Self-Promotion, Capitalism, and The Unreasonable Demand of "Community Spirit"

If you are an author (or really any kind of creative professional) you have to hustle 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in order to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. While there are some of us who've managed to build a big enough audience that we don't have to stand on the equivalent of an Internet street corner like a carnival barker, the exception very much proves the rule in this case. As folks say, even Dickens had to host public readings and hand-sell his books in order to keep his belly full.

Which brings me to today's topic... the double-edged sword of the Internet, and how so many people on it treat creators who are just trying to pay their rent.

Flame war? Oh, that's gonna make this an easy month...

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ABC... Always Be Closing

I mentioned this back in How Do You Sell Books? Alec Baldwin Has The Answer, but I thought I'd repeat it for folks who missed it. His famous scene in the film Glengarry Glen Ross, where Baldwin plays a hotshot salesman violently berating a team of underperformers who aren't making their quota, lays it out one of the central tenets of successful salesmanship; Always Be Closing. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, no matter who you're talking to, keep your eyes on that prize and do what you need to do to make that sale. Soft sell, hard sell, whatever you have to do you get them to sign on the dotted line, and close the deal.

It's a powerful scene, and even though it's Baldwin's only appearance in the film it got him nominated for an Oscar. It also illustrates the point quite neatly for anyone who is not an author who's wondering why it seems like every post we make is trying to get someone to buy our books... it's because we have to do that. Most of us do not have publicists, legions of adoring fans, or publishers with massive marketing budgets... we have ourselves, and however far we can project our voices.

And because we are struggling under capitalism, we usually don't have a safety net we can rely on. No regular monthly check, no health insurance, no housing vouchers... and that means we sink or swim based on our work, and how many people we can get to read it.

Conflict arises, though, because the very places we go to get traction (subreddits, forums, Facebook groups, or MeWe for the truly desperate among us) usually don't understand the nature of this hustle. So while we're trying to offer them the products of our imaginations, they're shouting about how we need to, "do it the right way," if we're going to promote our work in their space.

I will say this right here. Nine times out of ten when someone says, "I don't mind if you do it, but you have to do it the right way," what they're really saying is they don't want you to do it at all. Because as soon as you start discussing what the "right way" is they start getting angry and defensive, saying that if someone needs to explain it to you then you don't belong here anyway.

"Community Spirit" is Basically Just Demanding Free Labor

The most common requirement you see from these groups is that you need to be an "active participant" in the community. What they mean, of course, is that you have to make posts that are completely separate from your actual work in order to balance the scales.

To put it another way, they expect you to take time, effort, and energy to create free content for their community in exchange for allowing you to share a link to your book, your article, your blog, or your game. That's time you often don't have, and word count that would normally be worth money, just so that you can maybe, potentially find a follower, sell a book, etc.

Authors die of exposure every year, friends.

As a quick example, say that I went to a FB gaming page, and shared my post The 5 Awful Paladins You Meet in Your Gaming Career. It's a pretty long article that I spent a lot of time writing, finding the right photos for, etc., etc. Not only that, but it's free to anyone who wants to read it... all you have to do is click the link and bam, the content is right there in your hand.

Even in this situation, where the content is on-topic to the group, and where it's free of charge, people complain. They complain that they have to go to another site to see it, they complain that you didn't copy-and-paste all the content onto the post itself, or they complain that you're just there to make money... as if somehow you could devote your entire career to creating in a certain genre and not also be a fan of that genre.

And that's the point where my bullshit detector starts going off.

Because that's what the complaints boil down to more often than not if you learn to read between the lines. It's not that what you're sharing is off-topic, or that it doesn't apply here. In fact, if someone not you was sharing it, that would be fine and dandy with them! The problem only arises because you're the author, and you will make money from the activity surrounding this post. Which to their minds means you are feeding off the life force of their community... because they're here for the "pure" enjoyment of genre fiction, tabletop gaming, fun history facts, etc., but you've been tainted by your need to make money off of what (for them) is something they do for enjoyment.

So until you "prove" yourself to them (usually by making a lot of posts to show that you are totally willing to make content for free) you will never be truly part of the community in their eyes.

