The Cozy Chicks | Cozy Up To Some Killer Books

Moonlighting

Those of you who’ve tuned in daily to the blog over the past year know by now that writing is a tough business with more than its share of ups and downs. Of course it’s enormously satisfying as well — which is a good thing. I think I speak for all the Cozy Chicks when I say we wouldn’t do it if we didn’t love it so much.

Because there are easier ways to make a living.

Last week I gave notice at my day job. A job I’ve held for sixteen years. Before everyone starts breaking out the champagne — or the valium — I’m not at a point in my writing career where I can make a living at it. But I do have a number of contracts lined up, and I do have enough in my savings to carry us through several uneventful months or so, and I’ve decided that for the next six months I’m going to give it my best shot.

It being my writing.

If I stick to the plan, in six months I’ll have laid the groundwork for the career I want. The career I’ve been dreaming of — planning for – since I was ten years old. No, no. Not the capturing and training of wild mustangs — the other dream. (Although the way the biz is these days, maybe I’d have better odds trying to tame mustangs.)

Anyway, I’ve been thinking it over for a long time, and I’m going to do it. I’m going to write all these stories I have floating in my brain — I’m going to take my shot. And then I’m probably going to go get another day job; but if I’ve done what I set out to do, it will only be temporary.

We’ll see.

In the meantime, I have to write what sells. I have to think out of the box. And one of the things I came across — and discussed on the blog a while back — were ebooks. I think we pretty well established that very few of our devoted readers are ebook readers, but that market is out there. And it does seem to be largely untapped — at least by writers like ourselves.

As I was explaining to Laura Bradford some time ago, success in this niche market depends on the Principle of the Three Es: elves, erotica and ebooks. (Yes, my tongue is firmly planted in cheek — and yet…)

The theory is that New York publishing is ignoring a large (though clearly not large enough by traditional NY publishing standards) share of the reading market simply because the needs of these readers don’t fit into the existing demographics. Sure, traditional publishing turns out plenty of erotica and fantasy and GLBT romance and westerns and horror and…you name it. But not in huge quantities because traditional publishing can’t afford to make mistakes in huge quantities and still stay afloat.

Whereas it’s dirt cheap to publish electronically — even if you do slap a nice cover on it and offer it in four different formats. And if I can get five hundred people to buy my $5.99 ebook with 35% royalties for me (versus the standard 7 - 10% I get from traditional print publishing), well, let’s just say that that figure is not out of line with what many small and indie presses offer as advances these days — and it would take quite a few more than five hundred books to earn out.

Lord knows this doesn’t replace traditional print publishing — I don’t want it to. I’m just thinking of different ways to market some of the things I’ve written that aren’t going to be easy to sell through traditional channels.

In this case I took a book I wrote years ago, reworked it a bit, and sent it to Torquere Press, one of the leading GLBT ebook publishers. Murder in Pastel launches this week — mostly to thunderous silence because I’m not planning on doing full scale promotion. Mostly I’m experimenting to see…what happens. If anything.

It’s a risk, I guess, but this seems to be my week…month…year for taking risks.

So what do you think? Crazy like a fox — or just plain crazy? Have you ever taken a huge risk with your career or personal life? Did it pay off? Do you have regrets if it didn’t pay off — or are you still glad you took your shot?

25 Responses to “Moonlighting”

Oh, good luck with full-time writing!!!

by Tori Lennox on June 27th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Thanks, Tori. It’s a scary feeling. But it’s a good scary.

by Diana on June 27th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
You go!

I think this is great. You say “I have to write what sells. I have to think out of the box,” and that’s a really important thing to realize. It means you’re treating your career as a *career*, a business, and I am sure you will be wildly successful!

–Laura

by Laura Kramarsky on June 27th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Hey, thanks Laura! Yep, nothing makes you more serious than…the struggle for survival. ;-D

by Diana on June 27th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
I’m a big believer in taking risks. The biggest risk I took was quitting my day job after selling the mystery series with only my belief in myself that I could “do it.” Support myself. I had to live off my share of retirement income after divorce (doesn’t get scarier than that) and watch it go down, down, down for over two years before royalties started trickling in. And I do mean trickling. They’ve increased some, but slowly.

