Making Time for Important Things
My writing is important. Not as important as my family or my spiritual path, but definitely important. I've decided it's what I want to do with my life - as a career. So I know there are things I'll need to do in order to make a it a viable job. And sometimes the things I need to do won't be things I enjoy as much as the writing.
Social Media Madness
In order to appease the masses on social media, you have to be active. Really. Active. You have to post something every day and the more often you post, the more followers you'll attract. Quality posts are better but honestly, I've seen people post totally frivolous stuff and have tons of followers. I think people just like to have connections, some kind of common ground to meet others. I have no trouble posting on Instagram daily...usually. I have missed a day every now and again. I almost missed posting there yesterday. Facebook is another matter entirely. I hate that site. It's too time consuming and I'm a busy person with a lot on my plate. The other soc-med sites fall somewhere between those two. And if I've learned one thing in this past year, I will definitely be on board for paying someone to handle my online presence if for some reason my writing takes off like a rocket.
Marketing
...merg...ugh...I don't sell things. I used to sell jewelry...for about a year. I used to sell candles and did that for about three years. I never made any money. I spent all my earnings on the products I loved, supplies to make more, or prizes to give away. To me, you have to try a product in order to believe in it. A good product will sell itself. But there are some things that really need that marketing ploy to kick off the sales. Books are more and more falling into that category. Book trailers, beautiful book ads, book signings, etc. are more important to authors now than they ever were. I guess, in a way, your soc-med posts are another method of promoting your work but in a less focused way. I'm just really bad at selling things so marketing is another tough area I will eventually appreciate hiring help in.
Cover Art, Design, Creation
This is one area I absolutely love to play around with. But it's time consuming. And my resources are very limited. I write books. I'm not a graphic designer. And I don't have top-notch tools for either yet. But you can do a lot with free fonts and open source programs like Gimp, Open Clip Art, and Free Images. I use them to spark some creativity and try my hand at creating artwork that goes along with my stories. The covers you see on my Wattpad works were created using Gimp and Open Clip Art. (Update 2020: Open Clip Art's website is now defunct. The items available there have been made available on the Pixabay website, though. That's where I get almost all my photos and vector files now.)
Soundtrack
Social Media Madness
In order to appease the masses on social media, you have to be active. Really. Active. You have to post something every day and the more often you post, the more followers you'll attract. Quality posts are better but honestly, I've seen people post totally frivolous stuff and have tons of followers. I think people just like to have connections, some kind of common ground to meet others. I have no trouble posting on Instagram daily...usually. I have missed a day every now and again. I almost missed posting there yesterday. Facebook is another matter entirely. I hate that site. It's too time consuming and I'm a busy person with a lot on my plate. The other soc-med sites fall somewhere between those two. And if I've learned one thing in this past year, I will definitely be on board for paying someone to handle my online presence if for some reason my writing takes off like a rocket.
Marketing
...merg...ugh...I don't sell things. I used to sell jewelry...for about a year. I used to sell candles and did that for about three years. I never made any money. I spent all my earnings on the products I loved, supplies to make more, or prizes to give away. To me, you have to try a product in order to believe in it. A good product will sell itself. But there are some things that really need that marketing ploy to kick off the sales. Books are more and more falling into that category. Book trailers, beautiful book ads, book signings, etc. are more important to authors now than they ever were. I guess, in a way, your soc-med posts are another method of promoting your work but in a less focused way. I'm just really bad at selling things so marketing is another tough area I will eventually appreciate hiring help in.
Cover Art, Design, Creation
This is one area I absolutely love to play around with. But it's time consuming. And my resources are very limited. I write books. I'm not a graphic designer. And I don't have top-notch tools for either yet. But you can do a lot with free fonts and open source programs like Gimp, Open Clip Art, and Free Images. I use them to spark some creativity and try my hand at creating artwork that goes along with my stories. The covers you see on my Wattpad works were created using Gimp and Open Clip Art. (Update 2020: Open Clip Art's website is now defunct. The items available there have been made available on the Pixabay website, though. That's where I get almost all my photos and vector files now.)
Soundtrack
Did you ever wonder about creating a unique soundtrack for your written work? I've toyed with the idea but creating musical scores is, to me, far more complex than putting a bit of graphic art together. There's a lot more involved. Thankfully, there are websites like Ektoplazm where you can find some open source music to jump-start your creativity. There are others, but that's the only one I've visited so far. (My husband uses some of the free music available on YouTube to create his photography films.) To convey an appropriate mood for moments in a story seems a daunting task. I'd still like to try to accomplish it one day. Bucket List Item #003...
Wherever you go to find open source items, be certain to read the fine print. It's truly important because some fonts, photos, and music have limited use rules and even when you can share these things commercially, some of the creators do have some rules they want you to follow so they'll get the credit they deserve.
I won't jinx myself by saying how much I've done or anything like that but chapter 16 of Ripples is now posted for your reading enjoyment. I will say, however, that I'm not stopping the work. You can read the story here at Wattpad. Just click the link below.
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