Amanda Hocking has been successful self-publishing her novels, which has brought her a lot of attention, including from would-be self-publishers of fiction who want to know her secrets. In a recent post on her blog, she reveals one that probably isn't what people want to hear:
"This is literally years of work you're seeing. And hours and hours of work each day. The amount of time and energy I put into marketing is exhausting. I am continuously overwhelmed by the amount of work I have to do that isn't writing a book. I hardly have time to write anymore, which sucks and terrifies me."
I'm working on a course on how to build your author platform; at the moment it's available only to members of my Writing Breakthrough Strategy Program as a bonus for membership (see http://www.jurgenwolff.com for details of that program) and what I say in that is consistent with what Amanda Hocking says above. The ratio will be about 80/20: 80% of your time will be spent on marketing, 20% on actually writing. And the percentages won't be much different if you are published traditionally. These days the publisher gets the books out there but most of the responsibility for getting people to notice them is yours.
A lot of writers don't like that split. I don't like it, either. I struggle with it, because my favorite thing is creating new stuff, both fiction and no-fiction. In fact, I haven't hit that 80/20 ratio even though I know I should. But that doesn't make it any less true, and it's a hard fact that we writers need to know.
Here's something else Hocking says on her blog: "I assumed that once I wrote a book, I would become rich and famous. This is apparently not how things work in the writing world. So I spent the next few years researching everything I could find about the publishing business and agents and models and plans." How many writers do you know who have taken the time to do that?
For her account of how it all came together, see this post: http://amandahocking.blogspot.com/2010/08/epic-tale-of-how-it-all-happened.html. If you don't have time to read it, here's her summary:
"From what I can guess, it happened because:
-the books are in a popular genre [paranormal romance, vampires]
-the covers are enjoyable
-the price is good [$.99 and $2.99--she made $10,000 in one month recently]
-the writing isn't terrible (although, believe me, some people would argue that point)
-book bloggers recommended it
-accessibility - I'm on Twitter, facebook, goodreads, Amazon, KB. I'm anywhere I can be. I always try to respond to readers, even though most of my responses are lame. I'll spend about an hour replying to fan mail and it only amounts to about 2 sentences that pretty much say thanks. I'm sorry I'm a lame writer-backer."
A writer well worth emulating, although, as she says, luck and timing are always factors as much as hard work.
(For guidance on both writing and marketing your book,see "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey Publishing and available from Amazon and other online and offline booksellers--including that independent book store near you that's probably struggling to stay afloat.)
