A Writer's Sanity - Writing My Books Versus Writing articles, Totally Different Problems.

In my opinion, a writer has to keep his or her sanity if they are going to grow in their craft. Or, at least, I do.

I recently finished reading a Hub by one of my favorite Hubbers. The subject was how there are now so many writers in the online world are underbidding each other for work that making a living as an online writer is becoming almost impossible..

And these desperate writers, many of whom are often from third world countries where time (or labor) is a cheap commodity, continue to drive the value of their talent down to the point where they (and their peers) are essentially working for next to nothing.

So, first of all, let me explain that I am not Commercial.

By that I mean that I am lucky (unlucky?) enough not to be making a living, bidding for the priviledge of writing for someone else.

And, honestly, I am not really sure that I am fast enough generating content to be such a writer, at my stage of evolution.

Or, if I ever will be.

But, again, that's not my ultimate goal.

Oh, don't get me wrong, if you look, you will see that I keep a variety of fresh Hubs out there (my goal is a level of over 150) on my Writer's site that cover a variety of subjects and are intentionally written in different styles.

And, if you look closely at my articles, you will see all of the little things I've done creating them, that are necessary to "Snag a Click" or, sometimes send someone to a site where they might buy something.

I have all of my stuff in order and laid out appropriately. And, I do make a few pennies monthly.

Do I make big bucks? Of course not!

i'm just not putting the required time into this world of online writing that is necessary to live off of my "Stuff"

And, I do have some things, that I have written, out there lying in wait for just one more CLICK!.

You should probably know that i have Five Blogs that i contribute to regularly, including;

1- One is for mine and my wifes Recipes and even links to some of my favorite recipes from my fellow Hubbers, that I share with the world.

2- One is a nice Blog of Health Information about foods, Herbs and such. I started it as a collection point for this kind of useful information for anyone that might need access to such data.

Some of the Posts I have written, while some are links to similar information that other Hub writers have researched and I feel fits into my Blog.

3- One is for my Comments and Rants as a Baby Boomer and things that I consider injustices being perpetrated on the American Public.,

4- My oldest Blog is full of full of information that I have learned over the years as a Camper and RV Owner for people who Camp and own RV's and enjoy that very special lifestyle.

It includes valuable reference data on campers, operation of campers, campsite management, campsite equipment, and RV service and maintenance.

5- One is simply a central collection point of links to my writings on my Writer's site and other places as well as some of my writings that I don't have listed anywhere else. It's all about ME!

If you are interested in any of these, I have links to them above but not in many places in my Hubs, as I had my hand slapped by Google in the past for being TOO PROMOTIONAL!

I also have NINE Books in print and listed on AMAZON in both paperback and Kindle format..

OK, don't get excited, one is COOKBOOK ,full of old regional recipes from the mountains of Virginia.

one is a FOOD DICTIONARY providing a place where any Cook can quickly look up a variety of information on Foods.

and another is a collection of useful information for RV Owners and Campers and the camping lifestyle.

The other three are a Detective Novel about a detective in a Tampa Florida police department,

and a book of Short Stories, full are great stories that entertain and provide interesting life lessons.

Also I wrote a book to Help any new Writer actually write and Publish a CHEAP Book, at very little cost to the writer.

I wrote these books to so that I could learn how to write better and to train myself in the intricacies of writing successfully..

Train myself, you say?

Yes, I, like all serious writers who want to write a "real book" really need to learn how to;

1- Organize a large writing project,

2- Research and confirm your data for a large project,

3- Write the project to a plan and finish it.

4- Edit the project and make it read well and be coherent and most importantly, interesting.

5- and finally and most importantly the writer needs to learn about publishers and retailers and contracts, and reviewers, and how much of your earnings goes to each one of these.

Because my friend, I learned so much through writing these different types of books that i had never realized!

Lesson #1 was; Everybody, out there in this industry, gets a piece of your Sweat!

It really doesn't matter who you deal with and whether you want to publish a hardback, a paperback, or even an eBook.

My friends, you are probably only going to clear somewhere between 15 percent up to maybe 25 percent per sale, depending on all of the agreements you are forced tomake..

You could be the exception, but this is what I see the vast majority of people clearing on their works.

You will find that you can, either raise your price and sell less, or drop your price and sell more and make less on each sale.

Lesson #2 was, .You need professional reviews of your work. And, by the way, you pay for these, they are not cheap and there are no guarantees of a good, or even a so-so review. You pay and you take what you get.

Lesson #3 was; You have to be ready to Work the Market. By this I mean that you have to get yourself out there, either through travel and bookstore signings, writer publications and interviews, and also exploit the many online tools for getting yourself and your book seen by as many people as possible.

The basic rule is, They can't buy it, if they can't Find it or See it or be told where to find it! Readers are Lazy and Cheap and must be hand fed your work, especially in the world of books.

And, for example, if your Book is a mystery and costs $6.95 and another similar one listed next to it costs $4.95, then, sorry people, the average reader is going to buy the cheaper book, with all other things being equal!

All of these tasks have a cost! A cost of your time, and a commitment to put in however much is necessary regardless of your lifestyle or other responsibilities.

So, what is my problem?

Well, honestly, I hesitate to make the necessary commitment to Lesson#3. I just am not "working the Public" as required.

i put my stuff out there, on AMAZON, and I sell a few, but, I haven't taken the next step.

My Bad!

So, what am I doing now to fix myself and my evolution as a writer?

Well, I am writing a few less artiles, but I am spending more time reading and especially studying artivles by other writers, and taking what I learn from these works to re-evaluate my older writings.

When reviewing my older stuff, it is always a shock to me, at how I have changed?

I look back and cry over some of my works and, at times I am embarrassed enough to eventually eliminate the whole work as being so crude and essentially hopeless that it is beyond repair, regardless of what I might do to it.

But, with most, I take the time to repair, rewrite, fix, whatever is necessary to make them more acceptable to me.

These you will often see me share with my followers because I feel that they are better than they were originally and I think they are more interesting.

So, what am i doing with my time?

I am writing several books.

One is a detective mystery, one is a collection of my other short writings and one is a book about my real-life experiences growing up in a town in the South during the fifties and sixties.

You might ask why I am working on three books at once? It sounds stupid even to me.

OK, it's pretty simple, really.

I make myself write or edit something each day. Sometimes it is only 200-300 words, sometimes it is 500-1000 words, or occasionally even more when inspiration hits me between the eyes.

Sometimes, the number of words written is a negative number when I review what I have put down and have to rip whole plot lines apart or totally from my project.

And, I don't know why, but I have to follow my writing psyche!

You know, that place in your mind that drives it to think about one subject and not the other, regardless of what you wanted to work on.

I can create, but I have to go with the subject that is boiling in my head.

These books will be the true test of my evolution as a writer.

Will they sell?

I just don't know, but I'm ready to make the appropriate commitments for them to be successful. And, in this world of writing, today, success is measured by sales!

I often ask myself; which Book will win the race to completion?

I don't have a clue, but I'm working on it!