I rarely read the posts at The Kill Zone blog, but went to one today, by James Scott Bell. I met him in 2004 at the Write to Publish conference in Wheaton, Il, though I haven’t seen him since or corresponded with him. The gist of his post was: Yes, sales for self-published authors seem to have hit a wall, or even dropped; but, no, we can’t be sure this is due to the launch of Kindle Unlimited or saturation in the marketplace.
His post is good, though not necessarily convincing. He might be right that KU had nothing to do with the widely-reported, sudden, dramatic drop in self-publishing sales exactly corresponding with the launch of KU. Or he might be wrong. Publisher Mark Coker from Smashwords disagrees. Jim’s post is uplifting, encouraging self-publishers to power on through this, keep writing, keep publishing, don’t give up, don’t be discouraged, work for the long-tail effects of e-books.
I appreciate those sentiments. However, in the comments, I see this posted:
If someone even considers quitting, it’s time to hang it up. Your heart isn’t really in it for the long haul.
This hit me square in the face. If you are ever discouraged to the point of considering quitting, you don’t have what it takes to be a success. In response to her, Bell agrees:
Thanks, [XXXXX]. You’re right. The heart has to be on fire for writing because the publishing world can get awfully cold.
Based on these two, I don’t have what it takes, because I am often discouraged about writing. I don’t know, but that sounds like an awfully elitist attitude to me. I’m frequently discouraged and consider quitting, wondering if the little bit of precious time I spend on writing could be better spent elsewhere. So since I’ve considered quitting, it’s time for me to hang it up?
I know I have a couple of writers who read this. What about it? Do you agree? If you even consider quitting, is it a sign that you should hang it up? Or do you agree that this is an elitist attitude?
Dave,
Maybe it’s our DNA, I’m not sure. My books have sat for years. Every one of them that I finished when I got the final copy in the mail I cried when I actually held it in my hand. All the characters, places, events, and emotional triggers I put into each and every one of them seemed to now just be moments away from someone lifting the curtain on them and be entertained. The whole time I write I want one thing, for someone else to read and enjoy what I’ve spent hours creating. I’ve even pulled one of them out and read it as if I wasn’t its author and became convinced all over again that maybe what I write isn’t Award winning, but it’s a lot better than some of the ‘crap’ (excuse me) that does make it out in the world. Even now, the entertainment world has lost its mind with the controversy over the latest story about Korea. I don’t think this story should have even been done in the first place. Talk about time better spent…
So, while the taste of today’s readers lusts after more blood, Vampires, horror, murder and mayhem and pages full of mind-numbing foolishness, tasteful stories such as, we, self-publishers, get swept up in the backwash of Amazon’s ninety-nine cent sellout I have too asked myself the same thing.
Is that ALL that the hours, creativeness, solitude, and stiff bones come down to? $.99… While even at this moment my blog sits idle again, and my last book I haven’t even posted as finished on FB because I think no one really cares. Seven books I’ve given life to and no one cares. Really, no one ever even asks, “How’s the writing going?” and if I do mention I have just finished another book no one even says, “Wow, what’s it about?” Sadly, not even those closest to me.
I think with every finished book we‘ve accomplished something of a miracle; something that most people don’t do in their lifetime. So, I had to finally ask myself this question, “If I’m the only one who reads these books is it worth all the time and effort I’ve put into them?” Which you know is a great deal.
I‘ve come to this conclusion. I write for me. Up front, I already know one thing. Whether its my often ignored blog or occasional post somewhere else that seems to blow off the page even as I’m writing it, or that I might stall occasionally and even let things dry up at times something in me still sends me to the keyboard giving birth to more characters and plots. Even knowing that when I write the last word about this new host of characters, more than likely, they too will only be read by me, I still do it.
I’ve even considered myself somewhat of an addict. I see a stack of books and instantly I want to open one and see who is inside. I see hours of someone’s life on a bookshelf.
Because, if I’m honest, no one really cares about all the time I spend writing books that no one will ever read but me, than it ends up being only me I have to take into consideration about whether I keep writing or stop. Because who else knows or cares?
If another book comes knocking at my mind and heart at unexpected times during my day or middle of the night, I’m still going to write it down somewhere. I’ll see it come to life. I’ll be the only one reading it and when that becomes not even enough to bother with any more, I’ll quite.
You have to write for yourself because you have found that this manner of expressing yourself gives you life while you are engaged in it. The aftermath seems tragic when all the words lay between the covers of you book unread.
Right now, I have at least eight books all calling for me to come back to them. Because I know one thing that no one else knows about me it is this, it’s actually going to break my heart the day that I know I will never ever write something again. Whether it be because I’m too old, blind or senile, that day is coming. So right now, while I still can for whatever reason in my own mind, I’m going to continue to pop up every now and then in this world and say, if only to myself, “I’m writing a book.”
I enjoy writing, but I’ve not written a book in over a year, nor do I have plans to write more at this point. So, one could say I don’t have the heart/fire for it, I suppose. I totally get that it’s discouraging to not see the sales one would like, especially when viewing some (many?) others whose work is not that great, who are selling a lot. For myself, I always want SOMETHING to work on that does “light my fire.” In this new year, I’m looking into possibly writing/selling an online course related to my best-selling book. I won’t devote a ton of time to it, so that I don’t feel it’s sapping too much of my energy/time, but I will devote time each day to it and consider it something enjoyable. I got discouraged the other night by a FB discussion I read. One friend is working on writing a book and got into a monologue about how she doesn’t want to self-publish her book because she wants validation that her book is good, and that so much self-published stuff is so awful. Many others then chimed in about how terrible self-pubbed books are. I thought about jumping into the discussion but didn’t. Not a lot of respect for those of us who do all this on our own, that’s for sure. I do respect your writing and hope you come to a conclusion that you’re happy with!