I'm beginning to understand that much like getting to "The End" isn't the point of my writing, a full-time income isn't really the point of my publishing business. It's the journey, and the discoveries I make along the way that will truly define my life and by extension, my work.

I'm okay with that.

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Happy New Year!! I am very excited to be flipping over the calendar – yes, I realize that years and days and dates and time itself are all human constructs, but I choose to give meaning to this time of the year. It’s not like there’s any better time, IMO.

Two years ago, I made the choice to give up the idea of traditional publishing, and just write for my blog readers. Maybe I’d self-publish my serials, but that wasn’t the point. The point was letting go of the pressure to write a certain way, and just have fun with it. Then I self-published, started making a little money, and decided to pursue writing as a career again, this time, a DIY career.

My life is measured in cycles...

This year, I’ve decided to take the pressure off again. It’s a ton of work to run a publishing company, worry about getting other authors’ books out along with your own, promotion, marketing, trying to make a book (or books) visible...it’s a full-time job (and then some). I don’t mind the work. What I mind is working all day at my day job, and then coming home and feeling guilty about sitting and watching TV or playing digital games because someone else needs me to do something for them, or I should be doing something for the business. By the time I get to my writing time, I have nothing left...the well is empty, and I fight for every single word. Not cool.

The day job isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. I like the things I have, and my lifestyle. I don’t even mind the job itself most days. And unlike those writers willing to put everything on the line for their art, including relationships and health, I’m not. I won’t ever stop writing, because I love it and I can't *not* do it, but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to sacrifice my creature comforts. If that resigns me to amateur status forever, so be it.

I’m also not willing to dance to a traditional publisher’s tune, or give Amazon exclusive rights to my books. Independent means just that, and I am fiercely so – but that comes with a cost, and especially in the case of Amazon, it seems that cost is visibility and sales. It’s all good though – I’m comfortable with my choice, and I’m willing to pay the price.

So I’m pulling away from marketing and promotion, and much of the business-y stuff I’ve been doing over the past year. I’m going to stop worrying about sales, money, and visibility, and refocus writing – craft, productivity, and just enjoying the process for what it is.

And I’m going to stop feeling guilty for watching TV and playing games in the evening before my workouts. There are plenty of workaholics in the world – I don’t need to be one of them.

This blog won’t be going away (in case past posts help someone), but it will be updated only very occasionally (kind of like it has been for the past few months). To those of you still reaching for that full-time career (and don’t get me wrong – I still want that, just not enough to work myself to death), I wish you much good luck. As for me, I’m bowing out of the race, and returning to writing for fun – though I can assure you I’ll enjoy every dollar I earn...

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So the whole self-publishing community is shaken up today about Amazon’s newest announcement, KDP Select. A lot of authors are jumping right on it…basically it’s the option to make your book available to Amazon Prime members for free in their own lending library (this is separate, as far as I know, from the normal “lend this to a friend” feature).

There’s a really huge catch though – and that is that Amazon requires exclusive rights for the time your book is in the program, and the non-compete clause that goes with that. Frankly, I’m surprised so many authors are rushing to sign up – because at the moment (not for much longer, apparently), indie authors *have the power* to nip that power grab in the bud.

I’m also really surprised at how many authors seem to think Amazon does anything specifically to “help” or “be nice to” indie authors. I am 100% positive that Amazon does what it does to make money…nothing else. They don’t want to offer this as a service to indies, they simply need more books in their prime lending library (since traditional publishers aren’t going along as quietly as Amazon would like), and they know that indie authors will do nearly anything for a bit of exposure. So they dangle the three things authors want most – a little cash, a little exposure, and the ability to make your book free for 5 days – knowing that a lot of them aren’t confident enough in their business acumen to fight them on the exclusivity and non-compete terms.

Amazon isn’t out to help indies here. They listened to what indies want (access to the prime lending library, and the ability to make books free), and twisted it to use for their own gain. They aren’t for or against indie authors – they’re for making as much profit as possible, and they’re not above leveraging indies for that purpose.

I am *not* against Amazon…or any other retailer. I spend plenty of money there, and I’m a prime member myself. And I’m not even surprised or angry that they would do this – it’s business, and for them, it’s *good* business…they don’t have to give a lot to make their prime library explode.