If You Don't Want Promotion, You Won't Have Creators

To be clear, here, I am not saying that all self-promotion should be allowed from all creators at all times. That is how you open the floodgates. However, it is far more reasonable to set limits on type and number of promotional posts (post no more than once a week, don't post about the same project twice in a month, etc., etc.) than it is to have some vague, amorphous, "Well, when we have deemed you are an 'active participant' in the community, then we will allow you to occasionally stand on your soap box and share your work with us," standard.

If you don't want creators talking about their projects and posting links to their work, bite the bullet and say so. Just understand that we are busy people, and we don't have blocks of time set aside every day to make unrelated social media posts to prove to strangers that we're genuine fans of the things we make for a living. You can't have your cake and eat it, in this case, because no matter how welcoming, how friendly, or how engaged a community is, you cannot pay rent, buy food, or keep your heat on with the positive regard and admiration of others if it is not, in some way, translated into enough earnings to pay your bills at the end of the month.

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, 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!

What You Should (And Shouldn't) Expect From a Writers' Group

Writers' groups, on paper at least, would seem like an ideal place for any aspiring author to go. It's a place you can go to get other people's perspectives on your work, where the feedback is coming from people who are at least familiar with how the writing process works, and where you can gain a sense of community from finding other people who are all working on their own stories. While there might be some differences in approach and opinion, and there will probably be some clashes over style and preference, at the end of the day a writers' group is a great place to be... on paper, at least.

Pun very much intended.

With that said, I find there's a lot of assumptions we make involving these groups... both the ones that get together in meat space, and those that exist primarily online. So I thought I'd take this week to talk about what's reasonable, and what might be setting yourself up for disappointment.

Also, if you haven't signed up for my weekly newsletter yet, consider doing that to be sure you don't miss anything!

What You Can Expect

First of all, let's talk about reasonable expectations for a writers' group.

You are probably going to be sharing the room with people who have some pretty wide ranging levels of experience and skill. You'll have the hobbyists who are here to refine their skills and craft, but who really view it as more of a social activity, or who just enjoy being storytellers. They aren't looking to go pro. You'll probably have at least one reporter or former reporter who's hoping to pull a Thomas Harris and step over that line from non-fiction to fiction. You might have an essayist, and probably one or two folks who really love doing research. Chances are good there's at least one writer from the local high school or college scene, and you've got a better-than-even shot that someone is hoping to write a comic book of some variety.

There will more than likely be a sense of camaraderie. Even if the people in your group don't write in the same genre you do, or they prefer a different style and format, there are some experiences that all writers can empathize with. You'll also gain access to a bunch of different writers' brains, and they might spit out ideas that wouldn't have occurred to you, or offer changes that you were too close to the manuscript to see.

What about the bad stuff?

On the other side of the coin, you're going to walk into some egos in any writers' group. I promise you, it's going to happen. You're going to have people who are condescending, people who tell you how they would write your book, and people who get offended that you don't take their suggestions. You'll probably have at least one person dismiss your entire genre as a fad, a waste of time, or trash. Basically the same sort of down-the-nose treatment genre fiction gets in a lot of college classrooms. Depending on the community you may run into folks who lack social skills, hygiene, or who have mistaken this group for a speed-dating service, as well.

It takes all kinds.

What You Shouldn't Expect

Between movies about writing, TV shows featuring authors, and the unreal events we sometimes see in the stories we tell, it's really easy to show up at a writers' group expecting the moon and stars to align in your favor. So let me pop a couple of bubbles, and hopefully save folks a lot of time, and a lot of frustration.

Hello? Career defining moment, are you here?

You are not going to meet an agent in your writers' group. You are not going to meet a really successful author at your group, and have them introduce you to their agent. While there is a permutation of events where this is technically possible, if you're banking on those odds you should be buying lottery tickets instead, because the Powerball will be a cakewalk compared to making that other scenario come to pass.

Get all those Cinderella stories out of your head. You show up to a writers' group because you're looking for feedback, and because you want to improve your skills. You're not getting discovered by the ten other scribblers who meet in the library community room on the weekend.