But—all business owners have to “invest” in their businesses in order for them to succeed. I saw that when I did their taxes as a CPA. When we take risks like you’re doing right now, you’re investing assets in your business. And as writers, our biggest and most precious asset is our TIME and ENERGY. You can do it, Diana.

by Maggie on June 27th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
First of all, I would say that you are not crazy at all. If you risk nothing, then you gain nothing. So good luck, and I imagine it should go well. I certainly hope so.

Did I take a risk ever? Yes. At the age of 36 I gave up a successful job in a primary school in London, to go into religious life. And just to try God’s patience I entered religious life in Ukraine, as I had the misguided notion that I was called to do missionary work in the former Soviet empire…my Polish was fairly good, but my Russian was not quite so good - and as for Ukrainian, I knew none. Fortunately, the part of Ukraine where I was situated was Russian speaking - and two of the other people I lived with spoke Polish (as well as Russian, of course!). The other two spoke Russian on par with me - one was Italian and the other, Peruvian. It was an interesting experience, to put it mildly, and at the end of the trial period, it was decided by all concerned that I was better off in religious life (as a member of a religious order) functioning in my own culture. So I became a friar and trained and work in England. I’m still a friar now (and also an ordained Catholic priest), although there are times when I wonder just what I am doing…

For those of who followed the blog and comments about pets dying, I can assure you that one of the most difficult things was having to give up possession of my two cats. They were OK, mind you, as they went to live with a friend whom they conquered and bullied for the next eight years of their lives! And my friend was retired, which meant that they had her undivided attention…

PS I’m so glad that Maggie took her risks; as a knitter, it is such a treat to read about mysteries which revolve around knitting!

by Rudolf on June 27th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Knock ‘em dead Diana! Stay positive and focused and you can do anything.

by Becky on June 27th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Thanks, Maggie! To tell the truth, you’re one of my inspirations!

by Diana on June 27th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Wow, Rudolf, what an amazing story! Very inspirational.

by Diana on June 27th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Thanks so much, Becky!

by Diana on June 27th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
I left my “state” job after 18 years to try to startup a consulting business. It flopped but I learned so much about myself and had so many opportunities during that time. I consulted with families placing loved ones in nursing homes, I wrote grants and analyzed a non profit for compliance with grants, I worked with individuals with grief issues on organizing their lives, I mystery shopped and merchandised and I worked in two long term care facilities, learning billing and Medicare. All things I wouldn’t have done if I had stayed with the department.

Now I work for a leasing company, licensing vehicles all over the country. My dream job, hardly, but a day job. And it has insurance, something I have come to appreciate. But do I regret leaving my other life, no, but sometimes I wonder what started me down this road. And I live 1600 miles from my home for all my life. And with all these changes, I am surviving and enjoying life.

Change is good.
Lynn

by Lynn on June 28th, 2007 at 7:23 am
Lynn, this is the kind of thing I’m interested in hearing about. I admire the courage to address the dissatisfactions of one’s life — it’s so easy to stay in a comfortable rut. (And sometimes one doesn’t have a choice, even if one has the courage.)

You cant’ grow if you’re not willing to change.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

by Diana on June 28th, 2007 at 11:05 am
Diana, you flatter me. We all take inspiration from each other. And boy, did you hit the nail on the head. You’ve got to be willing to change. First, recognize that change is needed, then be willing to change. And that’s the hard part, because change is scary. Seriously scary, because there’s no guarantee of success. But you know that old saying, or something—-”Don’t die with your music or songs still inside you.” I think we’re meant to “sing” our songs. Even if no one is listening except us. Keep signing, girl. We’re listening.

