The past two years, I’ve kept a vision board of sorts on my desk. I cover it with photos of things I love, the things I hope to get done, the things I look forward to. Admittedly, there are screenshots of the sequel to Breath of the Wild on there, but hey. I know what I like, and I can’t wait for the next Zelda game. But I digress.
The right half of the board is sprinkled with titles. I stuck that favorite photo of my doll of Rune on there with it, because I wasn’t really sure if he goes on the “things I love” side or “stories I want to write” side at this point. Then there’s a printed copy of Paragon of Fire’s cover in WIP state, and the titles of the next four books. There’s the first Snakesblood Saga digital box set right next to Rune, which is in the works, and at the bottom, the title of a series I can’t wait to start writing. I left space for the title of a standalone book, for when I have time to print it out in a pretty font and add it to the board.
And right now, none of those books are being worked on.
I wrote a bit last week about the validity of being a writer who isn’t writing, because that’s kind of me right now. Right this instant, I’ve been working on edits for Paragon of Fire, but more of this year has been spent not writing than doing what I think of as my profession. Yet it’s still part of the journey, and right now, it’s what I’m doing to overcome some of the biggest hurdles.
Let’s be honest. Being an indie author isn’t cheap.
Sure, I get the benefit of being in control. I get to choose the artist for my covers, choose an editor who really gets my work and sees what I’m trying to achieve, choose what my books are titled and how often they’re released. I get to decide what the interior formatting will look like. Whether or not I get chapter headers. Whether or not I get maps inside. And that’s all fantastic, but it’s expensive. And when you’re new to a genre, one that happens to be incredibly difficult to break into, it takes a very, very long time for the books to start paying for themselves.
The good news is, mine are doing it. The only one that hasn’t earned back its initial investment yet is Spectrum Blade, but that’s also my newest title, and I haven’t had time to promote the book at all. It’ll get there. But if I want to keep releasing multiple books a year, I gotta be flexible, too.
So for a good portion of this year, I’ve been focusing on the odd jobs that I can pick up, which finance the work of getting these books onto digital (and sometimes physical) bookshelves before the previous release earns out. There are ways to publish at lower cost, but I’m not willing to skip paying my editor to make my book the best it can be, and every piece of cover art I hire out saves me a month that can be spent on writing instead. Those side hustles mean slower writing, but it also means that by the time you read this, I’ll have finished another contract, and gathered enough funds to ensure the rest of the Spectrum Legacy series can be published in quick succession.
Ideally, I’ll finish writing the whole series before the end of the year. That digital box set will be going out soon, too. I probably won’t have time for the standalone book that keeps slamming around inside my head, clamoring to get out, and definitely won’t have time to start that tantalizing trilogy with its title at the bottom of my board. But it means I’ll be able to ensure the series is finished, whether or not it earns itself out, and I’m sure that’s as big a relief to readers as it is to me.
Paragon of Fire goes up for preorder next week.