Freelancefolder

Transitioning From Freelance Writer to Author

Posted July 31, 2008 in Writing

Tweet

Go on. Admit it. You might be a freelance writer for now, but you’ve dreamed of being an author, yes? Some of you might even be authors already, but for those of you who are not, there are ways to transition into being an author.

Being an author has its own rewards but not always necessarily monetary. However, with the demand for premium content online, there are opportunities for those of you that can package an offer of a book with other types of “premium” content, as discussed below.

How Do You Become an Author?

For me, the process was a long one, though it doesn’t have to be for you. I’d been writing creatively and technically for a long time before my first book pitch in 1989/90. The Editor liked my outlining approach and hinted at the possibility of my writing computer programming books for him for a long time, including book revisions – a cash cow for authors back then.

He had plans to come to a big author’s shindig in Toronto, and when he landed in town, he called and left a message. Unfortunately, my roommate decided not to tell me for three or four days. I missed out on meeting him and several well-known novelists.

He accepted my explanation of the situation, but we never reached any specific agreement. Despite my detailed outlines and pitches, they weren’t right for that publisher’s market. A missed opportunity for sure. It wasn’t until 2002 that I finally found an Editor who liked my book proposal, and ultimately became a co-author for a book that I designed, content-wise.

Your path to becoming an author might be a lot quicker from desire to actuality, but you have to want it, as well as be willing to take the good and the bad that comes with it. That’s just the start; you have to actually research your market and select a project to start with it.

Why Become an Author?

This is something only you can answer. My family and cultural background is one of education, teaching and dissemination of knowledge. Writing a book, for me, is the pinnacle of sharing a skill. It’s never been about “making lots of money” – something few authors do anyway.

For such authors, it’s everything else that comes with being an author:

1. Regular work – the royalties from a series of books could help keep food on the table.
2. The talkshow circuit, which helps with promotion.
3. The lecture circuits, which usually pays per appearance, not to mention aiding in promotion.
4. Professional recognition, which can lead to other opportunities, including teaching.

So there is secondary or tertiary income opportunities sometimes, even with a minimal level of success as an author. Here’s what it usually takes:

1. Prove your stamina as an author – i.e., actually complete books that you sell.
2. Be in a relatively profitable niche (fiction and non-fic).
3. Enjoy at least a minimum level of sales – varies by niche, but selling out your initial run helps.

Meet these criteria – and sometimes others – and authoring could be a long-term career for you.

Pros and Cons of Being an Author

Some people just like the concept of having been an author, not actually doing the writing. Trust me, if that’s all you want, write an 8-page ebook and have done with it. The writing of books has been said to end relationships, marriages and day jobs, and drives some writers to drinking and other intoxicants.

Let’s hope your authoring career isn’t so dramatic, but writing a book is often a thankless task. Don’t do it because it’s “cool” or seems romantic. If you’re lucky, your book won’t be remaindered in the discount bins of a big chain bookstore. The publishing industry real is a game of averages. For every big-name author, there are literally hundreds who are relegated to obscurity.

Some things to consider:

1. It’s easy to plan and propose a book, but actually completing the book can be a considerable emotional effort. It’s more likely that a fiction author will go through emotional hurdles, but it happens to non-fiction authors as well.
2. You need to pace the workload. If you have X days to complete a rough draft and Y pages to write, then you need to average Y/X pages per day. But don’t get hung up on the exact number of pages written per day. If you’re concerned, keep a log but judge your productively weekly rather than daily.
3. Take breaks regularly, reward yourself for daily milestones. I used to go to the theater and watch an afternoon movie, or jump on the bus to eavesdrop on conversations.
4. It’s important to actually get away from your writing environment at least once a day. Having a clear head is more valuable than spending hours on end getting nowhere. I found that I could spend 4-6 hours writing, break for 2-4 hrs, then spend 4-6 more in writing and get just as much done in 8-12 hrs total per day as spending 16 hrs straight being miserable and unproductive.
5. Depending on the “value” of your book, as assigned by the publisher, you might get to do a signing circuit. This can be either good or bad, depending on the schedule and whether you can afford to take the time off. Make sure you negotiate these sorts of things before you sign a book contract.