While we're on the subject, you're probably not going to find a lot of good information about going from writing the manuscript to getting published, or selling copies once you are published. You might get lucky (especially if you're in an online group rather than an in-person one), but you're just as likely to get bad or outdated advice as you are anything useful; the writing equivalent of your grandparents telling you to dress up nice and go fill out a physical application, then talk to the store manager to get a job in the digital economy.

Lastly, don't expect a writers' group to utterly remake you as a writer, or to discover the secret you've been looking for. Folks might be talented, experienced, or offer good suggestions, but ultimately these meetings are just support groups for folks who tell stories. They keep you on task, and hold you at least a little bit accountable. They'll offer community, and sometimes a helpful trick here and there, but it's still on you to do the work, submit the story, network, etc., etc.

Just keep that in mind when you seek out a group. Make sure you're going there for the right reasons, and that you aren't looking for something you're not going to find. Also, if you're shopping for an online writers' group, beware of ANYONE offering to publish you. Always do your research, and make sure you're not about to get taken for a ride.

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 cat noir novel Marked Territory, 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!

Conversations With Joy Ward (My Latest Interview on "Marked Territory")

Way back when I first started this blog I warned folks that I'd occasionally just talk about something that's going on in my career, or with one of my new releases. This is one of those weeks. And given that I'm currently attempting to get several flocks of ducks into parade formation, and an interview I've been waiting to drop for a while finally went up, I wanted to share this with all my readers out there!

For folks who aren't in the know, Eric Flint's Ring of Fire Press published my last novel Marked Territory, and this is an interview I did a few months ago talking about what I was up to, what was coming out, and where things were likely to go from here concerning my output. And while at the time of the interview I was only about 56k into the sequel (whose name shall go unspoken for now), I can tell you that it is currently complete!

And, as always, if you haven't subscribed to my weekly newsletter yet, consider doing that so you don't miss any updates!

For Folks Who Want To See More

There is one other thing I wanted to address this week, since this is my Business of Writing installment. Because we all know that the best way to support an author is to buy their books (and the second best way is to go to their Patreon and pledge, which you can do at The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page if you feel so inclined). However, when we're talking about individuals who are writing a series, and when that series is going through a more traditional publisher, this becomes even more important.

Publishers, like any business, want to make money. So while quality of the book is always going to be a consideration, there are lots of well-written, imaginative, interesting, insightful books out there that just don't move copies. And if you want to write a sequel to a book that underperformed, that's going to be a very tough sell to your editors since they're obligated to keep at least one eye on the company's bottom line.

It sold how many copies last quarter? Eeeeeeh...

I say this because I really like Leo as a character, and I'd like to write at least a few more of his adventures. And minor spoiler, I introduced a really fun character in the sequel that I think I could get some spin-offs out of if folks are really behind it... but I won't be able to make that a reality unless I've got the sales numbers on my side.

That's where you come in.

If you like novels about cats, noir mysteries, or both, go buy yourself a copy of Marked Territory. If you already have a copy, leave a rating and a review on any site you can (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, I'm not picky!). If you can't afford a copy, or it's not your jam but you still want to help, share a link on your social media. Recommend it to your friends, toss it onto Twitter, let your aunt with the two Maine coon cats know this should be something she should take a look at.

There's only so many times I can share links to my own work (without getting kicked out of Facebook groups and banned from subreddits, anyway), so I sort of depend on readers like you to help me spread the word. And if you're really looking for something fun and different to ride out the pandemic with until it's time to get your shot, I think you could do a lot worse than walking down Leo's alley and following him on his debut novel.

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, 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!

It Is Always Better To Write The Thing!

One of my favorite things to do with fellow authors and writers is to sit down and hash out story ideas. Whether I'm the one bouncing the ball, or I'm the wall returning the serves, there's something satisfying about the collaborative process. Being in the swirling guts of a story nebula as it swells, collapses, and goes through the process of exploding out into a galaxy of ideas and possibilities never gets old.

And this is just the beginning!

There is something that always interrupts this process, though. A knee jerk habit that crops up no matter one's skill, talent, past success, or quality of concept; the desire to say, "Ugh, why bother?"

