Free Books

Hi Ink Drinkers,

One of the keenest frustrations of my life has been my inability to turn my writing career into what I have always expected it to be.  I never expected to rake it in like Stephen King, but I did expect to make a little scratch so I felt validated.  Yeah, that has been really hard for me.

I'm frustrated because I'm blocked.

One of the reasons for writer's block is that there is a gap between what the author imagines versus the kind of writing the author is actually able to produce.   That's in regard to a particular piece we're working on, not our careers.  The way to break writer's block is to give up what you initially wanted and to work with the reality in front of you.  The more you work on it (that particular piece and other writing projects afterward), the more you're able to create things that match your expectations and eventually exceed them. 

But what about a career?  That's not something you can do on your own in the same way.  I wrestled my demon for long enough.  In this case, the demon is the image of what I have always wanted for myself as a novelist.  The way to break the block is to let go of what I wanted.  It's over now.

Goodbye, Emily Loring.

Goodbye, Anne Rice.  

Goodbye, Victoria Holt.

Goodbye, Monica Hughes.

Goodbye, Margaret Atwood.

Goodbye, L.M. Montgomery.  

Goodbye to the novelist of every book I ever cracked a spine on and looked at their list of books and thought that I would one day be like them.  I won't be joining them in the halls of the bookstores of our times.  I have already published a book that had ten other book credits in it.  I wrote them all.  That book and the other ten books didn't make much money, so I'm done.  

This feels like a suicide note... and in a way, it is.  For months, I have felt that there was change in the air.  How would it come?  What shape would it take?  How would I be reformed?  

From now on, I will no longer try to make money as a novelist.  

I went on Smashwords and reduced all my fiction to free.  Then I did the same on Draft2Digital, DriveThru Fiction, and GooglePlay.  I went on Wattpad and Fictionpress, and started releasing chapters for books I never intended to give away.  I put If I Tie U Down on OBOOKO and Free-Ebooks.net.  I had someone message me on Facebook asking where they could buy one of my books and I directed them to a place they could get it for free.  

I'm not sure if I can give away all my books for free on Amazon without bringing an angry amazon down on me, but I'll try to find a balance there.    

In any case, it is time to do the same thing I would do with a story that wasn't cooperating.  I will examine it objectively and make decisions based on reality, not fantasy.

The reality is that in August (a hard month to peddle books), I had close to a thousand downloads and over eighteen thousand views for my free books.  That's when everyone is out enjoying the good weather.  No one is reading in August.  I need to build on that because that's reality, not some dumb idea of mine.    

*Yawn* Honestly,  I wanna go quilt something.  More book-making can wait for another day.