I *am* surprised that so many indie authors, who have the power right now to take control and *insist* on better contract terms (because they have the most important thing Amazon needs for the Prime library to succeed – content), are so willing to play along with Amazon and not use the power they have to ensure better contract terms right from the start. If indies refused, by and large, to enroll in this program until the exclusivity and non-compete clauses were stricken, Amazon would have no choice but to either run with a much smaller library of books for Prime borrowers, or to back down on the terms.

Yes, I really think indies have that much power right now. Or they did, until literally thousands of them just jumped right on board and allowed Amazon to dictate the contract.

It’s disappointing, because I think we’ve missed a major opportunity to hang on to leverage of our own. But that’s the thing about being independent…we all get to make our own choices. Unfortunately, I think signing up for this program is a choice that will show Amazon (and other companies) just how much power we’re willing to give away as a whole…and that very well could be a bad thing in the future. Much like authors who blindly signed/sign away too many rights to traditional publishers.

In any case, you won’t see any of my titles or any BSB titles in the Prime lending library. They’re still available to lend to friends after you buy them, and they’ll still be available on Amazon and the other major retail sites, as well as the BSB store, of course. It may cost me in the end, but I wouldn’t sign an exclusivity or non-compete clause with a traditional publisher (or at least if exclusive rights, there would be a lot more money in it for me, but no non-compete clause, for sure), so there’s no way I’d agree to one with Amazon (or any other retailer who wants to try that).

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November was an insanely busy month for me and BSB – somehow I ended up with far more projects (only about half of which were actually writing) than I really had time for. I can’t tell you how easy it is to fall into that particular trap, especially when things are already going pretty well, and I tend to think, “hey, what’s one more thing?” Well that, and all these things I’d promised to do for other people just hit at the same time, rather than being nicely spaced out (I’m not complaining – it’s just funny how it always seems to happen that way). In any case, I made it, and without any serious casualties (or I think, anyways), so that’s good. Here’s hoping I didn’t lose too many readers with my spotty serial posting and lack of online visibility, though I undoubtedly had some casualties. Unavoidable, unfortunately. I did what I could to keep up under the circumstances. Sometimes that’s all you can do.

So now that I have perspective and a lot more experience, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to make sure I don’t get caught in that particular trap again. And of course this is a good time to be thinking about such things, since this year is ending and a shiny new one is waiting just around the corner. Unlike a lot of people, analyzing and reorganizing my goals is a process I actually really enjoy, so I’m quite excited to sit down and take what I’ve learned this year to apply going forward.

First though, I still have some catch-up/clean-up work to do for the year. There are a few business issues that simply *must* be corrected as soon as possible, because at the moment, they’re only affecting me personally, and I am determined that they will be taken care of before they start affecting the other authors working with me. If you’re reading this blog, it’s probably because you want all the dirty details of what goes on behind the scenes, so I’m going to be straightforward and share my biggest shortcomings, so that with any luck (and a lot of determination), you won’t make the same mistakes.

1)      Contracts -  This is something I knew in the back of my mind was a necessary thing to have for the authors publishing with me, but because they’re both good friends, and because I mistakenly thought they could read my mind (that’s a comment on my own shortcoming, *not* theirs), I let it slide. And that (along with a serious lack of sleep on my part) led to a pretty sizable misunderstanding that could easily have ruined a very good working relationship along with a friendship. The misunderstanding would have been completely avoided with a good contract from the start. I now have a basic contract in place to use with authors who do hybrid publishing with me (I’m not talking about Rattles, but hybrid deals that involve royalties rather than flat fee payments), and while it’s not perfect, it’s far, far better than not having things laid out in a clear format right from the start. Before 2012 gets here, I want to refine that contract and make it more comprehensive for the next round of publications – more to make sure we’re all on the same page than anything else. I haven’t hired a lawyer to look it over yet, but I may do just that after I have things as clear as I can make them. Even if you’re just doing it yourself though  – don’t underestimate the need for this if you’re going to work with other authors.

2)      Bookkeeping – Lord, how I suck at this. I truly just haven’t had time to keep up, but it’s not a “have time” sort of thing – it’s a “must make time” sort of thing, even if it means skipping a writing night. That’s the huge thing with running your own publishing business, even if just for yourself – you either pay a bookkeeper, or you make time. It simply *must* be done, especially when you bring other authors into the mix. I am at this moment nearly eight months (yes, 8) behind on my bookkeeping – tracking sales, expenses, etc. It’s going to take me several days worth of solid work (ie, no writing) to get all that data rounded up and put into Quickbooks so that I can both provide statements on time for the authors who publish with me, and so I can do my taxes next spring. I am *not* behind on any author payments, and that’s not going to ever happen no matter what state my books are in. But the books need to be up to date and I need to have a schedule for keeping them up to date in place before January 1. Period. There’s no point in even going forward with the business if I can’t master this one very important task – poorly kept books can bring an entire business to the ground in the blink of an eye. I will not let that happen.

