The Business Side of Writing

Many writers who turn into authors love the creativity of releasing the work but dread the behind the scenes work that’s needed to make a book a success.

First, there’s the marketing. One must learn social media, target audiences, and build content to post or record to remain in the forefront of their fans’ minds.

Second, there’s searching for events where the books can be sold. Local events are where I meet the greater part of my fan base. They return yearly to see what new story or poem I’ve written. Having a signup sheet for emails also helps me keep in touch with them.

Third, pursuing radio, podcast, or television interviews is critical to building up the reading base. There are many small stations out there that are willing to help new authors introduce themselves to the world.

Fourth, keeping track of sales taxes, earnings, and inventory is important for understanding the health of this venture. Whether it’s a side hustle or main source of income, understanding these details is important to help keep things running smoothly. This is true even if you hire an accountant to do the grunt paperwork.

So, do your best to learn as much as you can about the business side of writing. I am fortunate that both sides of my brain enjoy the entirety of the writing process. I enjoy making graphs and seeing how many copies have sold over time almost as much as I love writing stories and poems. It helps me plan for the future better.

I keep track of the best-selling venues and which of my books sold the most copies at each one. This helps me organize how many copies of each to take. The data also influences whether I take extra to a certain event or return to a certain venue.

The other thing I did was to make additional merchandise available for purchase. So far, I had mugs made with the covers of my books on them. Some buyers like the idea of buying a mug to match the book they just purchased. Others got one because they loved the design or colors of the cover. You basically have to study your audience to know what they’d like.

Listening to my buyers has led to me broadening my genre base. At first, I hesitated because most authors are encouraged to stick with one genre. However, since I enjoy many kinds of stories, my mind comes up with plots from many genres as well. Readers are constantly amazed that I have multiple genres and sometimes return to buy copies of all my inventory. Some have even made requests regarding genres I already enjoy. One thing to remember, though, is to remain true to yourself. If a request doesn’t fit your writing, refer the reader to someone else. For example, I am not into mystery, so I don’t have the desire to release one, but I know author friends who write mystery. I find happiness in helping another author increase sales, and they do the same for me. Helping others grow too is good for business.

But most of all, have fun with what you do. The buyers can tell.

How Learning Multiple Languages Aids My Writing

The second novel I released included dialog in Spanish and Japanese. I had taken Spanish throughout middle school, high school, and college, so I felt somewhat comfortable creating conversation in that language. However, I’d never studied Japanese before. I did some internet searches to find the words I needed and plopped them into the story. Fortunately, my best friend’s first language is Spanish, and my editor had lived in Japan for a while, so they corrected any foreign language grammatical errors.

After that experience, I started learning French for a story whose main character is from France. As of today, that story is still only an idea, but by the time I get back to it, I’ll have a ton of French vocabulary in my head. Then, during NaNoWriMo 2020, I wrote the first part of A Cop and Vampire Story which includes a female vampire with origins in Germany. I expanded my language base to German so that I could create a more realistic back story for her.

The thing that I like the most is when someone who knows those languages reads the story and smiles because I captured not only the words, but the mood, intonations, and attitude of the character’s culture. I not only research the cultures, but I’ve also hung out with people from those cultures so that I can portray authentic characters. That’s the most fun part of writing: getting to know real people who influence fictional characters.

The added benefit? I can read more signage and pronounce more words from the languages I’m learning than I could yesterday. I’m having fun, and this new habit is broadening my writing base.

Building Multiple Anthologies

A few years ago, when one of my stories won a spot in an anthology, one of the avid readers of my stories refused to buy a copy. When I asked why, she said she’d only buy a book that contained short stories only from me. That’s when I came up with the idea of creating an anthology of short stories. As I started working on compiling that anthology, ideas for other anthologies emerged, including one or two for urban fantasy stories.

I am currently still creating stories and poems for these works in progress. My goal for each is fifty thousand words at a minimum to give my readers a lengthy and enjoyable reading experience. I need around two thousand words to complete the first anthology, and I hope I get the idea for that one soon. I’d like to release that anthology, if at all possible, by the end of 2026.

Stay tuned for more on this project.

The Benefits of a Writing Retreat

I’ve heard of writers’ retreats where people go to classes then meet up with publishers and agents at a shot of having their manuscript read and hopefully land a contract. I’ve never attended one because they never seemed to occur on a weekend where I had the time to spend at such an event.

