It is an
honor to be invited back to RTG. A few years have rolled by since I met the
Genre-istas in Portland, OR at the Rose City Romance Writers. I still remember
the awe I felt sitting in the same room with
real published romance writers … I want to touch the nearest one, lol.
Now I am one!
And 22 romance books & novellas later, it's been grand … but things change.
I was first published
in 2007, just past the age of 50. I experienced the hey-day of digital publishing,
when the small pubs like Samhain were rocking the romance reading world. Wow,
my first paychecks were big! They continued to grow as I wrote more books,
until … more publisher fish swam into the sea and they had new ways to grab
their share of readers.
This thing
called self-publishing happened. Market share of the publishers, large and
small, began to shrink even faster as readers shrugged and said, 'I don't care
where the book comes from, as long as I can load it on my e-reader and enjoy
it.' My paychecks from Samhain shrank too.
I leapt into
the self-publishing ocean. It was delightful! Those big paychecks returned,
with a larger percentage coming to me since there was no publisher in the
middle to take their share. Woo-hoo, life was once again grand.
Then, more
and more and more writers began to self-publish. Wow, getting crowded out here
in the romance ocean, even for those of us with marketable names. But paychecks
were still big, so with some advertising and a newsletter, no worries.
Next, Amazon
rolled out a feat of marketing genius (or an evil sledge-hammer with which to
destroy writing careers, depending on one's perspective), the Kindle Unlimited
subscription plan. My sales plummeted again as hordes of voracious romance
readers leapt like sharks onto this new unlimited reading plan—and stopped buying as many books.
All the
while, more writers published their works, meaning more competition. I was so
discouraged … if I didn't love writing so much, in the winter of 2015, I would
have quit publishing altogether and gone back to work at a library or in
education. I'm still selling books, still have loyal readers, and I know I'm
doing better than the vast percentage of authors now, but not making the BIG
paychecks.
But I seem to
need to write nearly as much as I need to breathe.
Thus, I
listened to a friend and mentor, Maggie McVay Lynch who said, "Many people who are
making money now in publishing aren't just writing. They're diversifying,
offering services to other writers." She herself is a shining example of
this, teaching on All Writer Workshops, helping writers decipher promotion
and other facets of publishing. I'm taking her class on maximizing
newsletter/email lists right now.
Diversification.
Great idea, but what services could I offer? Hmmm, I love writing ad copy/blurbs/cover
copy, and often volunteered to write it for friends and colleagues, who
expressed undying gratitude for my services. So, perhaps other writers would pay me to do so?
Turns out
they will indeed. In February—just as I turned 60—I opened up shop as The
Blurb Queen. In that time
I've acquired many clients. I'm now being paid to do another facet of the
publishing biz—helping other writers highlight their stories in a few, exciting
words!
Like writing
good stories, writing good ad copy is hard work, but I enjoy it just as much. So
I can now afford to keep writing my beloved romance, and working from my home
office, which is exactly where I want to be. Now that I've relaxed a bit about
the income stream, writing is once again joyous.
As George
Eliot may have said, 'It's never too
late to become who you might have been!'
Wonder what
new marketable skill I'll discover when I'm 70??
What do YOU do to subsidize your
writing career? I'd love to hear. We're all in this together, my friends.
Cathryn Cade
Red Hot Sci Fi/Contemporary/Paranormal Romance
RT 4.5 Stars
and Night Owl Reviews TOP PICK
Cathryn Cade
Keep Calm and Let the Blurb Queen Fix It!