So those are my two “Achilles heels” at the moment, but I’m not going to let them stop me or bring me down. In my day job, if I don’t know how to make something work, I figure it out. There’s no such thing as “can’t”, just “how long will it take to learn”. The same applies to my pub business – just because I don’t know how to do something “yet”, doesn’t mean I won’t figure it out. And I think that’s the sort of attitude you need to have to be successful.

Now that my fall storm seems to have passed, I’ll be free to pick up this blog again. So more posts coming this month on the business side of things.

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“So, Jamie, how’s the publishing business going?”

“Well, sales are down, projects are up, and I have more ideas than I have time to implement, thanks. But I’m hoping that 2012 is the year we finally turn a profit…”

That pretty much sums it up. I’m not sure why sales are down, exactly, but I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, since it’s only been a few days and book sales are like that. Eventually they’ll pick back up for awhile, and things will cruise along nicely again. I think that’s really the number one thing for authors to remember – sales ebb and flow, and you just kind of have to ride out the swells without panicking (too much). More books equal less noticeable sales fluctuations…

I am going to take advantage of this lull to do some pricing experiments, considering the holiday shopping season is right around the corner. I’m moving most of my books into a higher cost bracket to see if they’ll entice a slightly different audience. It’s easier to play with pricing when sales are in a natural “down cycle” (or I think so), because there’s no initial “drop” in sales…they’re already low.

This will also be in preparation for moving into my next marketing arena, which includes two major tiers:

- Electronic books on CD for tangible, signable digital gifts

- Developing a publisher catalog to send out to independent bookstores for possible brick & mortar stocking

The book CDs I hope to have up for sale by the end of this month. The catalogue will be available as of January, and I’ll start sending it out with samples then.

The anthologies have been going well, but unfortunately, the monthly workload is a bit too much. So starting in December, the anthologies will be every other month, which will ease that pressure and allow me more time to work on other projects. Like my own books, and those of the authors publishing full novels with me.

I am working to get print versions of the anthologies out earlier than I’d originally planned, in advance of the holiday season. I’ll probably go ahead and continue that, just because print gives a tangible product to promote via contests, etc, and thus a wider potential audience.

As far as books are concerned, the publishing calendar is full up right through the end of the year, with new books coming out nearly every week (that's a minimum of 7 books between now and Jan. 1 - eek!). Needless to say, the bookstore is growing nicely in terms of stock. And that’s a very good thing.

So the “state of the snake” this month is good, I’d say. There’s money in the account, and nowhere to go but up.

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It’s been awhile, eh? I’ve been so busy attending to the business of writing (and actually writing), that I haven’t had the time to blog about it. That’s the thing though – business is constantly changing and growing, and each of those changes is a “blip” in my schedule that tends to throw things for a loop until everything realigns again. Thankfully I seem to be stabilizing again for awhile. Most recently, I’ve been doing some publishing (not surprising, I know). But most of the publishing I’ve been doing lately isn’t my own work – I’ve been publishing the work of others.

 

It was never (and still isn’t) my intention to do business as a traditional (or legacy, if you prefer) publisher. But it’s exciting seeing your books finally go up on the shelves (virtual or otherwise) and to the best of my abilities (and within my time limitations), I want to help other authors experience that.  

 

For starters, I’m making good on trade agreements made with my editor and my cover artist to publish their books when they’re ready. We’re using a hybrid publishing model wherein I do the formatting for digital and print versions of their books (they trade editing/cover art between themselves as well), and then whatever I sell on my business site, we share a 30 (me)/ 70 (them) profit split. Their books are published under the BSB label, with my ISBN numbers, and print books are published under my account so I can easily fulfill store orders when I begin sending out flyers to independent bookstores next year. With the digital books, those are uploaded to the author’s accounts, and they keep all profits from those, no split. When I do promotions, I include their books as part of my business label just as any publisher would, and I submit the book to review sites, hold contests, etc. They get the best of both worlds, basically – we operate as a bonafide publishing company, but the author keeps the large majority of the profits. As it should be.

