For most of my life, I thought I was a writer. What I didn’t realize was that I was a salesman. This is the kind of life-changing realization that can really only happen to salesmen. Or writers, maybe.
This is the beginning of a new venture for me. Follow it on Tumblr and soon enough everywhere else.
It’s from 2008, just after the book was published:
No Chinook by K. Sawyer Paul is a touching and beautifully written novel. I loved the main character of this story because I identified with him. I really enjoyed following Scott on his journey of self-discovery. This novel is filled with interesting and well-developed secondary characters as well. The author’s witty use of dialogue and powerful descriptions drew me in from the beginning. The plot is captivating and has plenty of surprises. I think everyone will find a little bit of themselves in this story, I certainly did.
Apparently No Chinook book has been up since last November. I had absolutely no idea, but it turns out Goodreads is one of the places Smashwords distributes its collection (which explains why it says they published it). It would be awesome if all my friends on Goodreader gave it a rating of some kind.
Everything We Haven’t Lost is also there, and it’s under “Kyle Paul,” even though at the time I was going by “Kyle David Paul,” and I’ve been going by “K Sawyer Paul” since 2006, which is before Goodreads existed.
My book of short stories that I published in 2005 is available on Amazon from a reseller for $101.74.
Look, I like the book, but it’s definitely not worth that kind of money.
Writing a Book in the Age of Electronic Ink.
I’m writing the article largely on paper (which makes it ironic), but with an electronic pen that captures everything I write and syncs it to my desktop, (which brings it right back). I’ve been wanting to write this essay for the better part of two years, but there were always these novels in the way. So here we go.
This week was the first time I ever had the “money” conversation when it came to my own writing. A friend asked me how much I actually made from my books, with the assumption that it was definitely funding a large part of my existence. I replied with, “It’s barely cupcake money.”
The truth is that the vast, vast majority of Canadian (and, arguably, worldwide) authors never make enough money writing to justify quitting a day job. I certainly don’t. I couldn’t even pay for all the coffee I drink in a year with what I make selling books. The reason I used “cupcakes” as an example is, well, how many cupcakes do you have in a year? I think I have about 10. Maybe that makes me a glutton, I don’t know, but what I make in books would barely cover cupcake costs. But that’s okay, because since I got into this business of writing I’ve accepted the reverse-passion philosophy of emotional passion VS financial reimbursement.
I’m really terrible at creative graphs, but the basic idea is that the more emotional passion you put into a project, the less financial gain you’re likely to receive. Inversely, the less emotional passion you use, the higher your chances of making lots of money. Now, in many cases this isn’t true. Passionate bankers will often make lots of money doing what they love. Passionate construction workers will definitely bring home the bacon. But artists, and writers especially have an incredibly hard time doing that.
So we do other things. I don’t know a single writer who doesn’t have multiple jobs. Many of us work in publishing, where we edit or typeset or proofread or ship books back and forth cities in giant trucks. That’s great. Many more of us work entirely non-related jobs, where we really aren’t fuelled by emotional drive but by the desire to get home and spend the evening with our true loves: writing, our families, and our other hobbies that help us procrastinate from writing. That’s okay. It’s all okay. There is no wrong way to be a writer. Well, you could stop writing. But then you’re just not a writer. And that’s okay too. The world isn’t going to stop turning just because you didn’t finish your opus, just because you decided to get on with your life.
It can be disparaging to think that no matter how hard you work at your craft you might never reach the promised land of getting to do this for a living. For me, I got over it by thinking like how I’ve described: my writing brings home the cupcake money, and I’m fine with that. I love what I do. That’s all that matters to me. I think the faster we all become satisfied with what our writing brings us, the faster we’ll all become happier members of society.
Also, stop fretting about the book industry. It’s fine.
My new Mac Mini is chugging along really nicely. I’m still amazed they fit such a robust computer in that tiny chassis, although it becomes believable once you realize they fit that same computer into a smaller laptop. I have it up on a laptop stand, and it sort of looks like an AT-AT.
I’ve added two pretty major clients to my typesetting work this month. Very excited to be working with these businesses. As always, my door is open.
I’m so proud of Kirsten Bedard and Alissa Santiago, Gredunza Press’ first authors, who are both launching their books in the next two weeks.
Largely due to James Caldwell’s suggestions, I’m moving Gredunza Press over to Wordpress. The options are really crazy robust, and I feel I’ve upgraded my skills by a considerable margin in the last year and can actually handle hosting one of these crazy things now. I’ve gone with A2 hosting, which was really affordable and seems limitless. I think I can finally retire Rapidweaver and iWeb as my lite-website makers of choice. It won’t be up right away, but it’s going to look great when it’s done.
Custom limited edition bookmarks using awesome paper from the Japanese Paper Place, handmade by Gredunza Press editor Eisee Sylvester.
Limited run, available only at the On Stand By book launch, Thursday July 22. RSVP @ onstandby.eventbrite.com/
The New Job of Being a Creative Writer.
This talk was given by Gredunza Press to a small group a few weeks ago, and is now available in full for your listening pleasure. It’ll be up on the podcast soon, too.
