It dawned on me suddenly just how many words I have written in my life. I wish there was a way to add them all up. If you combine all the poems, songs, stories, blog posts, and so on, the number must be astronomical.
And for the first time in my life I am trying to do something with all those words.
Yes, I wrote some novels… four so far, to be precise. The first one is published. The second I am soon getting ready to have edited and then hopefully my older daughter is going to help me send it to the publisher in time for Christmas. And there are more coming in that series as well.
The children’s book arrived from the publisher. There were a few smudges on the artwork that showed up in the final printing so I did some clean up work and Jessica sent the fixes in. I just ordered another copy, so once again I am waiting 4 to 14 days for it to get here.
I went through the entire blog and cut and pasted all the good posts into Microsoft Word, along with the stuff I typed up here from things I wrote years ago. And I saved them by categories such as poems or short stories or essays.
So I am trying to get my stuff out there. And this is where I need your advice… I have decided that having one of you come and live at my house to be my personal assistant/agent/manager is not a practical plan. I need to kick my own self in the butt and get me moving. But there are so many paths in life, so many ways to go.
I am sending stuff to other blogs. I am still looking into websites that do poetry and writing contests. Now that I have started to organize my stuff, I should be able to send it out easily. So I just need more suggestions. I swear that this time I will follow through.
Do you know of any blogs or websites that would be good for me to get exposure on?
What is the story on that NaNoWriMo thing, and is it worth trying to write a novel in one month?
Are there ways to increase sales of my novels?
Should I try branching out into other types of books like a book of poems, or short stories, or more children’s books? Is there a market for poems? Or short, funny essays? What about a book that was just a bunch of blog posts about blogging???
I guess I am stuck in a limbo somewhere between hopefulness and paranoia. I think my science fiction books are funny and exciting. I think they would make awesome movies. But the fact is that most authors don’t succeed on their first try. On the other hand I haven’t really been doing much to market them besides bugging you all to buy them, because that is the stuff I suck at.
Okay… enough venting… I am going to make this work… I am going to sell enough of my words so that I make enough money to not get another sucky minimum wage job, so I have time to write more words. Selling words is the weirdest concept ever devised by mankind.
I would much rather give my words away.
Pouring My Art Out 
OK, this is going to sound like a pout – but – you need to give away copies of your books to get reviews which will improve your sales. Get out there at flea markets, boot sales, etc. & hawk your books. If you get a bit of an audience going then every reader will draw in another reader. Look at me with all the advice? I have yet to sell a single word, but I have a clear plan of what I will do if I get to this point. I am joining NaNoWriMo this month to try to get these millions of words in my head onto paper finally, so I hope to be in your position soon.
I might do the Nano thing… I can’t afford to give away books… they cost me money to get them.
The amount you would gain from a good review is much more than the price it would cost you to give away a book!
I could maybe give away a few to the right people, but not very many.
You just need to get a few good reviews to help your book sales. Find a couple people who really appreciate your writing style & give them a free book & ask them (personally) for a review (an honest review).
I have had actual authors review it on the site where it sells…
I am currently in the same limbo…trying to get my act together and my calendar.
I like to act like my act is together.
I’m not even dreaming of making any money of what I write. At least you’re trying make something bigger.
I have to make some somehow…
I have a job, which I like, so that really dampens my enthusiasm for writing. Even more that the fact that I have trouble forming complete sentences. Neither of those is holding you down.
I have no real life skillz…
Now I have to unpack. I was so looking forward to San Diego biscuits and gravy. I imagine that a good agent is the way to go.
I need the 007 of agents!
Congrats on getting moving.
I’m not a fan of NaNoWriMo, but it could be a good motivator if you actually stick to it, I hear.
Is it good for exposure? Because I really don’t need another side project.
I have no idea what happens on the backend to the submissions.
I’m sure they have a website you can look up.
I will try that… thanks.