Life is funny how it can throw you some fantastic dilemmas. In comparison to many people my dilemma isn't that bad, in fact it is lovely. The question is: do I or don't I commit career suicide? For those who follow my blogs, you will be aware that I usually work as a business analyst and innovator and then in my spare time enjoy writing books and blogs. The books are my creative release, so they will continue being written because writing is a compulsion. I can't not do it.
So here is the dilemma:
I have taken the opportunity for redundancy - great. Now the world is now full of possibility. I finished work last week and this week I have been invited to return to cruise ships to work on board in a writing capacity. It sounds fantastic; however, it will involve working ten hour days, seven days a week for four months in a row. What's more the money isn't very good. I can cover my mortgage and live relatively frugally and circumnavigate the world. The thing with writing all the time is that you don't have a lot left for your own creative writing. Of course everything on board is taken care of. I have worked on ships for years previously and enjoyed it. The reason I returned to 'real life' was because one of the ships I was working on almost sunk in Antarctica. That potential catastrophe made me re-evaluate existence and return to land to live a 'safe-ish' life. Of course the week I returned I managed to cycle in a swarm of twenty thousand bees. Yep! That is apparently the safe life! Over the last twelve years I have to admit writing became my escape from the mundane and boredom of corporate culture.
Taking to the seas again provides wonderful potential for adventure while working in a creative writing capacity. It seems like a wonderful dream; although the reality of being on board is entirely different. At the same day I have been approached to work in Germany for 5 months as a business analyst earning huge money using my skills as a business analyst, innovator and project manager. Following that I was then called up and asked by a company to work in London on a huge innovation financial project - big money and lots of stress. Finally another local project role approached - easy to get to and could be a little dull. Isn't it nice to be in demand... Of course I am still waiting for the right one to land and nothing is definite yet. Of course these sequence of events got me thinking and asking questions. The thing is this is life and what do you want to say when you are on your death-bed: yes I earned loads of money or I experienced every day fully and saw the world? I am lucky because I am free to follow any route because I have no commitments. That is why I am so tempted to commit the career suicide and just go and travel again. The inspiration, the potential blogs and the idea of the experience thrills me. The thing is when you work four months on and two months off you can focus completely on writing during your leave time... So you may not think this is a dilemma, the thing is by stepping away from business analysis is like committing career suicide. By not living fully one is committing another type of spiritual death.
In addition to all of this, Elora, The One-Winged Fairy - The Last Baby Giggle has completed audio production by Lisa Hicks and is in its evaluation and approval phase. So that is exciting and I have been having a strong desire to write the follow up to Money Farm (the brave new world of finance). You know what? It is as if the universe has taken a laxative... So the question is what would you do? Commit career suicide or follow the path of financial increase combined with the mundane?
When any form of financial crisis develops you recognise the importance of establishing multiple incomes. The reason I mention this is the uncertainty that has come from the whole Brexit situation. I have noticed a general consensus of un-ease and people curbing their spending in the environment I work within. Hang on... Work? You're an author aren't you? Well I am and I freely admit that I don't just work as an author. I also work in a large corporation in the capacity of business analyst, social media team leader and a project leader. In fact, whatever the corporation can do to use the skills available then it will. In addition, I worked as a photographer for eighteen years and submitted work to photo-banks and finally I worked as a creative writing lecturer for evening classes. You may wonder why on earth I did all of that. Well I have always been a firm believer in being able to support yourself. There will always be crisis, financial ups and downs and times when you want to sit back and enjoy. Yes there is more to life than money; however, money enables you the freedom to enjoy ]'the more to life.'