Sometimes you say it because the project seems overwhelmingly big. Sometimes you say it because it's "too similar" to a classic piece of fiction that already exists. Sometimes you say it because you're just some nobody tinkering on a word processor; who's going to want to read this thing even if you manage to finish it?

To all of these questions I say, "Shut up!" Because it is always better to write the thing.

Also, before we move on, remember to sign up for my weekly newsletter if you want to stay on top of all my releases!

It's Your Story, So Tell It Already!

Writing, as an activity, is good for us. It exercises the mind, it sharpens our vocabulary, and it provides practice in storytelling. It can often be therapeutic, and as frustrating as the endeavor sometimes is, most of us who sit down to it will come back for more sooner rather than later.

Easy when you don't know how, and very difficult when you do.

Don't get me wrong, having doubts is a completely natural part of the process. As long as you have expectations of yourself, of your work, or of your writing, there's always going to be that little voice that crops up to naysay you. But if you can't develop a zen attitude about just doing the work for the work's own sake (in case you didn't check the name of my blog, I sure as hell don't have that), then there is another phrase you should adopt to use as a shield against these negative influences.

"But what if?"

When that voice insists that your audience will find your story boring and derivative, ask, "But what if they don't?" Especially if you consider that your audience A) might not be reading beneath the surface level, or B) might find your take on the material inspired. When that voice tells you that nobody's going to read it, ask, "But what if they do?" Because while it's just as possible that no one reads your story but a few close friends, it's equally possible that the algorithm blesses you, and your story explodes with thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of readers discovering you while they dig through the Internet looking for something new to consume.

And when that voice asks you what you're going to do if you don't finish this project, ask in return, "But what if I do?"

You Have Nothing To Lose (And Everything To Gain)

Writing isn't easy. Writing to achieve specific goals (notoriety, financial independence, invitations as a guest to conventions, etc.) is even tougher. And there is no guarantee that when you set out on this journey that it's going to turn out the way you want it to. You might run into plot complications that require big, structural changes. You might have trouble firing up audience enthusiasm. This may not be the book that receives big critical acclaim, wins you an award, or gets you crowned the Next Big Thing by a particular fandom.

But you know what else? Not writing the story guarantees none of those things will happen.

Can't win if you don't play, right?

And even if this isn't the throw that hits the bullseye, it might be the project that helps you calibrate your aim. The one that lets you find your voice. The one that gets you noticed in an unexpected way, and leads you to the next project that makes all your dreams come true.

But you aren't going to get there if you listen to that hissing little naysayer. So shove a crumpled wad of paper into its mouth, put your fingers on the keys, and write the thing already!

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 cat noir novel Marked Territory, 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!

Uncertainty is The Worst (and The Best) Thing About Being an Author

The most common piece of advice I've heard since the point I decided to become an author (around age 13 or 14, I think it was), is that I need to have a reliable, steady source of income while I do that on the side. It's not that they didn't think I had the chops or determination to crank out books till the day I died, but rather that there's no telling what the market is going to do when it comes to a writer's trade. You might write one book, hit the lottery, and explode! You might spend a decade or two writing shelves worth of novels, only to become an "overnight success" when someone with a big following tells their fans your work is amazing.

And while most advice you get from people with no experience being a writer is basically garbage, there is a lot of truth to this one. Because writers are self-employed now more than ever before in the age of the gig economy, and your income is going to depend almost entirely on the fickle finger of fate. And I'll be the first to tell you that can be both infuriating, and exhilarating.

Pay your fee, take your shot, and hope for the best!

Before we go too much further, if you want to help me negate some of the uncertainty I'm dealing with (and make sure this blog keeps on trucking), consider becoming a Literary Mercenary Patreon patron! Or, if you don't have the spare dosh for that right now, signing up for my weekly newsletter to ensure you don't miss any of my new releases!

Reliability is an Illusion (Unfortunately)

One of the hardest truths there is about being an author is that your entire profession is largely a matter of luck. Talent helps, developing your skill and craft is necessary, networking is good, and gumption goes a long way, but everything you achieve (or don't) basically turns on the fulcrum of luck.

