better life, a better future, etc.

Speaking of those who've lived entirely awful lives...

For characters whose lives have been nothing but one, unending horror, consider Frankenstein's monster. He was brought into the world by a fearful and uncaring creator who abandoned him, he was mistreated by all who met him, and he's known nothing but rejection, terror, and violence his entire life. But even the monster has had moments of light where we catch glimpses of what might have been for him.

Consider the family the monster spies on through the wall. We see him form bonds with them, begin to love them, and to learn about human dynamics and speech. We see him put his prodigious strength to work in a good cause, helping them when they struggle. We see him meet the blind father, who treats him with kindness, and for a brief moment we think maybe this will be the end of the monster's struggles... but no. He is rejected, wounded, and cast out by the other members of the family. We see him find his creator once more, we see the construction of the bride, and we begin to wonder if it is possible he might get something like a happy ending... and then we see him once again betrayed by Victor.

With the monster, we still see glimpses of the life he could have led, and the other paths that could have been taken. He might have been adopted into the farm family, living out his life surrounded by those who grew to love him. He might have reconciled with Victor, somehow, the two of them finding some common understanding. It was possible that his bride may have learned to love him, and the two of them could have shared an existence. But we watch as every, single one of those futures is ripped away from him, and so his bitterness and rage become far more understandable. More than that, it's so much more terrible because we've seen the monster is capable of love, care, and nobility. To see what he could have been, and to compare that with what he becomes is what defines his darkness, and makes the impact of the story so much more terrible.

So if you're going to write a dark, gritty, edgy, or even a bleak story, remember, darkness and horror are meaningless without light to contrast them... especially if you want us to see the humanity in your monsters.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft 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!

Methods To Support Authors You Like (While Still Boycotting Amazon)

So, I wanted to start this week's post off with an apology. My last installment about how you could support authors by using the Kindle Unlimited platform while still hurting Amazon's bottom line was based on some faulty information on my part, and I took it down before it had a chance to spread any further than it already had. I know we are all trying to ensure our money doesn't go to causes and companies we don't want to support, and I didn't want to give anyone incorrect information.

That's also why this week I wanted to put together a follow-up for all the things you can do to support authors who may be facing hardships as more folks turn their backs on Amazon as a distribution platform. And while not all of these will apply to every author out there, there should be something on the list you can do to keep the writers in your life fed and sheltered so they can keep working hard on the next story for you and all your fellow readers!

And I may not have even covered all your options here!

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! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

Option #1: Buy Somewhere Else

This seems obvious, but sometimes we get so narrowly focused on our normal shopping patterns that we forget there are still traditional bookstores out on the market. So if there is an author you want to support, but you're not going to Amazon, make sure you try alternative dealers. For example, my books Old Soldiers, Marked Territory, and Painted Cats are all available at Barnes and Noble, and you can get hold of them for about the same price if you've been meaning to check them out for yourself!

This goes for any merch your favorite authors put out that isn't just books. Whether it's tee shirts, stickers, hoodies, or something else, if they're selling through a site you aren't boycotting, consider grabbing an item or two to tide you (and your favorite writer) over.

Option #2: Buy In-Person

Most authors who have signing events, or who come to conventions, will have books on-hand for you to buy. This isn't news to most folks, but the major advantage of hand sales is that authors get to keep a majority of the value of the sale, rather than a bookstore gobbling it up to give them a pittance. So if an author in question is going to be at an event you're attending, or just somewhere local, consider showing up to get your copy... and for bonus points, hand them cash to cut down on charge fees!

Option #3: Support Their Free Work

While a lot of us write books, we also produce a lot of extra stuff as well. So if the authors you like put out podcasts, blogs, free short fictions on websites like Vocal, or if they run a YouTube channel, make sure that you consume and support those things as well! This has the added benefit that you're saving money, getting a bunch of extra things to enjoy, and the author you like is still getting paid at the end of the day.

For the record, folks can find a ton of free fiction of mine in my Vocal archive, and I've got audio dramas along with a lot of game-related stuff over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel... so subscribe to both of those if you haven't, and go through the archives when you've got time!

Option #4: Subscribe and Leave Tips

Very few of us actually depend on our book sales to handle 100% of our bills, and at this point in our lives a lot of authors have some kind of crowdfunding platform to help us cover our expenses. So in addition to following your favorite writers on all of their social media sites (Facebook, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and so on), and interacting with what they share there, take a moment to find out what crowdfunding websites we use. Some of us are on Patreon, some of us have Ko-Fi, some of us might even use Only Fans (we don't judge here), so find out where the creators you like are making things, and toss them a little support if you can! Even if it's just a few bucks a month, it makes a big difference if enough people do it!

