10 Things I Wish I Knew About Being an Author I Didn’t Know Before
1. Deadlines suck – I never minded deadlines before. In fact, I thrived with deadlines. However, when you have a date looming and are still 30K words short, that is a completely different monster.
2. Marketing comes with the job – Most authors have to do their own marketing. Some are lucky enough have street teams or limited resources from their publisher, but for the most part – we are on our own.
3. Authors are required to be social creatures – Being an author means you have to get out there and sell your book . . . sell yourself. When I was in my twenties, I thought being an author would be amazing, sitting in your office all day making up stories. That’s not the case. Readers want to talk to you, meet you, engage with you. As an introvert, social engagement is hard for me which makes some of the items on this list nightmares. I wish I was one of those people who loved social interactions, but I have to mentally prepare myself to interact with friends, let alone strangers. What all this means is that I’m not nearly as successful as I could be because my social presence with fans and online is not as robust as it could be. Somewhere deep in my brain, I just don’t know how to interact with people in a meaningful way. And I’m super uncomfortable with it.
4. Writing can be hard sometimes –Staring at an empty page can be daunting. I know in my head that just putting something on the page gets it started and it doesn’t matter if its crap or not. Everything can be fixed later, but I always find editing easier and more rewarding. The only problem is that I have to get through the daunting task of putting words on the page. I’ve told new writers this and even talked to PhD candidates about writing and how to build/layout their thoughts to make writing as easy as possible. But sitting down and actually doing it is a different story. Even the best of us suffer from fatigue, blocks, or just life. It can all get in the way.
5. Don’t read the comments –Social media can be a wasteland of hatred and bullying. My advice, don’t read the comments. People are going to say wonderful things. But they are also going to say horrible things about you, about your book, about your characters because they can. I know that your book feels like your baby and you don’t want anyone to say bad things about it . . . but once you put it out there, it’s not yours anymore. It belongs to them. Not everyone is going to see it the same way you do. You need a thick skin to put your work out into the world and engage in it. The easiest thing and to save your sanity is to just not look at the comments.
6. Having an online presence takes up A LOT of time – You have to be engaged a lot to hook readers, which means reading social media, posting, blogging, and responding to posts. I. AM. HORRIBLE. AT. THIS. First, I lead a very boring life. I go to work. I pick up my daughter. We eat dinner. I go to sleep. That’s about it on the regular. So, there isn’t that much to talk about. Second, content creation for an online presence takes a while; formatting pictures, creating graphics, coming up with the content, producing the content, and marketing. I could easily take a few hours each day just doing this and is all time taken away from writing.
7. You’re not only an author but a content creator – As an author, you have to have that social media presence because that’s how you reach readers now. But you need a blog, and a newsletter as well as all the social media platforms. Sometimes I cheat. When I don’t have content to post on the blog that week, I might post a snippet from something I’m working on or pictures of our cats because who doesn’t love cats…
Coming up with interesting content for all of these things to keep people engaged and coming back to the website is tough.
8. It always takes longer to get it done than I thought – I set deadlines to work through the process I have for writing a book. Not firm deadlines, like this must be completed by July 15th. More like, in January and February is research/plotting, etc. I never meet those deadlines. Something always gets in the way; life, apathy (which is a real thing when you get in to writing a series), roadblocks in the research or plot. Worst of all, time. Sometimes, time just slips away and before you know it, two weeks have gone buy and you’ve done nothing. Sometimes those lapses of time for me are longer. Having a full-time job, creates other obstacles to writing on a regular basis for me.
9. The amount of time you spend on “other” things is way more than actual writing –The “other” things I’m including here is marketing, research, plotting, and the items listed in the above including blogs and newsletters. This can take up most of the time you set aside for “author work”. Speaking of that, I have to work on my newsletter. ARGH. You can sign up for my blog at www.suzannemsabol.com.
10. There are things you’ll love to write and things you’ll suffer through – I personally love action scenes. I write a hell of an action sequence. I love to choreograph them and get them on paper. On the flip side of that, I suffer through exposition and descriptions. Those are necessary so the reader can form the picture in their head you envision but I trudge through those sections as if through a marsh.
The Blushing Death Series
Book Nine
Suzanne M. Sabol
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing
Date of Publication: May 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64716-282-5
ASIN: B09V85WYYR
Number of pages: 379
Word Count: 114K
Cover Artist: Rae Monet
Tagline: Fighting enemies on all fronts, The Blushing Death must convince humanity that vampires and werewolves aren’t the monsters they’ve always feared. But destroying her enemies and protecting her people may be harder than she realizes with all of humanity watching and their secret out in the open.