And this is a door that swings both ways.

Sometimes opportunity doesn't bother knocking.

As an example, take the current pandemic. I had spent several years building up a rather large pile of completed work as a ghost blogger, and it was slowly getting approved, ensuring I had a "regular" check to help bolster all the work I do writing novels, RPG supplements, blogs, and all that other nonsense. Then when the plague crashed across the economy, many of my clients put a freeze on approving any more work. Others cancelled projects (some of which I'd turned in weeks or months before), and still others just ghosted entirely, cancelling their orders and vanishing.

So practically overnight I went from a ghost writer who is hoping to one day quit that job to write novels and RPGs full time, to suddenly relying very much on my body of creative work to make up the difference from the "safe" clients who'd left me hanging.

You know, just like any other job where you're considered an expendable worker, or where the company suddenly takes a nose dive into concrete.

That same zeitgeist can go the other way, as well, putting a surprising amount of good fortune in my pocket when I didn't expect it to be there. For example, a few months back my article Partners and Polycules: Polyamorous Designations Based Off Dungeons and Dragons Dice was randomly shared on a pretty wide scale thanks to a single mention on a subreddit. It picked up several thousand reads, and quickly rocketed up to the front page of my most-read pieces ever on Vocal, suddenly easing my difficulties covering bills that month. In the early summer of 2020 Drive Thru RPG had a big sale on a huge number of World of Darkness game supplements, and overnight my entire 100 Kinfolk project that I'd written for Werewolf: The Apocalypse jumped in sales, pushing my earnings in royalties over $200 for the first (and so far only) time since I started getting a cut of my RPG earnings. I haven't gotten my first check for my noir mystery novel Marked Territory yet, but it's entirely possible that a mystery with a Maine Coon alley cat trying to figure out why a pack of stray dogs is putting the squeeze on a church mouse and her community sold far better than I expected it to.

And one of the hard truths of this job is that while you can tell the story, talk about the story, and try to spread the word, so much of whether or not you succeed is actually out of your hands.

You Can Only Do What You Can Do

Hitting the jackpot as a writer is basically being a professional gambler. You need to read the trends in fiction, understand your audience, learn to recognize interest, figure out what the social media algorithm wants to see from you, and do what you can to gather support from the community. But even if you crunch all the numbers, put your links in the right place, show up to interviews, do readings for your audience, at the end of the day you're basically just gambling. Every book, every blog, every supplement, every article is just one more roll of the dice.

As Captain Picard says, it's possible to do everything right and still fail, when all is said and done.

Even if the odds are on your side, there's no guaranteeing you're going to win. And even if the odds are against you, there's no guaranteeing you're going to lose. The best you can do is put the words on the page in the most compelling way you can, do everything to get it in front of the audience's eyes you can think of, and hope for the best.

Never depend on luck to see you through. At the same time, understand that it is often pure, unadulterated chance that happens to be what makes a book, blog, video, etc. popular. And getting struck by lightning ain't an easy thing to do.

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, 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!

Tailor Your Story To Your Medium (Or You'll Throw Your Readers Off)

For those who don't know me, I love superheroes. I grew up with my nose buried in comic books, I've memorized an unhealthy amount of trivia regarding several of my favorites, and I can talk for hours once someone gets me on "What If" storylines and thematic elements of these books. I've even written some articles like Why Do Superheroes Wear Their Underwear on The Outside? to answer a few questions we've all wondered about at least in passing.

However, one of the major things about comic books is that they're a very unique medium. The costumes the characters wear, the way the action is presented, every element is meant to operate within its own rules. And while the framing, color scheme, action, etc. does translate well to the screen (thanks in part to our movie making magic), it really does not transfer so well to text.

Seems obvious... but trust me, it's not.