After watching the markets this week, I wondered about people and their incomes and their spends. So many people put their money on credit cards in the hope of better times. The way I see it is the best time is now. Times do change; however, facing your finances, modulating your income and being inventive in establishing multiple ways to generate income can become a pleasure. I know people that have foreign students who study English stay in their house. Others allow people to stay in their spare rooms or park on their drives. There are so many ways to generate incomes yet so many individuals become fixed in their financial beliefs and consider only one option. Consider how money can be made on Ebay, it can be made by writing, not just books but articles. Art works, web designs even speaking can all generate incomes and those incomes can be funnelled into paying off mortgages, generating rainy day fund and paying off debt. There are so many ways to make money, it is just a case of putting your mind to it.
I know this is obvious, yet when I speak to people about multiple incomes they say that I am lucky. No it is not luck, it is a decision. You make a decisive decision to determine additional ways to make income and action it. Consider how many hours people sit inanely in front of the television. One of those evenings could be spent generating extra income. That little bit of extra money generated over ten years makes for a sizeable sum.
Over the years I have read plenty of books on the money making subject such as The Rules of Wealth, The Richest Man in Babylon, The Automatic Millionaire, The Four Hour Working Week and Think and Grow Rich - to name but a few. The thing is one can make learning how to make money a hobby and the by-product is moving towards financial freedom. There aren't many hobbies that enable that are there?
So my Five Benefits of Multiple Incomes are:
Being able to have money to play with, for rainy days and general reserves.
Being able to pay off debt quicker and save quicker.
Not relying on one income when the job market is unstable.
Learning that money making can be fun, learning adaptable skills and money making skills.
Money dictates your tolerance level and reliance on a job. When you have multiple incomes if something annoys you then you have the power to say 'stuff it'.
5 of 5 starsA brilliant, well-written, compelling read.11 Jun. 2016
By LMS#YOM - Published on Amazon.com
This is a fascinating and powerful book that delves into the workings of financial institutions perfectly. After a lot of soul searching and personal debate the main character, Gillian, joins M.O.N.E.Y but then she quickly realises what a cult-like existence it is. Gillian bears witness to the extreme pressure to fit in and become part of the clique, but does she really want to conform? The challenges and demands put upon the ‘chosen’ ones to constantly improve and achieve their optimum is intense. The deceptive tactics used are all a part of M.O.N.E.Y’s control, but then comes the devastating feeling of being owned. Is it all too much for Gillian? Will she survive M.O.N.E.Y? A brilliant, well-written, compelling read.
When people hear that I am an author they asked me if I am
'properly published'. In this day and age that question actually makes me laugh.
What is it that makes people believe that if you don’t have a huge publisher
behind you then you are not a real author? Erm let’s look at the likes of
Amanda Hocking and E.L. James. Did they have ‘proper’ publishers behind them
when they started out? Erm no. It was word of mouth that sold their work and
then the publishers heard of them. Their sales demonstrated they were 'worthy'. So with the question are you properly
published in mind: I would like to tell you what no one tells you about self-publishing
and actually why self-publishing is so beneficial.
Once upon a time... I started writing with conviction. Actually it was around fifteen years ago
and at the time I was naïve in my aspirations. I thought you sent a nice friendly
letter to a publisher about an idea and they would reply really quickly with 'wow that is a good idea' and instantly
offered a book deal. Yep I was wrong. Instead I learned the art of being
rejected. It is quite a humbling experience to receive endless rejection letters. It is more fun to burn them. Rejection could stop many people and cause them give up because they think – you know what people think my writing is shit! I thought if my writing was shit then it is actually quite amusing really to want to keep writing. The thing is I was
compelled to write. I just couldn’t help it. It was something that kept coming
and coming. I liken it to vomiting. You just can’t hold it in… It has to come
out! I then came to conclusion that REJECTION IS NOT FAILURE IT IS RE-DIRECTION.
Over the next year I took a different tactic - I
learned that you send to agents. So I sent to agents and a couple of times I
was in the running for representation only to be dropped for someone who had
been recommended by a friend. Nepotism and recommendations was the way forward.
So I learned the best way to ‘befriend’ and attended literary events and fairs.