Book Description:
The supernatural world has come out to humanity with a bang!
All the precious planning Patrick and Dean have worked toward and all the connections they have developed are worthless. When the Master Vampire of North America decides to remind humanity of their place on the food chain, the city and its people will pay the price. The battle for the North American vampire colonies has begun in earnest and only a single vampire can be at the top.
Dahlia is waging a battle on a different front. Baba Yaga is making moves in Faerie to regain her power in both the human world and Faerie, creating chaos and leaving carnage in her wake. Faced with new crises and old enemies, Dahlia will need to balance her responsibilities to her people and her city with the creatures in the Outer Realm.
But Baba Yaga has used the darkest magic to tie The Blushing Death to her and the ramifications could be deadly. Can Dahlia build an army to defeat Baba Yaga? Can she overcome her own fears to become the power she needs to be?
Excerpt:
“It’s
fucking cold out here,” I hissed through chattering teeth. No matter how much I
willed my jaw to remain motionless, it didn’t listen and the rattling inside my
head was driving me insane.
The fire
flickered in the pitch-darkness of the Outer Realm, casting an eerie glow
across the snow. Beyond the miniscule light of the fire, as large as we dared
make it here so we didn’t attract other and more dangerous beings, inky
blackness stretched on forever. The oppressive nature of the dark night and the
fact that I knew it could literally stretch out for eternity, was some cruel
realization that I was infinitesimal in an expansive place with creatures that
would eat me for the hell of it.
Shaking
off my descent into bat-shit-crazy, I considered the first time I’d been here
and each subsequent journey back. Each time I crossed the veil into the Outer
Realm, it got just a bit colder, the air bitter and chilled. This time there
was a light dusting of snow on the ground with flurries brushing against my
exposed skin. I’d dressed for cold, knowing full well how the wind had burned
through my clothes the last time. But this was worse. The wind was piercing and
sharp as it howled through the trees and my layers.
Beyond the
minimal warmth and light of the fire lurked beasties and creatures of every
shape and size, and the focus of their eyes on me was a weight I felt in my
gut, a tight clench of fear that made me queasy, alert, and on edge. I fought
the urge to run, knowing that I couldn’t outrun any of them. I could fight but
I would lose. The Outer Ream was a place where strength was valued, and
weakness was devoured. Maybe they were just curious. Maybe they were hungry. I
had no choice but to wait and hope they remained in the dark beyond the light
of our fire.
“Make the
fire warmer,” Adrik snorted, landing on my shoulder and rubbing his hands
together, holding them out before the inadequate flames. The four-inch-high
pixie stood close to my neck, soaking up my body heat. He knew I could use my
magic to increase the heat of the fire, and I’d considered it, but I didn’t
want to give too much away too soon. Bargaining with the fae was a delicate
balance of knowledge and cunning. Negotiating from a position of strength was
better but I wouldn’t lay all my cards on the table just yet.
“I don’t
want to burn my eyebrows off,” I said, smirking at the pixie. He rolled his
small silver eyes at my obvious lie. “When are they going to get here?” I
asked, wanting desperately to be home and warm in my bed. The longer I stayed
in the Outer Realm, the bigger the likelihood that someone would notice either
on this side or my side of the veil that I was not where I was supposed to be.
Adrik and
I had been making small trips to the Outer Realm for weeks without letting
anyone know. I was pushing my luck before either Patrick or Dean noticed and
gave me hell, at the very least a lecture. After the mountain where I’d killed
Rokap but lost Milagra and Konstantin, Dean and Patrick had been different.
More protective. More confining. More everything. Dean especially. If they knew
what I was doing, Dean would lose his shit. Right now, this was better. He didn’t
worry and I didn’t have to deal with his anger. I was being a coward but right
now, I was willing to be a coward to keep them safe just a bit longer.
“The
representative should be here momentarily,” Adrik responded.
“You’d
think I’d figure out how to dress properly to be here, but it always seems
colder than the last time,” I said, unable to keep my teeth from chattering. The
fleece lining wasn’t enough.
“It is not your imagination,” Adrik answered,
his voice rough through the already guttural accent. His English was much
better, but I could still hear the centuries of Russian in the shape of his
words.
Suzanne M Sabol is the author of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University and has two Bachelor of Arts degrees with majors in Criminology, International Studies, Russian, and Political Science. She has a Master’s degree from The Ohio State University’s John Glenn School of Public Affairs. She is married with one child and lives in Columbus Ohio.
The Blushing Death Series and the Blood and Bone Legacy are published through Soul Mate Publishing. Editor, Debby Gilbert, can be contacted through their website at www.soulmatepublishing.com.
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