Imagine your average Spider-Man fight scene, complete with leaps, bounds, acrobatic tumbles, dodges, and more. Now imagine someone writing it out shot-for-shot, blow-for-blow. When you do that the text can quickly get frenetic, and make it hard for you to tell exactly what's supposed to be happening in the scene. Especially if you insist on documenting every snarl, every gunshot, and every brightly-colored detail of the costumes of those involved. While you can sit back and look at a piece of art, following the progression with your eyes, text needs to draw clear lines so that a reader is aware of what's happening so they receive the proper information (and impact) from a scene. If they can't do that, they're missing out on the story you're trying to tell.

This seems obvious. After all, why would you attempt to ram a square peg into a round hole? But it's something that I see often enough that I thought I'd take this week to talk about it.

A Book Is A Book

There are a thousand different ways to tell stories, and experimental writing has a long and varied tradition. However, with that said, it's important to remember that a book is not a movie. It is not a play, a painting, or a comic. Just because something works well in another medium doesn't mean you can copy and paste it onto the page without a little bit of translation to make it function in book form.

As an example.

For those of you who haven't read my short story collection The Rejects, I'd turn your attention toward Assault on Olympus, the 5th story in the book. Originally written for an open call for the SNAFU series, its premise is an apocalyptic scenario where a team of metahumans has been sent in as a last-ditch effort to stop a nuclear super man that's crowned himself the despot of D.C.

The story has a definite comic book vibe to it in terms of the characters, their unusual abilities, and the high-stakes nature of their assignment. The style it's told in, though, is more of a traditional pulp action narrative, with clean lines of who is doing what, and what's going on around them. There was no need to detail every fold in the spandex, or talk about precisely how characters ducked, dodged or weaved across a field; that would have been clutter to trip up the reader. They would miss the forest for the trees, in other words.

Books have to tell their stories in text, and text has to communicate clearly with the reader. So pay attention to your flow, your details, and your style. Lastly, remember, it's okay to leave things out if they aren't important to a scene. If we don't need to know the lead is wearing silver pumps, that their black cape hangs to their ankles, or that they specifically blocked a blow with their left arm, it's probably safe to move on with the scene.

Edit: Describing Ballet

Since there seems to be some confusion based on feedback, I felt the need to add this section. I call it "describing ballet" because ballet as an art form is meant to be seen. It's the movement of the dance, the impact of the music, and all these disparate elements coming together.

You cannot recreate that impact by just describing a performance as a list of what movements were taken in what order.

Instead, you need to use creative language to convey to the reader all of the impressions this performance creates. You discuss the grace, the beauty, the strength, and the rhythm. You mention the trembling muscle in the lead dancer's shoulder, the bead of sweat eating through the makeup on her partner, the swell of the music in the background... in other words, you translate the entire experience to text instead of just writing down who moved, who jumped, and who pirouetted while also saying which music was playing.

That is the point of this exercise. Not that you should avoid certain genres, or certain types of scene, but that you need to translate it to the textual format. Because while a TV script has all the set description and dialogue, and it tells you a story, it is not a novel. You can make it into a novel, but you have to translate it from what it is (a bare-bones skeleton meant to work in a visual performance) into something that embraces the vehicle it's actually being used for (a novel).

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 cat noir novel Marked Territory, 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!

A Glimpse Into My Earnings as a Professional Author

Most of the time when people ask me what I do, and I tell them I'm an author, they feel the need to clarify, "No, I mean for money." There's a joke to be made there, because except for a select handful of us, most authors really don't make that much. Certainly nothing to brag about.

Since most people always see me asking for a like, a share, and contribution if they can afford it, I figured that as we're starting a new year I'd give folks a glimpse behind the curtain as how the sausage is made. At least when it comes to my take-home pay doing what I do.

So let's dig into the numbers, shall we?

And before we get into the numbers, don't forget to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to make sure you don't miss any of my fresh content and upcoming releases!

My Earnings as an Author

As all the regular readers know, I have my fingers in a lot of different pies at any point in time. However, what a lot of folks don't seem to realize is that at the best of times my sales from books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects tend to be little more than pizza money. This is even more true for 2020, where I didn't get a chance to go to conventions and hand sell books, or hobnob with folks at my usual events. As such, I sold maybe a dozen copies of those books to eager readers in lockdown, which was maybe enough to buy a tank of gas. Or around $50 or so, depending on what the price of gas is these days.

