Another New Year

I don’t know how it became January. Well, I mean, I get the process and the whole calendar thing, and how we have to do Leap Year every four years because we didn’t quite get this calendar thing right in the first place (and do NOT get me started on daylight savings time, yikes.) But what I mean is like, we went to get our season rentals for skiing today. And I was informed that people do that in October and November and that stores don’t do it after that.

I know that. I do it in November. Usually. But it was like 2022 was a big ball rolling down a hill. And it got faster and faster and then… it was January.

Total first world problem with the ski gear, I realize.

But since I find myself staring at a new year, and like all Januaries, this one finds me wanting to approach the year positively, with big plans and bigger dreams… I figured I’d start writing. Here. (I’m writing in other places. Like books, I promise.)

Honesty about authoring… The Cover Conundrum

And I figured it was a good time to be more open about my author life. I know that some of the details will bore most people, but for those working on writing, maybe something will help.

So this year, as I’ve done before, I am reconsidering things I thought I’d decided.

Illustrated covers on my new series? It seemed like a good plan around June of last year. That was because I’d committed to selling wide, on all retail platforms. That means my books were sitting next to a lot of traditionally published titles, and trad has moved pretty decisively into the world of cartoon covers, even for steamy romcom like mine. I did a ton of evaluation, and decided that to compete… my books would need to have those covers too.

And for a while, I loved them. I like bright colors, which are very on brand for me. But I didn’t love the people, and I have never loved that cartoons don’t really represent what’s between the covers (hee hee).

But this isn’t just about covers…

So, what not everyone knows is that I have a day job. And a side hustle. And kids. And a dog. And a husband. So I work full time, edit and coach other authors and teach courses on writing, and try to maintain a vague sense of familiarity with my family. And my dog (though I’m kinda mad at him right now). And then I write books.

As a dog washer told me when she returned my clean chocolate lab to me a year or so ago, “It’s… A LOT.”

My biggest problem is time.

So I have done a lot of thinking and trying to shuffle things around in a kind of hopeful alchemy designed to wrench more hours from a day. (Hint: it did not work. There are only 24. Or maybe not quite, since we do that Leap Year thing I mentioned.)

I spoke to Nicholas Erik recently (part of a class I took - a 90 minute strategy call… super helpful). He told me things I didn’t want to hear.

And the truth is, after writing books in the romance community for almost a decade, there isn’t a lot I haven’t heard or tried. And often, I kind of see the writing on the wall but need tough love to get me there.

Nick suggested a return to Kindle Unlimited.

Why I resist what is good for me…

I don’t know why. I do know that I hate the idea of exclusivity and I cringe at the possibility (or the certainty, if you ask me) that Amazon will one day just decide to change something that screws authors completely, and they won’t give it a second thought… But Nick pointed out an important advantage I have that many don’t. And traditionally, it’s something I’ve been looking at as a disadvantage.

Over this decade, my day job has increased in salary and responsibility. Every year that I couldn’t replace my income and quit my day job became a year when I was paid better and my work was more interesting and fulfilling. And while I do dream of writing full time, I also love my job (I’m a brand and content strategist - I help companies figure out their stories and then get to help them tell those stories!) And the bottom line, as Nick highlighted, is that I don’t NEED to make tons of money on books since it isn’t my only income.

So I can take a risk. In fact, I can take more risks than most people because of my side hustle and day job security blankets.

Weren’t we talking about covers?

Yes. About those covers. So Nick pointed out that going back to KU would save me a lot of time (no more updates across all the retailers when I release or change a word, or catch a typo, etc.) He also noted that it would make advertising easier to get a grip on (I’ve had my head in the sand for a while on that…) Then we discussed that in KU, my “hot dude” covers are more in line with what contemporary romance readers expect.

And so I changed them back. And then tested some font options in Facebook ads. And soon, I’ll drop them into KU, along with my Singletree series.

So that’s the big stuff for now… trying to manage my business in a way that allows it to grow without draining me completely.

This will work for now. Until I figure out how to create time. I’ll keep you posted.