Making a Living as a Writer: Invaluable Tips from the MacGregor Literary Marketing Seminar

Okay, so last weekend I had the privilege of attending the annual MacLit Marketing seminar in Chicago. It was one day packet full of invaluable and applicable wisdom and I’ll do my best to post the highlights of my takeaway.

First:

If you want to make money as a writer, view your writing as a job, not just a hobby. 

Chip provided an example of a famous writer, I believe it was Cec Murphy, ((CORRECTION: TOM WOLFE)) who literally woke up early every day, put on a three piece suit, left his house, walked to the end of the drive way, turned around, went back inside and sat in his office to write. He would break for lunch and end at the same time every day. It was a priority. It was his job. And he took it seriously. He didn’t just lounge around in his jammies and wait for inspiration to strike. (How many of you know how well that works out!) But he put action to his dreams. Now it doesn’t have to be this regimented, especially for those who require less discipline. But this illustration really resonated with me. Whether part-time or full-time, give your craft the dedication it needs to thrive.

Second:

Start a writing calendar and a writing budget calendar.

Stay on track, establish a routine. In other words, be intentional. Make a plan. Which days can you dedicate to writing, which hours? If you think you’ll just fit it in, you’ll lose ground. And for the budget, if your goal is to make X amount of dollars a year to justify your time spent writing, how many books do you need to write that year to achieve that goal? How many months does it take you to write that book? Crunch the numbers. If you can assign a dollar amount to your weeks or even hours, you’ll start to see the value of your words and the time spent hunched over your art. And your progress will translate into building a career and a livelihood, not just penning a nice story in your spare time.

Third:

Determine your definition of success.

We don’t (and won’t) all need to be New York Time Bestsellers to reach our goals in writing. Our stories

can make an impact on a smaller scale and still serve their purpose. In order to gauge if you are making it as a writer, first decide what it is you need to accomplish to be a success. Maybe you just want to get published. Stay published. Maybe you’d like to hit a certain marker financially, or be able to quit your day job. If it’s not about money, what will help you feel successful in your endeavor? Defining this for yourself can make all the difference in how you view your writing. Your worth. And the cost of your time away from your family and other responsibilities.

Fourth:

No one can market your book like YOU can!

Dedicate two half days a week (dispersed however you like) on marketing. Even before you have a book that might mean blogging, social media interactions (be careful with this one—time suck), researching your audience and where you can reach them, doing reviews, or guest posts ect. The days of the reclusive writer holing up in a lakeside cabin and cranking out bestsellers are gone. With the internet and all the social media connection it is easier than ever to reach your readership. Easier than ever to find your target market. Do the leg work. Pound the pavement. It will pay off.

 

Fifth:

Have a three-legged stool.

If you want writing to be your bread and butter try to have several sources of writing income. For example, in addition to writing your trade length novels, self-publish some novellas that branch off from your stories. Write articles. Visit blogs. The smartest way to make a living with this is to broaden your horizons and have multiple sources of income. Put it on your budget calendar. You get your quarterly advance, you’ll make say...roughly $300 for each article you put out, how much more do you need to sustain a living? Crank out those extra e-books to bridge the gap. Provide an editing service. Schedule a speaking engagement. Get creative. We know it’s in there!

Okay, so those are a few nibbles to get you started. I know it sounds busy, but as much as we have agents helping us plan our careers, and we are at the mercy of the publishers to see our potential, YOU have the power to make or break your success. Decide what your goals are and ….Get crackin’!

Check out Chip's blog for other great tips! here

What marketing ventures have proven successful for you? And how do you measure success in your writing, or in life?

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Amy Leigh Simpson writes Romantic Suspense that is heavy on the romance, unapologetically honest, laced with sass and humor, and full of the unfathomable Grace of God. She is the completely sleep deprived mama to two little tow-headed mischief makers and wife to her very own swoon-worthy hero. Represented by the oh-so-wise and dashing Chip MacGregor of MacGregor Literary Inc.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams…

Is this where you are? Have you been here?

Has the past taught you to dream big . . . or dream safe?

I feel like for many of us, and even some of the best and most passionate writers I have ever had the pleasure to know, we cut ourselves off at the knees. We let doubt and fear and those pesky little odds and insecurities creep in and derail our dream. Have you? Have you been wondering, after those rejections come back to chip away at you . . . am I fooling myself? Wasting my time? Will my words ever see print?

For most of my life I didn't dream of becoming a best-selling novelist. I didn't even dream of becoming a writer. I was a singer. And that dream, for so long, was completely tangled up with my identity. In some ways, it will always be a part of who I am. But, my life without pursuing music . . .

 

Is it devastating? Void? Am I itching with every stalled note in my chest to stand before a crowd and pour out my song? Am I heartbroken?

No. I love music. Love to sing and worship and belt and harmonize. I LOVE it. But that dream of my youth dwindled and found its place in the real world.

Now I have a new dream... Isn't it great how, at any point in time, God can birth something new in you? He can expose a passion you didn't even know existed. I write. Not only because I love it. Because I do. I also love music. And running. And baking. But the simple truth is, I simply can’t not write! So this is my dream. And for however long it’s mine to hold, I’m gonna make it BIG!

Let’s face it… dreams can be brutal. I mean, can you imagine how foolish some of the greatest minds in the world must have felt… failing time and again? Having people ridicule them for their ludicrous theories and ideas. But imagine what we would be missing if they listened to the wrong critic... if they let go too soon.

On the other end…

A hard truth of life is that sometimes dreams don’t come true.