While the preliminary numbers I have say my hard-boiled cat mystery Marked Territory likely did notably better, that one was published by Eric Flint's Ring of Fire Press. So I won't have an idea of what my exact numbers on sales (or royalties earned) for that book were for 2020 until next month when I get my check in the mail. And I won't get a check for any books sold between the start of the year and June until the end of August, so keep that 6-month cycle in mind for any earnings on that front.

So, if you haven't gotten a copy yet, get one today!

What a lot of folks might not know is that the bulk of my earnings as an author when it comes to sales actually come from the roleplaying game supplements and associated projects. However, I use the word "bulk" in the loosest possible context, here. Because for a simple break down my earnings for gaming products are:

- Royalties from sales: Just over $1k

- Affiliate earnings from sales: $564

So for roughly a year of work producing and selling RPG supplements, both my own and other folks, I brought in about $1,564. That's not nothing, but if you break it down over the year that's an average of about $100 and change a month. About enough to cover my Internet bill and utilities.

What about my Vocal archive, though? After all, it's been growing at a pretty rapid clip. While that's true, the popularity for my work on that site comes in waves. Still, I managed to earn about $1,153 in traffic throughout 2020. Which, for those who've been keeping track of the news, is less money than a lot of us received in our stimulus check during the early part of the year... and making it stretch is often just as difficult.

So how are you making the ends meet?

A majority of my earnings comes through the Patreon supporters of this blog, and my gaming blog Improved Initiative. The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page brought in just over $1,800 in 2020, making it far and away the largest source of income I have. It also, wonder of wonders, managed to grow a little bit during the pandemic as folks wanted to make sure I kept the content coming as more of my readers turned to online gaming as a way to stay in touch with other people, and pass the time in a safe way.

So between books, blogs, articles, RPGs, and all the content I created last year, what does that come down to? Well, it's roughly $5,000 in earnings. Total. For the whole year.

Now, to be clear, that isn't the full extent of everything I was doing in 2020. I took on a lot of projects that paid by-the-word, or a single fee. I did a lot of ghost blogging, too. However, a lot of the fill-in work and extra projects started to dry up by the summer, and more than one client mysteriously vanished by the Fall. So I did the work, but received no payment as their businesses went into hibernation to wait out the pandemic.

And at least a few of those folks won't be coming back, which means I can't depend on them being around to get me through 2021.

Long Story Short, I Need Your Help

While it's possible that as we all get our vaccines and stumble back to the lives we used to lead, one thing I don't have control over is what clients will and won't do. So while it's possible that some of my ghostwriting clients will come back, or that some RPG companies will need a fill-in writer, there's no way to guarantee that I'll be able to find someone with a slot to fill when the rent is due, or I need to buy groceries.

And honestly, I'd rather not rely on providence if I can make something happen without it.

Seriously, a hand up makes a BIG deal.

Firstly, if you have a little spare dosh to throw around that you want to turn into direct action you could:

- Buy a book! My Amazon author page is full of titles for you to choose from.

- Buy an RPG supplement! My complete list has over 90 products with my name on them.

- Become a Patreon patron! It puts money directly in my pocket every month, and lets me keep writing.

- Leave me a tip! Whether you Buy me a Ko-Fi or leave a tip on Vocal, it's always appreciated.

And if you don't have any spare room in your budget, don't worry! If that's the case you can:

- Read my Vocal articles! Sharing articles you like on your social media feeds and groups helps, too.

- Follow my social media pages (links below), and join my newsletter (above and bottom of the page)!

- Leave ratings and reviews of my stuff! Amazon, DTRPG, Barnes and Noble, it all helps!

- Share articles, books, and anything else of mine that you like! The bigger the signal, the larger the pool of folks who will be reading that can add their voice to the whole.

I've got a lot of stuff that's getting wrapped up right now, and 2021 should (with a little luck) be the year that my body of work grows noticeably larger! I just need a little push from everyone out there reading this so I can get the engine to turn over... hopefully at that point I'll be able to really put the pedal to the metal without stressing over rent, bills, and the other sundry parts of living in the 21st century.

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, 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!