2,078 words
11 minutes read time
Hello, hello, from the frozen north. You know it’s cold when you have to warm up your car so when you actually have to go somewhere it will start. Of course, you get bonus points if you can do that wearing flip-flops and shorts and a tank top. Only two more months of this business and then hopefully spring will come, though that’s never a guarantee. I was equally inspired and disheartened that so many Minnesotans had to demonstrate in this weather but it makes me proud to live here. I saw a picture of Minneapolis’s mayor and he’s not looking too good. I would imagine he hasn’t gotten much sleep since ICE came into the city. Stay safe and warm, y’all. No matter where you are.
For the past few days I’ve been busy listening to Wicked Games. I find so many missing words and typos that no matter how clean I think my manuscript is, this step will unfortunately be part of my editing process forever. I re-edited Captivated by Her between the last read-through and this listening pass, hoping to keep from getting too bored and zoning out while “Samantha” reads to me. When I’m done listening and I have it formatted, I’ll re-edit Addicted to Her, the second in that duet, while I wait for Wicked Games‘s proof to come. I never used to work on two things at once, but it helps keep my eyes fresh. It will still be a couple of months before Wicked Games is ready for ARCs and I have my duet’s new files uploaded to KDP, but I should be able to start writing my hockey duet this spring. If all goes well, I’ll be done writing them by the end of the year.
Lately I’ve been thinking about paywalls and what the point is. I mean, besides the fact that they make a creator money (and I truly believe certain content creators deserve to be paid). I’ve been scrolling Substack a lot, the reciprocal patting each other on the back and the “you got this” attitude amusing at times. It’s like LinkedIn Lite, where motivation is plenty but solutions to real issues are vague or hidden behind paid subscriptions. What’s really funny is that all I hear on Threads is “Be careful where you put your money” then I’m over on Substack where I could become a paid subscriber until I’m broke. I mean, being a writer with limited funds myself, I get it, the hustle is real, but I also blog and create content, and I guess I just don’t think I have the information or life experience worthy enough to pay for.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t people who do, such as publishing insiders like Kathleen Schmidt and Jane Friedman, or nonfiction writers like Claire Taylor and Becca Syme (if they have paid subscriptions), I’m sure have content worth the cost. But then I see other authors set up a paywall for things that might not be valuable to certain audiences . . . or at all. There’s an author who gives marketing advice behind a paywall, but he’s a trad author, so how would his marketing advice help me? Even if trad authors have to do most of their own marketing, he has distribution channels and connections that I can only dream of as an indie. I saw another author offering a branding class, but he hasn’t published in close to three years, so is his class worth the money? I won’t name these authors because I’ve gotten in trouble for that in the past, and honestly, what they think their experience is worth is their own business. It just makes me wonder how people determine what their words are worth and how everyone else determines if their words are worth the price.
A couple of years ago I tried putting a Ko-Fi link at the bottom of my posts, but it felt kind of icky and I stopped doing it. Every once in a while I’ll get an email or comment that asks if they can pay me or thanks me for not charging for the information I post. I don’t charge because I don’t think my experiences are that valuable. I can tell you what my life is like as an indie author who does everything herself, but that’s only valuable if what I’m doing is working. My .26 cents might impress someone, as it proves a reader saw one of my books and liked it enough to download it and start reading, but I have a hard time believing that my .26 cents is worth your .26 cents.
It’s just interesting to think about, and of course, that’s Substack’s whole reason for existing. They want you to make money so that they make money. That’s not so difficult to understand, but not just anyone has experience and information worth paying for. Not in my opinion, at least. Especially since a lot of what you need to know about the publishing industry is free somewhere. Even if that means stitching together bits and pieces of ten different blog posts to figure out what you need to know. And, I guess it doesn’t need to be said, but just because you pay doesn’t mean that information is correct, either. So, I’ve just been mulling that around. As a writer and an author, you’d hope that what you have to say is worth something, but there are a lot of writers and authors out there. Especially on Substack who are very eager to pat you on the back and tell you to keep going.
Yesterday I was checking my email and came across an email from James Blatch who pretty much took over the Self Publishing Formula after Mark Dawson’s fall from grace. I left Mark Dawson’s Facebook group a couple years ago when he was outed by someone on Reddit for plagiarizing. Mark stepped back from everything that was Self Publishing Formula related, including the podcast. It’s not that I really cared if Mark Dawson plagiarized. I mean, people make mistakes, blah blah, but the fact that he never publicly apologized for it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Authors get slammed for pithy “apologies” all the time, but even in that case, I’d think something would be better than nothing. So James took over the podcast, and then after a bit shut it down completely. He started up a new podcast with Cara Clare, and that lasted for a while, but in the email I got yesterday, James says she’s stepping back to focus more on writing. He says he’ll have another co-host on the Self Publishing Show, but I have a difficult time thinking that it will be Mark.