 

I’d like to do this for other authors too, but there are time and quality factors to consider. Because it’s my label on the books, I require a certain standard of writing, just as any publisher would. Like any author, I don’t have time to read and vet a bunch of submissions, so I have no plans to open that up at any time. Will I eventually publish other authors this way? Perhaps. I may invite specific authors I’m familiar with to join us as time permits. But I’m moving very slowly on that, because I need to make sure my bookkeeping methods are settled first, and I need to make sure any publishing I do doesn’t interfere with my own writing.

 

Another thing I’ve started that includes publishing other authors is a monthly flash fiction anthology based on a photo prompt. Using my publishing team (Heidi & Carol), I accept flash submissions that we read and either accept or reject based on quality and theme. It works pretty much like a traditional publishing company would, with a revision request sent to the author if necessary and the story accepted if the revisions (or a reasonable substitute) are made. I pay semi-pro rates ($25 per story) for six months of exclusive digital rights, and then non-exclusive digital and print rights thereafter. I fully expect that most authors will self-publish or sell reprints for their stories after the initial six months are up. I can only accept up to 8 stories per month, but as we’re just getting started, that hasn’t been an issue yet. I expect that if the anthologies get popular, competition could increase, and I may not have time to offer every story a critique, but for now, I include revision notes with every reply so the author will understand why I’m rejecting, or will have a chance to fix the issues I see. 

 

Why do this? Initially, Heidi and I thought that it would be a good exercise for writing – and that’s the main reason we started the blog. By critiquing stories and publishing those we love, we can help other authors get a little extra exposure and provide an arena for them to practice tight writing as well. I pay up front so the author is compensated right away, and release rights six months later so the author can still use the story as a revenue stream. It wouldn’t make sense to pay out miniscule royalties to several authors every month – I’d loose money just on check and transfer fees. The anthologies are more like a magazine in that respect. Naturally when the print version comes out, authors will be able to buy issues at cost plus shipping, and will receive a copy free as well. The anthologies start at .99 cents, but then go up so as not to compete with stories the authors may want to release individually later at the .99 cent price point.

 

In any case, those are the things keeping me busy lately – that, and keeping up with the writing/publishing schedule for my own work. As I said, ebb and flow…but I’m quite happy with the way things are going at the moment (and I think the authors I’m working with are as well).

 

The deeper I get in this writing/publishing business, the more I like it. Then again, it’s easy to like when you’re the one making the rules.

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Books are an interesting commodity. Recently even the definition of what makes a book a “book” has been debated with regards to the rise of ebooks and digital media in general. Personally, I consider a book to be a physical product, an ebook to be the digital version of that product, and the words inside to be a story. And the story is the most important part – everything else revolves around that (as it should). Just like most everyone else though, I still tend to use the term “book” to encompass a story in any format…mainly out of habit. But in marketing terms, I think it’s important to distinguish the two.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately as I’ve been working on a marketing strategy. When I first started publishing my stories, I decided not to put much effort into marketing until I had at least three of them out (because it would be more effective then). Now I have six out, soon to be nine, and I’m also helping a friend publish and promote her work. So a marketing strategy seems smart at this point.

The first thing I’m focusing on is trying to get rid of that “market the cover” mindset. I love my covers, and I think a good cover is very important, but it’s the story I want people to buy. So my first order of business next month will be to look at all of my blurbs and see if I can’t rewrite them to be more enticing if needed. I’ll also be adding short excerpts to all of my sales pages, because while you can download a long sample nearly everywhere, not everyone wants to click (and samples are normally downloaded “to read later”). Adding excerpts to my descriptions means that everyone gets a small sample right then and there, both of my writing and of the story.

I’m also going to post lines from my stories when tweeting/sharing, rather than just titles. A very brief snippet of the work, but hopefully something to entice people to click the link, where they’ll be taken to my web store to read the excerpt and if they choose, download sample chapters.

I’ll be creating some ad campaigns as well, both to post on my sites, and to buy space on other sites for. Banner ads won’t just have the cover/title though, or even just a pithy saying. They’ll have direct quotes from the book, and the cover ads will be the same. I won’t be buying a lot of ad space on author sites though, but rather on forums and sites where my target market hangs out.  