Incidentally, you can find me on The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page, as well as on The Literary Mercenary's Ko-Fi, if you want to help me keep my records in the black.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

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. 

Everything You Don't Like Is Not "A.I."

As folks know, I am not a fan of generative A.I. for a lot of reasons. The way these programs are trained steals the work from authors and artists in order to swipe money from their pockets. The products are, generally speaking, not up to the quality of paying an actual creator to make something. These programs are swallowing a colossal amount of energy, and burning through a massive amount of water as a result of their widespread use.

However, there is another annoying thing about generative A.I. that I hate... it's become the new insult the Internet is throwing around whenever they see something they just don't like.

The image has how many eyes?

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! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

It Just Keeps Happening...

There are always going to be people who criticize the things you make. That's part of the job when you're an artist of any stripe. However, the proliferation of A.I. generators has caused several problems that are tough to deal with in the wild, and they don't seem to be going away any time soon. Namely that people will either assume (or just accuse) you of using A.I. when they don't like you, your work, or both.

For instance, in the recent past I've been accused of:

- Using A.I. programs to generate RPG supplemets (even though they were published before the onset of any generative A.I. programs).

- Using an A.I. text-to-speech generator in my video essays like the one below (it's clearly my own voice, and there are dozens of videos of my speaking right into the camera in the same cadence on the same channel).

- Using A.I. to post on social media platforms due to the sheer volume of posts I make (and while I wish I had a program to do this, no, I have to make a majority of my posts manually. People always seem surprised when I respond).

While this is extremely annoying to deal with, however, I wanted to take a moment to remind folks that this isn't just the inability of many people to tell the difference between A.I. and non-A.I. content. There is definitely some of that going on, absolutely, but there's something far older at the root of so many of these comments.

Put simply, it's just haters using the most recent fad to sling mud at creators. Same as they always have.

How can I be sure of that, you ask? How can I come on the Internet and state with conviction that so many of these comments are not coming from a place of genuine concern, or an opposition to the use of A.I. generators which just so happens to catch human creators in the crossfire?

Two reasons. First, it's always an accusation (typically phrased in a demeaning fashion) rather than a question. Secondly, even if you provide evidence that it isn't A.I. (whether you have a time lapse video of you making something, you can provide the sources for all the items in the project, you have time stamps and publication dates, etc.), the goal posts move. The conversation then morphs into, "Well it looks/sounds like something you'd make with A.I.," or, "Well, if someone wanted [content] like that, they'd just use A.I. instead of paying you for it," and so on, and so forth.

And while this is annoying, and frustrating, and damaging to the calm of all the creators out there still making art with sweat, blood, and spite, I want to say something else that might be a little controversial, but which I feel is important.

Screw the haters. You don't need them to succeed.

You Just Lost Yourself A Customer!

We've all been in those stores where there's a Karen pitching a fit because she didn't get her way, and she storms out with something along the lines of, "I've been shopping here for ten years! You just lost yourself a customer!" But then it turns out that she's bought like one item there in that ten year time span, and most of the time she's just a pain to the staff and to other customers.

This is the box most haters fall into, and it's why you should just ignore them a majority of the time.

So it's agreed. We move on with the day, yes?

It's perfectly legitimate to check your sources to be sure you support creators who match up with your values. And if you don't want to support someone who uses A.I., then you're well within your rights to not do that as a consumer. However, if someone comes out of the gate swinging before they bother to check that what they're seeing is or isn't A.I. (something which can usually be established by a quick check of a sales page, or just asking the creator in question in the comments section), they're probably more interested in the fight than they are in actually finding out whether your project was made using A.I. And if you make it clear you didn't use A.I., but they're still interested in hollering? Yeah... they were never going to support you in the first place. Cut it off now, and save yourself the sanity.

Remember that no matter how cool the thing you made is, and no matter how hard you worked on it, there are some people who just won't bite. They won't watch your videos, won't listen to your podcast, won't buy your books, and won't play your game... and there's nothing you can do to persuade them.

So don't waste time trying... instead, focus on reaching people who will actually become part of your audience, and who do want you to keep making more stuff.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

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.