I really liked Mark and James’s podcast. They had a lot of informative interviews and their recorded intro, “There’s never been a better time to be a writer” always gave me chills. I don’t know if I’ll give the new podcast a chance. I like staying on top of the indie industry, and listening to a podcast while I did chores or ran errands was an easy way to do that, but Mark’s silence after the plagiarizing thing never sat well with me. Even just a “I’m learning, I’m listening” statement that authors issue when they’ve done something wrong and got caught, would have been better than the nothing he gave us. And, you know, I just kind of feel like he was such a prominent figure in the indie community that he really did us dirty just going underground. If you have the balls to do it, have the balls to own it and apologize.
If you’re interested in the podcast, you can find it here on YouTube or wherever you regularly listen: https://www.youtube.com/@LearnSelfPublishing
James describes the first comeback show as (taken from my email):
Episode 434 (Feb 12th) I will introduce my new co-host! A closely guarded secret until then.
From that episode onwards we’ll alternate between discussing the latest issues and taking your questions with guests. I don’t want to do the type of separately recorded interviews I used to, so guests will join us as a third wheel in a more casual environment. I want the Show to add value to your indie life. If there’s a subject or a guest you want to see, just drop me a line support@selfpublishingformula.com and we’ll respond.
If you used to subscribe to SPS, it’s likely your subscription is still live and you’ll see episode 433 on your feed in two weeks. If not, just search The Self Publishing Show on your podcast platform of choice. I can’t wait to be back in the SPS hot-seat!
Probably curiosity (and my FOMO) will have me listening just to see what the podcast is going to be like–and who he chose as his new co-host. I’ve been searching for something that I can vibe with, the other podcasts out there not doing it for me. I will keep you posted and report back.
Threads isn’t short on drama, and I saw that author Ruth Stilling was getting slammed for something one of her characters said in the book, Within Range. The character says, “It’s Valentine’s Day, so I came to make sure that you weren’t. hanging from your ceiling.”
I like looking at something from both sides, and I can see how, with the right couple and the right set up, this could be potentially funny. We don’t know the couple from just that line. There could have been lots of jokes like this throughout the entire book and someone who hasn’t read it would never know that’s just how they are. On the other hand, I write about depression and suicidal ideation in my books, and in the first book of my rockstar trilogy, before Olivia met Sheppard, that’s how her fiancé killed himself. And I many many years ago, one of my friend’s husbands took his life that way. So, I can definitely see how it can be very tasteless as well.
I don’t think it would be difficult to choose a different “joke” but on the other hand, we can’t censor ourselves because we think we’re going to upset someone. If we truly did that there wouldn’t be horror or thrillers. I suppose you can say that with those genres you’d expect upsetting content and in what looks like what is a romcom, upsetting jokes could come out of nowhere. It really depends on the person. I was suicidal for many years, even landed in the ER once getting my stomach pumped, but that line didn’t bother me and it wasn’t triggering. I just think at some point everyone who writes is going to write something that upsets someone. I know with this blog I’ve made some people upset and there’s no putting yourself out there and avoiding it.
There’s no real answer to this, because for as many people who are bothered, there are going to be just as many or even more who aren’t. I think we’ve all written something and then thought, “Yikes. Maybe I need help.” But then we laugh it off because we’re just over here making shit up. In the way I bought Colleen Hoover’s latest book because I saw some people on Threads making fun of it, I kind of want to buy Ruth’s book to see what all the fuss is about. I’m writing hockey soon. I can call it research. I dug up the link for you if you want to read it too: https://www.amazon.com/Within-Range-Blade-Kings-Book-ebook/dp/B0FTTL3Q4M
That’s about all I got this week. I’m just trying to use every free moment I can to work on my books. Last week it felt like all my free time kept getting eaten up with chores, errands, and little things like getting my hair cut and a dentist appointment. The next biggest things I need to take care of are making us appointments at the post office to apply for our passports and getting my taxes done. I still haven’t added up all my book spend for 2025 yet, and I’m waiting for my work to release our W2s, but hopefully I can take care of that in the next couple of weeks. If life could just slow down for me, that would be great.
I hope everyone is doing okay during these turbulent times. Stay safe out there!
I’ll see you next week!
Vania Margene Rheault 