RITA ® Award-Winning Author of Fantasy Romance
//A special guest on the show today! Multi-bestselling author Darynda Jones and I discuss ideas, how to know which ones are good and have staying power, and how to continue to grow as writers.
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A lil reminder that my FALLING UNDER trilogy is now re-released and on Kindle Unlimited! These books are NOT fantasy, but are contemporary erotic romance. If that’s the kind of thing you like, then you may like these!
Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is hard work vs. luck as applies to authorial success.
One of my least favorite pieces of advice from successful authors is when they declare something along the lines of “Just write a good book!” This happens a lot with debut authors, happily reveling in the out-of-the-gate success of their first effort. I say this because authors who’ve had lots of trunked books or only midlist success almost never say this.
Why?
Because they know that writing a good book isn’t enough.
Yes, writing a good book is key. Improving our craft as authors is critically important. That’s where the hard work comes in. At least, one kind of hard work, the foundational kind. If the books aren’t written and revised and polished to the best of our ability, there’s nothing to sell.
On the other hand… luck is a huge factor in publishing. It just IS. That’s why I roll my eyes at any successful author who fails to acknowledge the role of serendipity in their rise to (relative) fame and glory. As human beings – especially ones with egos sufficient to withstand the slings and arrows of creative life, which is rife with downs as well as ups – we like to credit ourselves with being awesome. Are we fortunate or are we just that good?
We’d all like to think we’re just that good.
The thing is, lots of creators are really good. And lots of good books go nowhere. Acknowledging the role of serendipity in success not only keeps us humble – remember that ego is the enemy! – but also should reassure us when things don’t go our way. Authors careers, as previously noted, are rife with ups and downs. We can’t control the luck. What we CAN do is work hard and put ourselves out there so the luck can find us.
Best of luck to you all!
//Should you throw out the first 30 pages of your manuscript? Um, no. Bad advice. BUT, figuring out where to start a story is an ongoing challenge, craftwise, and also because the marketplace changes rapidly.
//My Patreon and Discord community are live! I’m also talking about one of the best pieces of writing advice I ever got and how, if you want to be a writer for the right reasons, there’s no fire to put out content.
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Exciting news! I’ve officially opened my Patreon: Jeffe’s Closet, A Mentoring Community for Newbie, Intermediate, & Expert Authors. The Patreon leads directly to a Discord community where all kinds of conversations will occur. I’m super excited to make this into a vibrant community. Right now the Discord is open, but pretty quiet – which means you’ll get a lot of personal attention from me. Come and join in!
As far as our topic this week, what we do for health insurance, I self-insure. As a full-time author, I have no employer to provide me with health insurance (or other benefits). My husband took early retirement from his career and was insured through them for quite some time, though each year the premium was sucking up more and more of his retirement stipend. Soon we were going to have to pay in – ugh! Then the concierge health insurance service became available through SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association). SFWA collaborated with other writers’ organizations to make this service available to our members. I was able to transfer my husband onto insurance via the Affordable Care Marketplace – and both of us together ended up paying over $1K LESS EVERY MONTH. I’m a fan! Thank you, Obama – seriously.
//What to do when an author’s editor leaves the house, the one question to ask career authors, studying movies made from books to understand theme and what subplots/side characters aren’t important.
//Paying the price – do we always have to suffer or sacrifice for a reward? Why this is often offered as a writing rule, especially when creating magic systems. Also a report on ROGUE FAMILIAR: coming along!
//Can you miss something you never had? Also thoughts on creative crisis, how I always hit a point where I think the book I’m writing is TERRIBLE, and upcoming plans for my mentoring/coaching Patreon and Discord community!
//A report on YouTube monetization (yay!) via putting up audiobooks and thoughts on podcasting ROI. Also why each book is a challenge to write, how to deal with a sagging middle of a novel, and how to improve craft.
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I’ll be at the Willamette Writers Conference In August! I’ll be teaching a workshop and giving manuscript critiques. I’m not sure yet if I’ll be in person or online, but I’m hoping for the former!
This week at the SFF Seven, we’re discussing which fictional villain we’d totally write a redemption arc for if copyright and trademarks weren’t a thing.
You know, I did this once before – although I was in the clear legally, as the original work had just moved into common domain. My villain? The phantom from The Phantom of the Opera. I don’t know know that I redeemed him, but – SPOILER – I did ensure that the heroine picked the correct guy!
My version is called MASTER OF THE OPERA, and is a contemporary, erotic retelling of the old phantom tale as written by Gaston Leroux. I set it at the Santa Fe Opera house, so it has more of a Southwestern mystical vibe than the Parisian opera house of the original stories. I won’t post the cover(s) here. There are a number of them, as the book was originally published as a serialized ebook, and so had six different covers. Then it was published in print as a single edition with a different cover. Salient and recent good news: I received word that my publisher plans to put a new cover on the book and repackage it! So, stay tuned for that re-release. I’m super excited to see this new cover and a new bounce for this book and my sexy villain.