Quit? Never.

 

Terry here, with the answer to the burning question: 

 What would make you quit writing? Age? Infirmity? Lack of what you consider success? Boredom? Something else? 

 I’ve often said that doctors will be ready to pull the plug on me, and I’ll yell, “Wait. Let me finish this paragraph.” 

 I guess that means the short answer is “nothing will make me quit writing.” I wrote before I ever had thoughts of being published. I’d write short stories or descriptions or scenes. It was my way of thinking. And sometimes my way of relaxing. I never was successful at keeping a journal, so maybe it was my way of journaling—but making most of it up. 

 And as for boredom, If I find I’m bored with something I’m writing, I know it will also bore the reader, so I do the creative (and sometimes hard) work of finding ways to make what I’m writing more exiting (another body!) 

 The bigger question, though, is whether I would keep writing for publication. I just attended Left Coast Crime and there was quite a bit of buzz about how chaotic the publishing industry is these days. And how carelessly publishers treat authors. Many writers who are not in the top echelon feel at best taken advantage of and at worst treated like throwaway commodities. I heard several stories of authors who had a couple of contracts with major publishers and who found after those contracts were fulfilled, they were dumped. It seems that major publishers, and even some smaller ones are only in the publishing business for the money and not because they love books. The ones in it for love of books are exceptions, and they are golden. And usually small. 

 In the past six months I’ve heard more and more stories of authors undertaking hybrid publishing. That is, publishing some books with traditional presses, and other books independently. Why? Because for those authors with a track record, they make a lot more money if they publish their own books. People are tired of getting a paltry few cents of each dollar the publisher brings in. 

 The ones who find success as independent authors are not writers who dash off a book and throw it up on Amazon. They are the ones who do the following: 

 

1) Have dedicated beta readers 

2) Either hire an editor or do very careful editing themselves 

3) Either hire someone who knows how to format an email and “tree” books, or take the time to learn the details themselves 

4) Either hire someone to do great covers unless they feel confident that they have a creative eye for cover design. 

5) Either hire someone who knows how to promote their books or learn the ins and outs of marketing. 

 It’s tempting! But it’s also a lot of extra-curricular work or is expensive. By the time you hire all the grunt work out you might find that you have evened out the amount of money you would have made with a traditional publisher. The people who are most successful at this have developed a team of people they are happy with and/or have learned to do it themselves. The say yes, there is a learning curve, but once you learn it, it gets easier. 

One of the most chilling comments I heard was that there is a trend toward dismissing mid-list authors in bookstores. Publishers push big books and debut authors, but those authors who write good, solid books that aren’t huge sellers get shoved aside. 

Sadly, I even heard a few stories of authors whose publishers had cheated on their royalties. And I have an example from my own experience. Anyone who has ever tried to read a royalty statement knows that wouldn’t be hard to cheat. But what is the point? We’re talking small money here. I’m willing to believe that sometimes it’s carelessness, but it’s a real issue. My first agent, with whom I’ve maintained a cordial relationship found that my publisher had routinely underpaid me for e-book sales. She confronted the publisher, and they corrected the problem and sent me a check. I was grateful to her for continuing to pay attention to the books that were sold through her agency. But why should she have to keep an eagle eye on a publisher to make sure they do the accounting right? Why would a publisher routinely cheat an author? Is it carelessness or venality? I’m afraid it’s hard to tell the difference. 

 So why do I persist with traditional publishing? Partly, it’s laziness. Learning how to do the publishing work myself is daunting. Partly, though, I do it because I like my publishing team. My editor, the publicist and the proofreaders are hard-working and they are very supportive. Their business model isn’t perfect, but I know they do care about books, so I’m not ready to jump ship. And I’m not ready to quit writing. 

When people find out I’ve quit, they’ll know the plug has been pulled!