Uncategorized Thoughts
First! Thank you MUCHLY to everyone who has purchased Petty Season. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it! xoxo
I know I’m not alone when I say I am tossing to and fro in this author life. Things are okay. Not amazing but not terrible. I am doing so much but also not doing enough. I have so many opportunities and also there is so much not available to me.
I was thinking recently that I don’t blog much here. I like making things up, and nothing bores me more than talking about me, despite loving to talk about myself and especially my books. I used to blog about author life but yawn. I ran out of things to elucidate about in long form fashion. I’m also nobody’s expert and do and talk about so much off the cuff, on the fly. Someone recently mentioned they’re doing a new thing because they saw I was doing it and… honey I hope that works for you! I just be doing stuff.
But sometimes I be thinkin’. A few things on my mind lately:
I thought of the most amazing name for a Patreon or paid group, but decided not to pull the trigger on it because what if no one joins? I had a group eons ago, and a few months in, thirty strangers were just hanging out making like one post a week. I decided it was not a thing I wanted to manage and keep going. I have a paid Substack no one subscribes to. A Patreon would be more of the same, I fear. I don’t need another time and energy suck.
After years of claiming I don’t travel for book events, I am traveling for book events. I’ll be at Petersburg Book Fest in Richmond, VA in September, plus two 2027 events that haven’t been announced yet. I’m a very digital reader and I’m strategic about acquiring print editions of books, so readers buying print editions of my books is a thing I find hard to get used to. I always order “just a few” books because I tell myself no one wants my books. Recently I did a book event and sold out.(1) I also had about ten pre-orders, and more than two people said they came looking for me to buy books but I was gone. I don’t know what to do with that, but I am definitely opening an order form. I don’t want to sell books out of my house, but a few times a year when I have to order books anyway, I’ll open a form to order books.
There are so many things I could do to push my books forward that take time, energy, and money. I have time. I keep my life very calm. But the energy and money part? I’ve been doing a lot of dumb stuff with my money just to put myself out there and not seeing a return. I need to go back to not risking the dollars. I talk a lot about not comparing yourself to X author because you don’t have their career. Baby, I gotta listen to my own damn advice, especially about those non-melanated authors doing things I know for a fact mean zip to Black readers. Serving my readers and expanding my readership should be my goal. Also, learn my audience and stop trying to court a wide swath of readers. A niche within a niche is a hard place to be.
I have put some feelers out for audio, with no response. That doesn’t help me feel like I have reach or opportunity at all. People keep referring audio companies to me. I can’t spend any more money on audio. I voice it myself or it’s not going to audio.
Do I want to be hybrid? Eh. People ask me a lot about this and I’m unsure why. When I say I make $100 a month on books, it’s not hyperbole. May and June aside, because I did in-person events, more than $100 is a good month for me. Anyway, I did have a good idea for a more women’s fiction centered novel that I might try to launch a different way, meaning not indie, but right now it’s just an idea. And my brain wants to turn it into an indie three book series. I fear I might never step out of indie publishing because my brain won’t go anywhere else.
Ideas and ideas and ideas, but I have to write them, and my brain is trying to plan and plot and now I am tired. Got a talking to from one of my readers about not going balls to the wall with these books anymore, and a sis is tired. I’m not writing 97K word books anymore. First of all, we pay for editing now, and my editor already doesn’t charge enough. That comes out of my pocket. Ain’t no profit. I operate at a loss.
I’m supposed to be resting the noggin, but Petty Season popped up, and because I am impatient and didn’t want to wait until Labor Day to put a book out, we have a Fourth of July novella. Am I already thinking of a Labor Day one? Fer shure. Because fun little novellas might be all you get until 2027. I feel like I can’t be deep right now and release “work that matters.” I kinda just want to have some fun. And Petty Season was a lot of fun.
Anyway, I think that’s about it for what’s rolling around in my brain. Writing wise, that is, because let’s not talk about whether I’m going to the beach for Labor Day (haven’t been in years, feels like), and stuff I want to do with the house, and also whether my property tax bill is about to break me, because I have a new build, which means the property value from 2024 to 2026 is... whew.
Until the next brain dump.
—DL
(1) I mean, I only brought twelve books to sell, so yes, you can sell out if you don’t bring enough books.
This and more. From making long-form content but not wanting to gear it to other writers to trying not to compare with other authors. And what were May and June? eek. But I understand wanting to streamline the process. Novellas are two books away and I'm looking into other ways to get my books out in the world. Wishing you success with all the things
Yes 😭 This is my mind right now. I made the choice to publish all my books independently so I won’t have the pressure to do more than I want or have the capacity for. It’s ok to try things and learn what works for you over time. Here’s a reminder, you’re showing up, not shouting into the ether.