2011-04-13

Some Thoughts on Writing

Well, I finally did it.

I decided to register a trade name (fictitious name) with the county I live in.  I paid US$52 to register, was in and out of the County Clerk's office in about five minutes.

Easy.

The name I chose is a slight twist on my maiden name (if I told you what it is, I'd have to kill you ;-)).

March Winds Publishing.

I also have an idea for a logo.

I might make a little.  I might make a lot.  I might not make a damn thing.  All of that is okay; I've chosen my path after taking into account a lot of things, namely my age (I'm pushing 50, even though I don't look it, so says my hubby and others :-)), my health (I had a brain aneurysm three years ago; my left kidney isn't in the greatest shape), and I'm a personal control freak.  I love learning new things, always have, always will.

Again, as I said in previous post, I have nothing against people going via the legacy/traditional route.  Or the e-publisher only route.  As long as people know what's involved and can ask themselves honestly what the best route is for them, then what's wrong with that?

3 comments:

Nicholas La Salla said...

Right on!

If writing isn't beneficial to you in some way, just the act of writing, then honestly the chances of "hitting it big" or making any significant amount of money are so slim as to be impossible.

But if you do it because you love it, you will take it much more seriously and have that much better of a chance at it.

I think it's great that you're going to go for it.

It took me a LONG time to warm up to the idea of self publishing. I clung to the romantic notion of being a writer for a major publisher, enjoying NYT Bestseller status and flying all over the world doing signings and interviews and all that.

And most importantly, writing that which pours forth from my imagination and reaching millions of readers.

That concept of the writer is essentially dead. Sure, some popular writers remain that way, but the publishing industry is tanking and will continue to do so for some time.

Until they get their act together and adapt to the Kindle market rather than fighting it tooth and nail, what harm could you possibly do to yourself by self publishing?

The only possible negative would be attracting negative attention if your book isn't ready to see the light of day. But realistically, if you sell 20 books and you got all bad reviews, you could pull that book off Amazon. Sure, 20 people might not buy your next one, but there's also 5.999 billion other people on the planet who can fill their shoes.

So I say go for it. And let us all know how it goes . . . I know I for one would love to hear about your adventures!

Best,

Nick
One More Day: A Modern Ghost Story

Nancy Beck said...

Nick,

Thanks SO much! :-) It took me a long time, too, to warm to the idea of self pubbing.

I still go on a writers board that I've been frequenting for many years now, a board that's more dedicated to traditional/legacy (not that there's anything wrong with that :-)), but I'm going there less and less because of the sniping.

Nancy Beck said...

Nick,

I factored in a lot of things before coming to this decision, you can be sure of that.

And, yes, if I didn't like doing the creative thing, why bother doing it at all? Someone said (can't remember who) that if it's not fun doing something, it's not worth doing. :-)