But maybe we just haven’t found the dream that God has for us. And whether it’s writing, or something else, you've just got to trust that the one who gave you those dreams will help you see when to hold them tight… fight with everything you have, get beaten down a hundred times before you see that beautiful thing take off into greatness.

Or... trust Him to know when to let go of those lovely detours, or maybe just see them for what they are, and find what you were meant to do.

Don’t hide your dreams in a safe place. Don't let the enemy steal something that is meant to be yours. Be bold. TRUST that the one who knows the desires of your heart has a great plan for the right dream. The right spouse. The right job. The right house. The right future. HIS way.

I’d love to hear from you…Have you ever wanted something that, in hindsight, you’re grateful you didn't get? Do you have any dreams that have carried on from your childhood? Have they changed? And how do you stay encouraged when your dream feels like a sinking ship?

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Amy Leigh Simpson writes Romantic Suspense that is heavy on the romance, unapologetically honest, laced with sass and humor, and full of the unfathomable Grace of God. She is the completely sleep deprived mama to two little mischief makers and would challenge anyone to a cutest family contest. Represented by Chip MacGregor of MacGregor Literary Inc.

The Reasons We Write

We all have reasons we write, but are they the right reasons?

See what I did there? Okay, tongue twisters aside, today I want to challenge you to some introspection. Let me use myself as an example. The past week or so, the current stage of my writing career has become increasingly clear to me. My manuscript is being reviewed by a couple different publishers I have an uber amount of respect for, and in December, I had a really good perspective about that. Pray about it, be at peace. I trusted that I had spent months crafting this proposal, and that God would lead me and my stories where He would have me. Then for whatever reason, the reality started to dawn on me now that it's January. The possibility of hearing back from publishers is becoming more of a reality. What had been so easy to trust God with suddenly became much more challenging.

Up until now, my approach has been to keep writing and crafting stories until one of them sticks. My philosophy has been that if a traditional publisher is not interested in my manuscript, I am not yet ready for a readership. Now I know that's not necessarily true for everyone, especially genres that are a hard sell in CBA, I have felt like it's true for me. I know God has called me to be a writer. Otherwise I never would have found the courage to follow this dream. So I've sort of always assumed there's a reason for that calling, and the reason is that someday I'll have readers. :) And I really, really hope that is true. I mean, really hope that is true.

But here's the thing. I had this ah-ha moment Sunday morning. At some point, I have conflated the idea of writing books out of obedience God's calling with the idea of someday being a "successful" author. Now, I don't think there's anything wrong with dreaming about touching readers' lives, or even being on a bestseller list. These are normal dreams. But the thing is, they are not the same as our calling. The Bible says our calling is "sure." Solid. Stable. Reliable. True. Can I say the same thing about someday hitting the NYT Bestseller List? Simply put, no.

If we aren't careful, traditional ideas of success come to mesh with our confidence in our purpose, so that good news makes us feel assured of our calling and bad news makes us doubt it. Oh, how easy it is to fall into this trap. But friends, we must guard our hearts against this impulse. God is always, always on our side, assuring us onward to complete this task He has put before us. His whispers to our dreams, His guidance, His love is all we can be assured of, but it's also all we need.

Being published does not mean you will be assured of God's purpose in your life.

Likewise, being unpublished does not mean you are doing something "wrong," necessarily.

Success in the eyes of the world, while nice-feeling, is not the same as success in God's eyes. Consider the woman who cleans bathrooms for a living and hums songs of praise under her breath, then consider the business executive who is rude to a child on the way to a meeting. These are extreme examples, but they illustrate the point. For us as writers, it is all-too-easy to consider publishing the ear marker of whether or not we've "made it." But that's really such an illusion. I'll venture to bet that even after we someday get published, we will still battle against feelings of fear and insufficiency, only with different stakes.

And here's where it gets hard. Here is the question I came to on Sunday, and I think it's the only way to really challenge yourself to a true answer about the state of your heart.

If this book gets rejected--if I write another dozen books and they all get rejected--what will keep me going? If I never do get to hold a copy of my own book in my hands, will I grow discouraged enough that I just stop trying?

Suddenly the answer became strikingly clear to me. No, I will not stop writing. Do I want to have a published book? Absolutely. Do I want to be able to tell people I'm an "author" instead of someone whose books are only on Microsoft Word? Yes. Do I feel discouraged when challenges prevent movement into the next stages of my writing career? You bet.

But at the end of the day, these things do not define my calling, and thus, they do not and can not sustain me. These traditional considerations of what defines success are dangerous. There will always be another step and an ever-lurking step of failure. The only way you can escape the discouragement and pressure that comes from these challenges is to cast your perception of success in another place, and really, that place is much more beautiful anyway, tailored for you. The call of God upon your life.

If you're struggling with silence or harsh critiques, I want to encourage you today that these things do not define you or your writing. The only One with that power is the One who has authored your story. He has a plan for each of your days, and He has been leading you all along. Don't give up hope. Don't give up faith. Don't give up your dreams.

Have you ever struggled with feelings of inadequacy? How do you shift your focus to a higher calling?

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Ashley Clark writes romance with southern grace. She's dreamed of being a writer ever since the thumbprint-cookie-days of library story hour. Ashley has an M.A. in English and enjoys teaching literature courses at her local university. She's an active member of ACFW and runs their newcomer's loop. When she's not writing, Ashley's usually busy rescuing stray animals and finding charming new towns. You can find Ashley on her personal blog, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. She is represented by Karen Solem.