As I finish up the first third of Rifts, I'm struck with the thought that perhaps I'm not doing enough to market this book. Perhaps I'm not doing enough as an Author to further my career. I can concede that I'm a fairly busy woman. I work full time. I am a mother. I am a friend and I write. I write when I have time and sometimes even when I don't.
I have to ask myself, what could you be doing Nicole that you aren't doing right now? Obviously I need to market the book more but that nagging voice in the back of my head says - You wouldn't have to worry so much if you had an Agent or a Publisher. They would do most of this for you. You could continue to blog, work, Mom and write and not worry about it half as much.
But then I read blogs that claim that most publishing contracts only give the Authors 25% of Net. That's not gross. That's after costs, taxes, etc. That's not much. It certainly doesn't seem fair.
So I'm left with a choice. I can continue on as I am - write as often as I can, publish as often as I can and try to do the best I can to promote the book. Or - Find an agent and see what comes of it.
I feel like Huntress was a pretty decent book. It is marketable and the series / characters are enough to move forward with. I've read worse. O.o This is certainly one of those times when I wish that I had a magic 8 ball that could tell me what the best road to take would be. It would certainly allow me to stop being neurotic about it. :)
This (and links within) may provide some food for thought. There's definitely advantages to going traditional. http://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/03/25/i-like-amanda-hocking/
ReplyDeleteI liked both that post and the comments under. In reality, I think that she did a really great thing. She built up her library and then went for the publishing deal.
ReplyDeleteI've read about her before and I have to say that while I haven't read any of her books, the fact that she CAN publish so many a year and HAS such a following is pretty awe inspiring.