Plan B(s)
Posted on February 25th, 2013
As we know, I didn’t get the job. I am not an “everything happens for a reason” person, because, well, I don’t think there’s any sort of omniscient/omnipotent being interested in my employment status. (The career services office at my law school doesn’t even care. Why would a sky god?)
I do think opportunities arise all the time and one must be open-minded enough to see them and seize them. Not getting this job means my time to write still remains my time to write. The downside is I am tired of The Poverty (TM). I would like to not worry about money, or at least not worry about little things like rent and food and gas money.
So I’m trying to make lemonade. This is what I’ve got:
- Two finished novels, both with series potential. One is a Regency/age of sail suspense-romance, the other is fantasy. I am planning on shopping these around. The Regency is done, done, done, and I have no excuse for not submitting it right this very minute, except the usual fear of rejection. The fantasy I’m culling down to 110,000 words and making a few tweaks to. It will be ready to submit in a couple of weeks. Once that’s done, do I work on new books for those series, in the hope they get sold? Or do I tackle something else, like…
- One historical project. My idea is to apply for grants to cover travel and research costs, and turn this into a book that weaves together life in rural Northern Idaho and World War I. I have no idea if anyone besides me finds this interesting. The alternative is to turn this into a novel. Downside: this is an area of history that is not my bailiwick.
- One snarky Regency romance project. This is about platform building and having fun, although the last book I read for the site (review to be posted in the next few days) almost killed me. It was so bad. (Did you know the Brighton Pavilion was the reason Britain lost the American colonies? FOR REAL, THAT WAS IN THERE.)
Prospectively speaking:
- I could stick ads on everything. But…ads. And how much revenue is that, really? Is it worth it?
- I could write about my insane childhood. No, really, it is weirder and worse than yours. Both my sister and I were asked by therapists, “Have you considered writing a book about this?” I have this compartmentalized most of the time, so I’m not sure I want to go down this road. Also, as weird and bad as it was, who gives a shit about my childhood besides my therapist and me?
- I could write a (completely plotted, ready to write) legal thriller based on my former practice area. It would probably take me three months. I have this blog as a platform. I will probably write this anyway, at some point. (I do know that having written three completely different genres is not what is encouraged, but someone tell my muse that.)
- I could start a non-profit. I know what I would like to do, but this requires knowing how to run a non-profit. And money.
- I could start an online publishing house. I also know what I would like to do here, but this requires knowing how to run a functional online publishing house (I don’t count the one I worked for, because it was hideous). And more money.
You’ll notice going back to school is nowhere on my list. Unless something dramatically changes (one of us employed by a university and the tuition is free or we win the lottery), this trade school doctorate is as close as I’m getting to a real PhD.
Oh, geez, Atty! What, did you steal my life? I am sorry about the job thing. That’s happened to me more than I can say. Oddly enough, although I am a committed atheist, I kind of do believe things happen for a reason, because that’s how not getting the job has usually worked out for me. (As in, my kid got so sick I’d have had to leave after three months anyway, and that would have sucked. But you have a different life, I realize that.)
Then there is The Poverty. (I don’t believe you own that TM, dear. Or if you do, move over, you’ve got company.)
But seriously, here are some thoughts. Because I have run through almost every one of your ideas at one point or another.
First of all, making money with a novel sounds like a great idea but is not highly realistic. Even if one is a great writer (as I know you are). The publishing industry is so risk averse now that it is VERY hard to sell fiction, and very very hard to get much money for it if you do. Having said that, people do do it, and of course you must try. I have come SUPER close many times with publishers, with the help of three different agents who LOVED and represented my novels. I did a MAJOR rewrite for Penguin with my current agent, but then Penguin passed (yeah, f@#!). I have never made a cent from my novels (which altogether I spent about ten years writing) and made probably a total of 500 bucks in royalties on my monograph (but that is a different beast).
Romance may be easier to sell than the literary fiction I write but it does not, as I understand, pay well. on the other hand if you can really crank em out that may not matter. The other issue is that publishers tend to divvy out advances in small pieces you cannot possibly live on.
But then there is AMAZON. Just worth thinking about.
And here is what I REALLY think you should do. Mine that crappy childhood (so sorry about that, btw) or legal career or parenting experience and write essays for magazines. I have a piece coming out in O magazine (I HOPE soon) and it will be the most I have ever made from my writing — FIVE little pages of text. $2 per word. Do the math. They don’t all pay that well but if you write a lot of them and send them out regularly and have a decent success rate you might do ok. I’d bet anything you have a lot to write about.
Email me if you want to talk more about it — address is on my blog, If it bounces back wait a bit and try again (or let me know in a comment) — I tend to get a full inbox and neglect to clear it out.
Good luck!! xx Anna
Anna, thank you so much for your opinion!
I am sure The Poverty must really be in the creative commons, because too many of us seem to have it!
And about fiction, I know. I’ve made more money on the two Amazon e-books I’ve linked to on this blog (and done no publicity for) than I have on editor’s royalties for the books I edited (combined). But I can’t stop writing fiction, the way I can’t stop breathing. I am tempted to self-publish the Regency (because why not) and shop the fantasy, because I figure with romance, the advances are even smaller for newbie authors than other genres. But I have to pass the agent hurdle first and I know you know how much fun THAT is.
(Actually, I made more money on the book/articles I wrote for an obscure gaming company than I made editing genre fiction for the crappy online publisher.)
I am so sorry that you’ve come so close with Penguin only to have them pass.
Have you thought about going the Amazon route?
I’ve been thinking about taking a month and just writing non-fiction pieces/essays. If they go somewhere, great, and a month is going to pass if I write non-fiction or not. And if they work out, even better. If they don’t, I can always post them here.
Don’t have as much practical experience or advice as the last commenter, but just wanted to put in a vote of support!
Thank you!
I’m not qualified to weigh in, but it makes me happy knowing that you have such a great stable of ideas to rely on. If visualizing means anything, I can see you being successful at all of these. Good luck, friend.
Thank you! I’m a little disappointed the easy road (a regular job) is out of the running. Time to do things differently/my own way/blaze my own trail. If only it were easy!