While at one literary event, and after sculpting a double-helix structure from
cocktail sausages, I was taken on instantly by an agent. However, they had
spotted my artistic talent rather than my literary talents, he represented my
photography. At the time I wish I had sculpted the equivalent in literature. I
guess I could have chewed up my manuscript and made a paper-gobby-mush sculpture of
a squirrel or the like to capture attention. Anyway after being rejected more
than one hundred times I came to the conclusion that I must have been deluded.
Something in my writing must have been causing rejection – so I had my work
evaluated by a ‘professional’ service. At the same time I was offered a place
on a Master’s degree in creative writing. The Masters people told me
I had talent and that I was destined for great things. Great, until a series of
events stopped me being able to take the course. After that I came to the
conclusion that there had to be a better way. So I met an editor in real life
and a series of circumstances resulted in meeting my proof-reader who works for ‘real’
publishers. I came to the conclusion that it was time to go it alone and do
things my way… You know that blooming song…MYYYYYYY WAYYYYYYYYYYY! which is often accompanied by another ‘I get knocked
down but I get up again…’ Rocky would have real competition if this was boxing
and not writing.
After forming my own team, I began to self-publish. The
first attempts were okay; however, there was a real learning in formatting and
designing book covers. The biggest learning is providing absolute quality. My
proof-reader is a professional who advised me there are always details missed
in any book. When she works with the big publishers she finds mistakes in books
that are already on the shelves… The thing is everyone is human and everyone
has a certain attention span. With this in mind, it is really worth focusing on
quality and making sure you have grammatical geniuses read your books. There is always that pedantic aunt who was a secretary... Or that uncle that spouts Latin. If you can get them involved great, although, if you are writing erotica... actually who cares. If they can spot a grammatical error amongst eroticism then they are on your journey for the long-term!
Now it is time to publish and discover Kindle or one of the other platforms. Make a great cover, filled with refined content and hit PUBLISH!!! YEY! Once you have self-published your book, I guess you might be
sitting rubbing your hands together expecting the New York Times to call. The
reality is that thousands of people are releasing self-published books each
day. Unfortunately each self-published book sits amongst a crowd of other
self-published books. In addition, you are competing against published authors
who are listed before you. So how do you compete against million pound/dollar marketing
campaigns and a crowd of other authors? This is where you need to find your own
unique way and your own unique voice.
What no one tells you is that you are going to have to learn how to market yourself!
This is it – it is time to make yourself into a brand. That brand
has to be such that people are impressed by it. The thing with brands is they
have an identity and my advice, whether you choose to take it, is to be
absolutely authentic. You will never be able to please everyone and you will
definitely discover there are some right dickheads out there. Some of those
dickheads purposely go and put one star reviews on new author books (that is
something that no one ever tells you or prepares you for).
In addition, there
are the vultures… These are the people who are sitting up in the tree watching
you flail away to literary death. They then want to come and pick off the
bones. This analogy comes from all those people who will offer you their
services. There are promoters, marketing people and…. so many others who are all ready to take your money. My friend, who is an
author, learned the hard way. She invested in paying people to market her and
nothing came from it… In the end she used friends to recommend her to a
literary agent and that was her way forwards…
That was not my way forwards because I am a little bit headstrong and can write and write… I
also work with trending analysis, social media and business. While doing that I
was also teaching creative writing classes. I like to be busy and teach creative writing was a joy. What'smore, I had written numerous books including
LOVE HUNT 1 & 2 and my most powerful book MONEY FARM. They were selling at a steady pace, so
I felt that I had the right to teach what I had already learned. That is quite lucky really. By teaching you certainly have the chance to evaluate and look at new angles.
So, with my
business head on, I considered what was it that people needed or wanted? I then
wrote books that filled those gaps – one of them was A Short Course in Creative
Writing. That was written because my students asked me to write it. I then had
that turned into audio so that people could be prompted and write. Guess what?
