Why having a back up plan is important

Writing professionally has been my dream for as long as I can remember. While I know writing is what I want to do, and what I aim to do, I also know that I may not sell a single book. I, like everyone else with a dream, need to go after that dream while also working on a back up plan. I want to be able to support myself, even if I can't do it as a writer. I will also be happy writing even if I can't support myself. I will always write, even if it's just for me. In reality, most writers don't make enough to support themselves. It takes a lot of hard work to get your books out there and get reviews and sales. I'm truly happy for the people who have gone after their dream and do make enough to support themselves and are able to write full time, but that is not the average person.

Not the best at expressing myself

It's not a big surprise that I'm horrible at expressing myself. I had a whole relationship where both my boyfriend and myself didn't think the other party liked us. I liked him, but I'm fairly sure he didn't like me all that much. What does this have to do with anything? Well, this translates to my blog as well. Like I've written before, I'm not very good at blogging. I keep a journal and write my personal feelings/thoughts in there, but that's different from a public blog about writing. I know how to express myself in writing, and that's pretty much the only place I know how to express myself. Actually, I know how to let my characters express themselves, I'm still not to sure about myself. While I am good at essay style writing, I'm not so good at blogging. Sometimes what I mean gets lost in what I am trying to express. Writing a blog isn't the same as writing an essay. I don't take the time to read over and rewrite if I want to. Once I press the publish button it goes public. It's live on the internet, even if no one decides to read it (which seems like the case in this blog). I think a few things were lost in translation during one of my last posts. I wrote about my thoughts about the business angle of Amanda Hocking. I don't really have thoughts on her personally, as I have never met her. I think her success story is wonderful, and I always like to see a writer doing well. The part of my post where things may have been mistranslated was when I was talking about her story being more about her fans than her. It's her fans who made her what she is. I think it's amazing that a group of people could make someone so successful. I know she's been posting a lot less lately, and that's understandable. Everyone needs a break, and there are things people need to keep to themselves. I actually wish some celebs would take a break, but anyway, it seems like her break means less sales for her. I don't know much about the business side of amazon (yet), but it looks like she's selling less. There are less reviews on her newer books. That could just be because the books are newer and people are waiting for a price drop before purchasing, or it could mean that her fans are moving on, or at least not as interested. That's pretty much what I meant to say. I'm trying to learn a little bit about the business side of self publishing before I release my own self published novel into the world. Her story is a rare success story that I enjoyed reading.

My thoughts on Amanda Hocking

It's hard to be involved in the self-publishing world without knowing who Amanda Hocking is. She got rich by self publishing young adult books similar to Twilight. I tried to read one of her books, but I couldn't. I think it just wasn't my cup of tea. I don't normally read young adult novels. I remember hearing about her sometime in 2011, when I first started to research self publishing. This was way before I decided to self publish. Her story was one of the reasons that I decided to self publish. Not because I think I could make a fortune doing so, but because I could control my publishing experience. I'm one of those people who likes to experience things for herself, even if I'm not successful. Every now and then I google Amanda Hocking to see what she's up to, and it seems like she's disappeared. No more blog posts, no more twitter remarks. Is she forgetting that her interactions with her fans are what made her so rich and somewhat famous? She got to live her dream because of people she now ignores. Maybe she doesn't have time for all the posting anymore, but she also has an attitude that I don't like toward her publishers. Someone at a publishing house sent her flowers and she dismissed them by saying they were from 'people'. She failed to mention that those people were now busting their butts to promote her stuff. Her old blog posts are mostly about her wanting to get published. She doesn't go into detail about why she decided to self publish. I think Amanda Hocking only made it so far because of her fans. She was able to reach out to the younger crowd and sell them a product they were looking for at the time. Her story is one about her fans more than it is about herself.