Moving the Writing Forward

I have three writer names. This is the only one I share, and I’m even uncertain about that. As you know, I’ve been looking at the changes in publishing and weighing up how I’m going to approach my writing career. It’s not an easy set of choices, for all the reasons in my previous post (Changes, Changes, Changes), and even now it’s not set in stone.

I’ve decided to keep my currently published writing name with the publisher it’s with now. I like them as a publisher, and I’m happy to keep that writing name with them. I hope they feel the same way about me as I’ve been on hiatus until now. No doubt my other writing name will blog about it.

My other writing name has placed in a writing competition run by the publisher for which her work was originally pitched, and she was asked to submit it to the editor of that line. I’m still working on my decision with that. On the up-side, if they publish that writer name, I garner ‘respect’ from writers who value such things, and gain the option of being published again, if I keep the quality up. I would also receive more up front than I could hope to make back in the first 6-12 months of self-publishing. On the down-side that would likely be all that I would make, as the print run would be limited, and the e-pub rates are rumoured to be below 25%. I wouldn’t get the rights back, and I would probably be limited to one release per quarter. The earning life of the book would be extremely short. I know, if I look at it that way, the decision should be easy, but it’s not. It really isn’t. It goes against everything I’ve learned in the last twenty years. It goes against it everything, but to go forward using the traditional means of publishing goes against the data I’ve spent the last six months gathering and analysing. And still I hesitate. Go figure.

This writing name, my own, it’s not so hard. Fantasy, science fiction and young adult are all notoriously difficult markets to break into even if you’re good enough, so it’s hard to tell if it’s you, or the market, if you’re rejected. It also doesn’t matter if it’s a form rejection, a ‘good’ rejection with encouragement to submit other works, or a flat-out ‘no’; a rejection is still a rejection. Most come without an indication if it’s writing quality or just market unsuitability, but that’s for another post.

For years, established writers in these market areas have been saying that you need a lucky break, or a personal ‘in’ with an editor, or an agent, or an established list of short story publications, or a successful contact at a conference and even then there was no guarantee. Even established best sellers who, undoubtedly, are good enough have had rejections in these fields. Now, that’s all changed.

My only dilemma here is that I write a number of genres, and my research indicates that I will need to write and publish a number of stories to begin to establish a brand. How I manage to mesh science fiction, fantasy, young adult, and horror into one brand while building it is a quandary. It’s possible. Those who’ve gone ahead have proven that.

I’m thinking I’ll just establish one genre and then add other genres one at a time. I’ll probably write across the span of genres that interest me, but I’ll control the releases to cause minimal brand ‘smudging’. I also think I can work on Young Adult works in the same genre I’m publishing for the older audience, without detracting from the brand, as long as I make sure the Young Adult work is marked clearly.

Alternatively, I could just write and release and the brand will gradually emerge, but it will take longer that way, and I’m not sure it will work. I’ll stick with Plan A and see how I go.

Now, all I have to do is find enough time out of my writing to get my head around Kindle and Smashwords formatting, find an affordable editor or a reliable Beta reader, and budget for and find a cover artist.

Guess I’d better go and continue that process, hey.