That sold and sold well. Guess how I sold it? I advised students that I had put
the whole ten week course onto audio so they could download it. Guess what
happened? They told their friends and they told their writing friends. Word of mouth again!
So what else does no one tell you?
If you want to make money from writing then write what people need. That is entrepreneurialism.
The thing is sometimes there is no fun in that. Admittedly I loved writing the creative writing book because I could imagine students sitting and developing their writing with a teacher at their side whenever they needed it. I likened it to an 'on call' audio teacher. That made me feel nice. Although we write because we have other aspects to express too...
After understanding how to initiate word of mouth I thought: I know, I am going to
get a little bit cocky… I want to see if I write the books that I want to write
then can I create the market? I was applying the theory of post-modernism. What
did I want to write? Some short fun kids’ books. So I wrote The Hairy-Legged Mystery. That was
quickly followed by Tingle Dingle and The Little Mischiefs. Now, there is
nothing like a bedtime story being read to you. Yet sometimes parents don’t
feel like reading. So I thought – actually why not have it made into audio too?
That way the story can be read aloud and the parents can be present while it is
being read. Also the story can be stored on the phone and played on car
journeys. It just made sense to me. So I posted the books on ACX.COM (this is a
place where authors can invite audio producers to produce their work) and both
were picked up. The books were produced and went on sale on Audible and ITunes.
What no one tells you: how easy it is to get your book produced
professionally on audio! Those books began to sell due to a few blogs, a number
of tweets and a being lucky enough to have attracted a producer who works with
children as a ‘reader’ of books. I could
go on and on but I won’t. So this is what I have learned about self-publishing that
no-one tells you:
·There are loads of people who want to make money
from vulnerable authors. There are vanity companies, book promotional companies
and agencies all looking for you to pay them to validate you. I say steer
clear! None of my author friends have achieved anything that way.
·Before you do anything test you work on people
who are honest. None of the ‘nice’ friends. It is better to find out where you are
going wrong or right. Also remember everyone has an opinion and you will have
to learn discernment of opinion. That is a huge learning in itself.
·Find yourself a good editor and proof-reader to
make your books the highest quality.
·The truth is you are going to have to spend some
money if you want to create quality.
·Decide on being in the spotlight or anonymity. I went for the
latter because I would rather not be accosted in a supermarket or toilet (I had that happen when I won a big award for photography – it seriously put me off being recognised. Imagine a head poking under the toilet cubicle door to ask you a question... Oh yes!)
·Build yourself a brand. Look at the people you
like and look at what works. Decide what makes you special and build your brand
accordingly.
·Marketing – promote your books. There needs to be time and effort put into this. Ask friends to
tell friends. Post that you have published on Facebook. Write a blog. Make a
film. Do what your gut tells you to do but do intend to tell as many people as
possible. Pod casting and YouTube enable people to engage with you. The strange
thing is when people like you they buy your books. Weird eh?
·Publishers are looking for easy sales. If a book
establishes itself on a market then the publishers will come to you. At this
point you then get to ask yourself the question – do you stay indie? After
doing all that work and going on that journey – why do you actually need a
publisher and an agent? My answer is negotiation. However, there is a benefit
of doing it your way and that is no pressure. You can write. Release. Repeat.
That is liberating and seems to be a remedy to writer’s block! To be in this position is a beautiful thing...
·Finally write your next book and the next and
love the writing. If it sells great. If it doesn’t it is not failure. The fact
that you hatched an imagined idea into reality is success in itself. The truth
is writing will take you on a blooming journey – much like a narrative. The
monster in your narrative are the parts of your self – the self-doubt, the
inner critic and the idealist. Everyone wants their book to touch another’s
soul… Yet it might not. The biggest thing that no one ever told me is that the
purest pleasure is in the creation… You may sell a lot of books; however, the joy really is in being in that creative space and imagining as the words flow onto the page. I hope this inspires you… Go for it my
literary friend because there are seven billion people in this world and a
large enough market for everyone…
You can find my books at the following link: Ruby Allure books on Audible:
I am very lucky because I have a friend who is quite brilliant. This friend managed to simply accumulate wealth. She does not have to try... Money quite literally gravitates to her. It is amazing. The thing is, because she is removed from the wasted mental energy needed to pay bills and make ends meet, she provides some fantastic insights. Last night's insight was about why we do things. What is our motivation? How does that motivation change as we mature?