However, in August 2023, I attended my first writing retreat. That appealed to me because I’d been in a writing slump for months and wanted the chance to break out of that to get back into a regular writing rhythm. And it worked. In one weekend, I went from writing zero words to over three thousand. I spent time in nature and wrote whatever came to mind. I wrote about a rainbow appearing in a water fountain and the cadence of songs of the various insects in the small sanctuary. The blue sky and cool breeze also enhanced my creative juices.

I left that weekend renewed and energized. But it wasn’t just about the writing. I taught the opening class and had the opportunity to spend quality time over meals with the other women joining me that weekend. We connected in a kind of sisterhood that is sure to last for many years to come.

We shared what we wrote with each other and offered critiques and encouragement where needed. When I read what I thought was a heart wrenching poem, they viewed it as a modern-day psalm. I’m glad I had the courage to share that one with them.

I look forward to being a part of this type of retreat in the future. I’m so glad the organizer is doing it again.

Pursuing Writing Goals

Every year, I make a point to write down my writing goals: which book can be released, which stories will be actively edited, and what ideas should be fleshed out. Things start out rosy, but then life happens and causes detours for many, if not all, of my scheduled plans. When that happens, I’ve learned to pivot. Last year when four of my books won the International Impact Book Awards, it meant I needed to update covers, redo bookmarks, and prepare for an unexpected trip. I still released two books, but the editing I’d planned on doing for a handful of stories fell off to just a couple. Making any kind of progress in my writing projects had to be enough encouragement to spur me on to continue in my craft. I took pleasure in making a page better on a given day versus focusing on whether I got through the manuscript in less than a month. After all, this is a marathon, not a sprint. I still want to record my stories and land more reviews. I just have to be patient with myself and the adventures life hands me. “Keep on going” is my current motto.  

Reminiscing About My Experience as a Kindle Vella Author

When I heard about Kindle Vella years ago, I recalled the time when weekly episodes of stories were aired on the radio. Before that, authors would submit weekly episodes of their stories to the newspapers. Now that we’re in a digital age, the idea of episodic releases had returned, this time to every handheld device.

 

Since I didn’t already have a story set up as episodes, I translated my then newest work-in-progress (WIP), Blood and Bullets: A Cop and Vampire Story, into an episodic format, making sure that the next episode was clear on whose POV it was in and dialogue tags to point out who spoke first in the scene. After a few tweaks, I set out to upload each one into the online tool.

 

The cover was a bit different, though. Only a small circular section of the cover was used for the Kindle Vella story, so I had to capture as many of the critical elements of the cover as possible.

 

The neat thing about Kindle Vella was that the author could leave notes about the episode, what inspired the scene, and hints about the next installment. In addition, the author could also create a fun questionnaire to encourage interaction with the readers.

 

Initially, the first three episodes are free, but the reader had to unlock the rest of the episodes with the appropriate number of tokens determined by the length of that episode. I am definitely glad I tried it and had intended on releasing the second part of my Cop and Vampire story. However, this adventure came to an end a year ago when Kindle Vella was discontinued.

 

Getting this story back out to the world is on my list of things to do. Stay tuned!

Award Winning Author

For years, I entered multiple competitions with no results. Of course, I started to think my stories weren’t good enough for this market. But then readers would say how much they enjoyed the characters who stayed in their minds for weeks or months after they’d finished the book. Other authors were impressed with the story idea. Still others left glowing reviews. So, when the opportunity to submit a book to the International Impact Book Awards presented itself, I hesitated, not because I didn’t think my books were worthy, but because I didn’t want to experience yet another rejection in a very particular world. I asked my fans whether I should try. When they said, “yes,” I asked for suggestions. I submitted four books. Months went by, and I’d forgotten about it, too busy releasing two more books to focus on anything else. Then, something amazing happened. One…two…three…four books won the award across the span of four weeks. I was elated, then I doubted, then I rejoiced. So many of my friends asked how I was going to celebrate. How does one celebrate the unexpected? I danced like Snoopy. Screamed for joy in my car. Allowed friends to treat me to lunch. But the tangible way I lived out my celebratory excitement was to travel to Phoenix, Arizona, to receive the trophy in person and meet others who’d won this prestigious award. I’m glad I didn’t shrink away from submitting my books. In fact, I submitted four more books to see whether they also measured up to the rubric used by the judges. Guess what, as of February 16, 2026, two more won this prestigious award, one of which is a collection of poetry.