Change isn’t
necessarily a bad or good thing, it just is. Expect it, deal with it, make
decisions, set goals, take action and move on.
With
the rapid changes in the publishing and digital world, it’s hard to anticipate
the next change, other than it will happen. It’s also difficult to make a five year
plan when publishing can shift and reorganize from month to month. I think my five year plan
has changed four times this year and I’m reworking it yet again.
I always say to new writers, and established writers, think positive. I still believe that, but expect the rug to be yanked out from underneath you from time to time, because it will. One
thing I know is I have to be flexible, anticipate change and always, always
look for opportunities. When they arrive, take the risk and take action. More
on what I did this year concerning that.
Author Collaborative
Groups or Mastermind Groups-Mini Publishing Companies
Authors
with smart business sense, who’ve decided to ride out the storm of change and
make a career of writing, have created new innovative ways to run their writing
business. One way is to join forces with other writers into collaborative
groups. They’re Mastermind groups of authors working together on a common
goal(s): Promote each other’s books, plan writing projects, box sets,
series/serials, brainstorm individual projects, do online workshops or
workshops at conferences, podcasts, group blogs, newsletters, reader Facebook
pages, Facebook parties.
Many
in these groups bring special skills: Technical. They can format and upload to
online retailers. Artistic and Cover Design. Make professional book covers.
Editing/copyediting/proofreading/beta reading. Social networking savviness.
Organizational skills. Legal expertise. Marketing knowledge. Project
development. Basically a mini publishing company. If the group is lacking in
any of these areas, like editing or cover design, they can outsource.
This
isn’t a NEW thing really. There are a number of author groups out there now who
are successfully doing this.
Check out and ‘Like’ our page and follow it:
Opportunities
and Risks. So what did I do this year that I’d consider a
risk? I wrote a book different than what I’ve been writing, really pushing the
envelope, knowing the topic would probably annoy a few readers and would
probably get panned. Why did I write
it? It was a story that had to be told, something from my gut. I didn’t hold
back while writing it. I thought it might never get published, but I had to
write it. Then I edited/revised it and it sat for months. I didn’t know if I
should submit it to agents/editors. I thought it might be too controversial. I
did send it to a couple agents as a test and promptly got rejected without much
feedback.
I pitched RED TAPE to a NY editor and she did like
the idea, compared the storyline to Tiffany Reisz. I submitted the three
chapter proposal and waited—months. I’ve been doing the same
pitch-request-submit-wait-and-hope-nice rejection for years. Although I’ve had
a few ‘almosts’ and kind rejections in the past, I was anticipating the ‘R’ as
the months dragged on. Then a friend and CP contacted me while I was at a
conference and she frantically asked, “There’s one slot left for a 16-book box
set I’m doing. We need a completed erotic book. Do you have one and are you
interested?”
I could continue to wait and hope on that NY
submission or go in on the box set. I pulled my submission and went in on the box set—RED TAPE became my
first self-publishing endeavor. It paid off. We hit #6 on the New York Times and #13 on the USA Today bestseller lists.
#
While working on the next book in the RED
TAPE –FLC series, I’m also working on a joint non-fiction project within
the Sexy Scribbles group and planning a box set that I’ll be spearheading for
2015.
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