Admittedly we have both matured in the last ten years. The way we approach things have changed dramatically. She has watched my writing journey with amusement. In the beginning there were heady ideals and great aspirations which gradually whittled away to become the purity of creation. My delusional ideals were quite hilarious now when I look back; however, they are what drove me to write daily. They motivated me to create discipline and conquer the inner critic, the inner saboteur and the deluded grandiose egotism that demanded that I prove to the world that I was special. I now write anonymously because I have no desire to be known. That is quite a reverse of the dream of standing in the spotlight!
On my journey I realised that I knew less than I thought, that ego was a dick and that actually the outcome is nothing in comparison to the beauty of being immersed in creativity. For me creativity is like being suspended in this beautiful light space where everything is possible. It is a space filled with magic, dreams, laughter and manifestation. I love it there. It has fairies, mythological creatures and all manner of hero waiting to take part in adventures. All the pieces of the puzzle are suspended in all directions and it my job to waft around the creative realm pulling all the pieces together into an adventurous narrative.
Over the years I must have written about forty books. Not bad going. I think about twelve are on the market, the thing is I actually stopped caring about the market, the acclaim or money. I have a good job which takes the pressure off the writing. The funny thing is when you stop caring about money or acclaim they come to you... What I have learned is there is a sense of privilege in being able to provide entertainment for others. There is a great feeling of gratitude in being given a creative idea that can run to completion and more than anything there is the true love of dreaming and imagining.
My friend then, in her own special way, pointed out creativity and writing was the opportunity to 'give' something of you to the world. That creativity is between you and your maker; however, once made you can share your creation with the world. That is why I publish the work - to share and to come to completion. Another great learning is that no one owes you anything, no one needs to read your work and no one owes you an income from what you create... This then leads people to the question then why create at all? THE ANSWER IS JOY AND THAT YOU ARE COMPELLED TO CREATE. Creativity has picked you to be the vessel to transmute an idea into reality. Isn't that a privilege?
This goes back to my friend and her insight: she arrived at a point in her life where she no longer needs to toil. Simplicity became the answer. She came to the conclusion after numerous successes that they meant nothing. The mastery comes from finding beauty in the mundane and when you master that then what do you need? It is funny how we both arrived at the same conclusion from very different paths. I was always competitive and taking part in sports competitions whilst writing books and climbing the career ladder. At the same time she set up businesses, developed property and had a family. Two very different paths but one conclusion - the joy is truly in the journey and learning to be authentic. By taking such paths we are open to learn who we truly are. At first we may aspire to be something or to have something. Yet the journey reveals us all the facets of self. During the journey we discover new pieces of the puzzle which can be slotted into the spaces that needed to be filled. During the journey we see our shadows and conquer our own dragons in search of the treasure. However, we are the treasure and yet we have looked outside for that validation. So with all that in mind, my approach is WRITE. PRODUCE. RELEASE. Today The Hairy Legged Mystery was released on audio. Fantastic job Lisa. Thanks for being the voice of the story! The amazing thing is that it already sells and I guess that is because I loved writing it. Those who have read it say they can feel the fun in it. What more can you want than that? People ask me about the money side of things - that is no longer the motivation - it is nice; however, the royalties become the by-product of the joy I felt in the creation. The value for me now is in creativity because ultimately money is a piece of paper with a stranger's face on that is used for exchange. Money is not the motivation the experience is and that is when things truly changed...