Ultimately though, if you can handle all the cons, there are the positives of being an author, which include gaining professional respect that can be leveraged into ROI later. What your Return on Investment is will depend on you, what you do, and how you leverage your effort. It could be the opportunity to produce “premium content” marketed online, such as ebooks, books on demand, and podcasts or video workshops packaged on DVD. This is where being an author in this Internet Age can be lucrative.

How Big Bookstore Chains Affect Author Income

When all those big bookstore chains started popping up everywhere in early 90s, I cringed. As a reader, it’s great to be able to find favorite/ new books at a discount. As a writer, big chains are a nemesis stealing your royalties. Because they can, big bookstore chains demand 30-50% discounts on the cover price of books. That was mostly unheard of pre-1990s, to the best of my knowledge.

Here’s the impact by example. The first Editor I mentioned above said that computer programming book advance royalties could be anywhere from $15-30,000 per book, with 1-2 book contracts per year. The second Editor was reluctant but I managed to negotiate a $5K advance.

In other words, what was once a nice way to either supplement income or even live on is now impossible for most writers in this niche. This is mostly due to book chains, but also to the very short shelf-life as a result of the freely available information online. Computer book publishers often also use teams of 2-10 writers per book, to optimally use the reduced shelf-life of their books. That means it’s even harder to make a living as solely an author.

Now that’s not to say all niches suffer this, but the existence of big book chains will most definitely affect the advances paid out for authors of any genre, unless you are someone special. Despite what Sesame Street might have taught you, we are not all special.

Planning and Proposing a Book/ Content Package

Despite the downsides mentioned above, authors today have a greater opportunity to promote themselves, thanks to the Web and especially the blogosphere, as well as the relative ease of producing rich media content.

When you plan your next book project, don’t think like an author. Think like the Editor and his/her boss, the Publisher. They’ll be thinking of all the channels in which they can leverage your content so that it earns back at least its production costs, and the advance on future royalties paid to you. What other content can you offer them, besides the book, as part of a package? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Blog posts to promote the book, and keep in touch with potential and actual readers.
2. The use of Twitter.com, Plurk.com or similar services to announce book-related events.
3. Supplementary ebooks (paid) or ebook teasers (free).
4. Video screencasts, if suitable.
5. A daily, weekly or monthly podcast. The podcast doesn’t have to be book-specific. The idea is to establish and maintain your online presence.
6. Hybrid podcast/ video /screencast content, if it suits your niche.
7. Workshops, lectures, talks.
8. Any other premium content, including “decks” of cards, journals, DVDs.

Much of this additional content can be monetized, if there’s a market, and offers some value/ feature over similar free content.

As for the actual planning of a book, such information could take up an entire blog post or three. Instead, I recommend two excellent resources. One is Mary Jaksch’s guide to writing and publishing an ebook, a guest post on Darren Rowse’s Problogger. The other is Roger Parker‘s hour-long screencast about his mind mapping approach on planning, writing, promoting and profiting from a book. The Parker post has a “register” link at the bottom. Fill out the form and you’ll be given access to the screencast. (Warning: a friend reported that he couldn’t view the screencast on his Mac computer.)

Final Thoughts

Someone once said that you have a lifetime to produce your first creative project (e.g., music, book) but only a year or two to produce your next one. Still, I’m inclined to believe that if you know what you are writing, the second book is likely to be less effort mentally and emotionally than your first. By that logic, all subsequent books should be even easier to produce.

If you manage the first, and choose a suitable package of content to offer with a book/ ebook, you could very likely have a lucrative career as an author. If you’re tentative about it, start with some small ebook projects while building other skills.

What’s your take?

Raj Dash

******

About The Author: Raj Kumar Dash is a long-time freelancer/ web consultant, an experienced and published writer, a published author, former print magazine publisher, retired programmer, hobby composer and short story writer, and aspiring filmmaker and screenwriter.

Currently he is a contributor to FreelanceSwitch and FreelanceFolder.

image in this post: 0olong

Related posts:

1. The Packaged Freelance Writer: 6 Non-Text Forms of Content to Offer Clients
2. Interview With Raj Dash – Writer, ProBlogger, Freelancer