by Maggie on June 28th, 2007 at 11:23 am
Diana, it is every writer’s dream to take the plunge full-time. Few have that opportunity. With an impending publication date in Oct. of my first mystery, The Black Widow Agency, and a contract on the second due out in July ‘08, I can certainly appreciate the amount of work these projects take. Do we do it because we love deadlines and incessant proofing and rewrites and having to balance the demands of marketing, self-promotion and writing? Of course not. We do it because we love to write. If you have the opportunity to put your time to your passion, I say go for it. Do it for the rest of us and keep us posted. Anything done with passion and committment is bound to be successful Best of luck. Felicia
http://www.feliciadonovan.com

by Felicia Donovan on June 28th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
When I made a decision such as yours, doors I never even knew opened for me and led me to experience great personal challenge and satisfaction. Wishing you all good things!

by Pooch on June 29th, 2007 at 1:04 am
Diana, there’s a saying I love: Leap and the net will appear. So, leap away! And let your faith in yourself and your writing become that net. Or let our faith in you be the net! Either works.

by Heather on June 29th, 2007 at 9:28 am
Thanks, Felicia — and congratulations on your own looming release date! It’s an exciting time. Enjoy it!

Of course the truth is I know almost no “successful” full-time fiction writers, but I also don’t know many writers who aggressively seek new ways to publish their work, new venues, new outlets. As this business changes, we writers have to change as well. We’ve got to be willing to push those boundaries — and I guess we’ve even got to be willing to fail, if it comes down to it — because not trying would be worse.

by Diana on June 29th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Hey, Pooch! Thanks for saying that! Much appreciated.

by Diana on June 29th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Heather, I love that saying. I’m copying it and tacking it to my bulletin board. Great one.

by Diana on June 29th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Diana, I’m so excited for you to be taking this giant leap! I wish you great success! And remember, you can always get another day job, but a shot at your dream career (wild mustangs aside) doesn’t come along that often.

As for the e-book question, my novel Too Big To Miss was published as an e-book by Hard Shell Word Factory and is doing quite well as e-books go. But the sales minimal compared to my print sales. But it’s another way to get the book there.

by Sue Ann Jaffarian on June 29th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Thanks, Sue Ann!

I agree that at this time ebooks should mostly be looked at as supplemental sales.

I do think that devoted ebook readers are readers who don’t currently show up in the market demographics — I think these are readers who download music, movies, write fan fiction — essentially work and play on the internet. Whereas most of the rest of us still work on computers but seek our entertainment mostly offline.

While I’m buying a lot more ebooks than I used to, I don’t own a special reader, and my print buying habits haven’t slowed down an iota.

It’s interesting…

by Diana on June 29th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Congrats on the giant step! How very exciting and scary but look at all the opportunities. I know next to nothing about ebooks but it sounds way interesting. I’ll try to make yours my very first one.

by Susan on July 1st, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Well, thanks so much, Susan! I think it’s a matter of doing a little of this and a little of that. Maybe more of this than that! At least the variety keeps it all interesting. And I suppose that’s true of anything in life.

by Diana on July 2nd, 2007 at 10:27 am
Purchased your ebook through Fictionwise over the weekend. Have only read a few chapters and already I wanted to know what else you had written. I’m a huge ebook fan and am always looking for open format or multiformat ebooks. Alternative genres do abound on the ebook circuit but I’d like to see all genres represented. Mostly, many of us are looking for that open or multi format and alternative genres have the most ebooks. Have to admit I’ve learned a lot. The industry is not standardized enough to purchase DRM books. Thanks for giving this a chance; to see experienced writers try the ebook world is exciting. I’m sure I’ll be giving you a “Great!” on my Fictiionwise rating.

by Aine on July 2nd, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Thanks for buying the book, Aine! I didn’t realize it was already available on Fictionwise–that’s where I usually shop for my ebooks too.

And, of course, you’re right: quality does vary widely with ebooks–there’s some brilliant stuff, and there’s stuff that might as well be self-published. But I think as more and more readers try ebooks, and get to appreciate the immediacy and ease of the technology, more variety will be offered–and more writers will be willing to give it a shot.

One nice thing I’ve noticed about ebook readers is because they’re generally web savvy to start with, they have no hesitation about letting you know if they liked or didn’t like something! Thanks for writing!

by Diana on July 3rd, 2007 at 12:24 pm

Moonlighting

25 Responses to “Moonlighting”

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