I’m currently revamping my shopping cart – moving to a completely different host and software that will make my store more like the big web stores. Multiple payment options will be available (instead of just paypal), gift certificates, coupon codes, a wish list, pre-orders and one of the really nice things about the new software is that people can post reviews directly to my products on the site.  This shopping cart also has the unique ability to set up a store right in Facebook, and it has agreements with a lot of other sales sites that I’ll be able to post products to right from my own store. So the potential for wider distribution on sites that are *not just for books* is there, and made very easy with this product. All for about $5 more than I’m paying now – a steal, really.

I’ll be playing with formats too – mainly for my ebooks. It’s hard to give an ebook as a gift – a digital gift certificate isn’t really wrappable or fun to watch people open. So I’ll be doing some test marketing with CD cards – business card sized CD’s that will have a label with the cover of the book, and contain book files (several formats) and directions for installing them. Customers will be able to buy these for a slightly higher price than just the standard ebook (just like any software – you want the physical media, you pay a little more), and will then have something they can wrap up for gifting, complete with the author’s signature. They’ll be available in my store as soon as December, and depending on how that goes, I may send them out to local bookstores to see how they’re received.

In keeping with that, I’ll be marketing different formats of books in different places. Next year I’ll have flyers to send out to bookstores featuring print books, and possibly the ebook CD cards. Ebook marketing will remain more online, due to the nature of the format. The new shopping cart software allows me to set wholesale and retail prices, so that book sellers can buy stock directly from me at whatever discount I set, so I’ll be putting that together in an attractive-to-stores cost as well. It’s a beautiful system, really – retailers can order from me, I place the order with CreateSpace and have it shipped directly to them, and the order is filled, with no inventory for me to deal with and about five minutes worth of work. Slightly more work for the CD cards, but they’re small. I think it will be a good system.

Naturally my main strategy is still to keep writing & publishing more books, and I’m really excited about the new Rattles anthologies. But a little marketing at this point may give my sales a nice little boost. We shall see...stay tuned.

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It’s been a little over a year since I wrote up my first business plan for my writing career. It’s safe to say that I’ve gone pretty far off track from that, accelerating nearly every part of it, and completely doing away with the traditional publishing track I’d originally planned to follow concurrently with the self-pub track. Needless to say, though I’m happy with all the decisions I’ve made so far, it’s always a good idea to get it all down on paper (so to speak), and make sure I’m still heading in the right direction. It’s easy to get sidetracked when things are going a million miles an hour...

My goal is still to make enough money to write full-time. So that hasn’t changed. I’m not sure I’ll be able to make my projected 5-year deadline (4 years, now), but I’m still going to try. The main difference between my original plan and the new one is how I’m going to get to where I need to be.

Originally I’d planned to work in only two genres, and publish one novel every six months, and “play around with short stories for the holidays”. This year I’ve stuck to my goal of publishing a novel every six months, but I’ve also added the goal to publish a short story every other month in a second genre, and I’ve been working on a novel/novella in a third genre that I’m fairly certain will be ready to publish before Christmas. For 2011, I’ll have published:

• 3 romantic suspense novels

• 6 erotic novelettes

• 1 or 2 erotic short collections (depends on whether I split my niche works up or not)

• 1 thriller novel/novella (depending on word count when it’s done)

I’ll also have 2 more drafts half or more done.

Needless to say, I’ve been writing a lot more than I’d originally planned. I’ve also started a publishing project that will result in one flash fiction collection per month based on a prompt, the first to be released in October. I’m not sure how well those will do, but I’m interested in finding out. If nothing else, it will be good practice for me, and good exposure for my publishing company and the other authors I include.

The reason I’m able to put three novels out this year is that two this year were already drafted. So after this year, I’ll probably have to cut back to the original one novel every six months. But I fully plan to keep going with the erotic shorts and collections, and I think I’m going to play with writing shorter thrillers next year (novelette/novella length). I should feasibly be able to publish two novellas per year, I think, or three novelettes.

I was offering flat fee author services, but due to a lack of interest and time, have discontinued that. Instead, I’ll be publishing select authors under the BSB label, helping them with formatting, ISBN’s and whatever else they need, but in the end allowing the author to keep all profits (aside from a small percentage for the books sold directly from my BSB store). My way of helping out friends who want to self publish, but want a little help with set-up and marketing.

So that’s the current plan...and unless something changes drastically, I don’t see myself having any issues sticking to this schedule. The other part of the plan is a comprehensive pricing/marketing strategy, but that’s another post.

If you have a business plan, how’s it working for you? Have you revisited it recently? If you don’t have a plan...why not?

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And now I’ve got that song stuck in my head. You’re welcome.

