Writing: A New Path

 

 Contributed by Margot Conor

It is perhaps not uncommon for people to choose a new path late in life. Sometimes due to unforeseen circumstances or hardship and often inspired by dissatisfaction or wanderlust. In my case, I didn’t know how desperately I needed a change, it was the pandemic lockdown that took me in a direction I hadn’t expected. Unlike many others, for me, isolation was a blessing. I’m an introvert, so, spending time alone or with my husband in our condo wasn’t a problem.

I had spent more than thirty years in the fashion photography industry, focused on getting my designers published. I also built portfolios for models, actors, and stylists. Many went on to work in the Vancouver film industry. I put together Fashion Shows and kept myself so busy, I hardly had time between events to do anything but sit at my computer and edit images.

For me, photography was about pleasing others. Getting each member of my team what they expected or needed. I didn’t take the time to think about what I needed. Maybe this is a common problem for women, but it came naturally to me, building others up, getting them seen, and helping them succeed.

When the pandemic swept through our lives, suddenly all of that went away. Everything stopped. The projects and fashion shows I had planned were canceled. Only the Fine Art magazine I publish was still produced remotely. But this left me a lot of time to write.
I have written all my life. Storytelling has always been a big part of my creative process and transferred into the visual work I created. What I never expected, was to become so over-committed that I would not have time to finish any of the many stories and manuscripts I have started over the years. They lay waiting for me to get to them one day.

The first year of isolation allowed me the focused time to complete my first novel. It took me two years more to edit the manuscript. First using AutoCrit, and then with the help of two talented professional editors.
 
My first editor has Asperger’s, she is brutally honest. I would receive my pages back full of red lines and it was crushing. She kept telling me the words need to flow like music. I swallowed my pride and stuck with her. She saw things differently and had unique insights. She questioned everything. It was exhausting and frustrating at times, but she presented something essential about the craft of writing I needed to understand. I want to say I did finally grasp what she had to teach me.

But that is not for me to judge. My second editor was much kinder but she cut a good portion of the story, and this was also necessary. I learned the value of having such insightful women behind me. They were tough, but they made me improve.

What happened when I finished writing my first novel, was a shift in direction which can only be described as owning myself. I want to do this… for me. I want my stories to have a life. I want it badly enough to do all the things I probably should have done as a photographer. Self-promotion can seem daunting, but you must do it.

So, I started to attend workshops, retreats, and events for writers. I attended marketing seminars for authors and filled notebooks with all their advice. I have no idea where it will lead me, but I do know one thing for certain. It is necessary to market your book. No matter how you publish it. You have to be willing to put in the work, and no one is going to do that for you.

I have to say there is no better time to be a writer than now. I am so impressed with how many supportive services and apps are available and I want to share some of them with you.

AutoCrit: 

I joined it before their 2.0 version. It is an excellent program that makes you see problem areas in your text. There are categories along the header, which break into sub-categories. For example, the header shows: Pacing and Momentum, Dialogue, Word Choice, Repetition, Readability, and Strong Writing. Under Strong Writing is: Showing vs. Telling, Cliches, Redundancies, Unnecessary Filler Words, Tense Consistency, Passive Indicators, and Adverbs. AutoCrit will also correct grammar and spelling. 

If you take your chapters through all of the categories, you will have a much-improved manuscript and it will save you money when you send it to a professional editor.

The new version is so much improved, I signed up as a lifetime member. I really admire what they managed to create. It has become more than a tool for editing. They have built a community with groups, and special interest clubs and they offer courses too.

I share these next links untested, I have not used them yet, but I intend to. I can follow up later with a review of how useful they actually are. But I was a bit dazzled by their presentations and feel they will be helpful tools…

Publisher Rocket: 

If your books end up on Amazon, this tool lets you drive your discoverability. They are all about tweaking the algorithm that chooses your categories and keywords. The top twenty books in your category gain the Best Seller Tags. At the time of this article, there are 11,200 Amazon categories, but as a default they only let you choose two, which are general categories based on BISAC. (Those are the indicators used by publishers who send books to stores, so they know where to shelve them). Publisher Rocket shows you options: less commonly used or more specific categories to choose from which will get top ranking. They show you how to post those better categories to your books.

For example, if your book has a general category like Science Fiction, there will be thousands of books in that grouping. If instead, you use Science Fiction / Military, you will have a much smaller group. You only need to sell more books in a week than the others to get top Best Seller ranking.

Patreon:

This is a site where creative people get paid to do their craft. I spent a few days researching the top-performing pages and was surprised to see Patreon has writers who in fact make a living just by posting there. Some release a chapter at a time. While others share short stories or graphic novels. Consistency is the key to success here. Posting on a regular basis to maintain audience engagement; if you foster a dedicated community of patrons and build a fan base you will have a decent monthly income.

For example, Nixia has 203 patrons and earns $993 monthly. Chris Vines has 298 patrons and earns $1,178 monthly. MonsterBait ~ Author C.M. Nascosta has 1,211 patrons but does not show her earnings. By looking at their profiles you will see all authors and artists vary in what they offer.

There are writers who offer services and produce videos or podcasts, these tend to bring in even greater revenue. Some have as many as 10,000 patrons!

IngramSpark:

This company is an aggregator with worldwide vendors. I was interested to learn there are a lot of companies offering services to authors who in turn use IngramSpark. Like Book Baby, for example, are middlemen. You can go directly to IngramSpark and pay less. You have options: hardback, paperback, and e-books, all in one place. They have low title set-up fees and provide you with an ISBN. You retain all rights to your intellectual property, and they impose no order minimum. You control the pricing and discounts and returnability. They also have something called Book Brag where they feature authors monthly.

I’m new to this, but I’ve hit the road running. I hope to have more to share with you soon.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Margot Conor has been writing for as long as she can remember, but it wasn't until the COVID lock-down that she had enough time to dedicate to the craft and bring something to completion. Having finished her first novel, she went through the grueling two-year process of editing. Now she has jumped into the author's world with both feet. She's preparing to debut her first novel, which means learning how to promote it. The last year has been spent attending many writing retreats, seminars, and writers' events. She also listened to presentations specifically on the topic of publishing and book marketing. She will be sharing what she learns with the reader.

You can learn more about Margot and her writing at her Facebook page.