I’ve demonstrated before that I don’t sell much print when it comes to my books. The five copies I’ve sold on Amazon this month is a pretty rare occurrence (normally it’s 2). And I sold a couple signed copies through my own store this month as well, with the release of The Biker’s Wench. The difference is, in my BSB store, I have the paperback bundled with the digital copy – so if someone buys a paperback, they can download a free copy of the eBook and start reading immediately while they’re waiting for the signed paperback to go through the mail.

I do have them available separately as well, of course. But both readers who ordered chose the bundled option, which I think is very telling. I think (and this is total postulation on my part, with no factual backing whatsoever, so take it as you will) that a lot of people who still want signed print (collectors) copies would rather read the actual contents of the book in digital form. Simply because it’s more convenient (esp. with the trade paperback sizes that my books are). I know I’ll often do that – buy a digital copy and a signed paperback if I’m a big fan of the author. It would be the coolest thing ever if more authors would bundle their books that way – with the ebook and paperback included in one price. I fully plan to offer this option with all of my books – and I’m playing around with some other bundling options as well.

Not only is it more convenient to read an eBook (far more portable), but including the eBook with the print copy gives both more of a perceived value, in my opinion. It’s like any “two for the price of one” deal – and customers love a bargain. This is marketing, people, and pretty basic marketing at that, but it’s also showing customers generosity. Which gives them a good feeling about buying from you. And that much more likely to buy again.

Marketing isn’t always just social media stuff, even though we seem to like to think so. It’s about giving customers (in our case, readers) something at a good value and building a good relationship with them, so they *want* to do business with us. This is something that stores do through sales and bundling items, and it’s something that as an independent, I can easily do as well. I’ve noticed that All Romance eBooks does similar things (buy x amount, get one free, etc), and I appreciate that. Unfortunately, agency pricing restricts many other online stores from doing the same (and I think that’s bad for business).

In any case, that’s just one more reason I love being my own publisher. I make all the marketing decisions for my company…and I’m certain that bundling digital and print copies together is a good marketing decision. I’m going to see about getting some banners made up, and check out advertising on *gasp* non-reader sites soon. As much as people say traditional marketing for books doesn’t work, I’m not sure I agree with that. I know for me, a nice poster, commercial, heck, sometimes even a Facebook or banner ad will entice me to check out a book. And I’m steeped in the industry.

So, I have to see for myself. It may be a case of just “learning the hard way”, in which case I’ll have lost a bit of time & money. If it does happen to pay off, I’ll be glad I took the risk.

At the beginning of this year, I set a publishing schedule for myself. I based it on my normal (comfortable) writing speed and the desire to start building a backlist in two genres. So far, I’m a little behind, but overall I’m very close to where I wanted to be by this time, all things considered. We’re just heading into the busy fall season, so this will be the big test for whether I can keep the same pace in the fall as I do the rest of the year or not. Experimentation is good.

Why did I set a schedule at all? Why not just write, and see what happens?

Because in order to *reach* a goal, I have to *have* a goal.

My larger goal is to make an increasing amount of income from my writing. The more books I put out, the more I make (simple, eh?). So the logic behind the publishing schedule is to publish as much as possible this year while writing at a comfortable, steady rate (ie, not rushing just to meet arbitrary deadlines, but not dragging my heels just because I’m lazy either). By making a schedule and basing it on a comfortable speed (in my case, 500-800 words per day, 6 days per week), I set myself up for a decent chance at success. I also sort of self-limited myself by keeping my schedule full enough to not leave much room for “extras” (work expands to fill the space available, I’ve found).  

If I didn’t have a schedule, I’d feel like I was just floating aimlessly rather than executing a well-thought-out plan. I’m not good at floating aimlessly even on a non-work day. I tend to get bored and anxious and insecure. With the schedule, there’s a purpose to fulfill, deadlines to meet, and a sense of accomplishment every time I hit a goal.

It’s also something I can share with my cover artist and editor, so they have an idea of when I’ll need their services. Always a good idea, in case they get super busy.

As an added bonus, my readers know roughly when things are supposed to be out, so waiting is less of a chore. And because I know pretty much when something will be released, I can do a decent job of early marketing if I’m so inclined.   

There’s also the fact that it just looks and feels more professional (which helps me keep things in that perspective). Writing is a business. A publishing or release schedule is a normal part of that.

Do you have a publishing schedule? Or if you’re querying, do you have a query schedule? How are you doing at meeting your milestones this year?

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