Writing
Tips
for Aspiring Romance Authors
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Format a Manuscript How to
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to Prepare a Manuscript On Writing Romance: What's it Like to get
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Looking for some inside information on
getting published?
As a new author, I'm certainly no authority on writing and publishing, but I will say this: If you're hoping to find a shortcut, there isn't one. Do the legwork, like I did and like everyone else has to do. Go to the library. Surf the Web. Join Romance Writers of America. Take a class, read a couple of how-to-write-romance books, and always, always write. If you can't be bothered to do these things then believe me, you don't have what it takes to become a published romance author. "Everyone" wants to write a novel, but few people will ever begin and even fewer will actually finish a manuscript. Doing that is quite an accomplishment, and it sets you apart from the dreamers who would love to see their names on the covers of books but never will because they're not willing to work for it. Oh, there's nothing wrong with dreaming. I'd love to be able to paint with watercolors, but I don't own a set of paints and I've never taken a single class. That said, do you think I'm serious about learning to paint? Of course not, or I'd be doing it. Right now it's just an idle wish, not my heart's desire. A painter is someone who paints, never mind how talented or skilled she is. Same with writing. So here's a question for you: Do you merely dream of becoming a writer, or are you a writer? Honestly, I don't believe "talent" has a whole lot to do with getting published. So if your sister or your high school English teacher has praised your talent, that's just not enough to get your name on the cover of a book. Maybe you need to have a thimbleful of talent to get started, and certainly you must possess a bit of imagination, but for the most part writing is a craft that must be learned, and that requires practice . In many ways, it's like learning to play a musical instrument. If you've got a tin ear and no "soul" you'll never be great, no matter how hard you try. But with ambition and plenty of practice, just about anyone can learn to play competently. And just about anyone can become a published writer. (Don't believe me? What? You mean you've never read a terrible book?) If writing is your dream, then write. And if your heart's desire is to be published, don't wait for success to fall into your lap. Go after it. Oh, and one more thing. About the money.
There isn't any.
Not much, anyway, and I'm not kidding. Go to a chapter meeting of Romance Writers of America and ask how many of the pubbed writers still have fulltime, paying jobs. You'll find that most of them do, even the ones who are regularly publishing two books a year. Surprising, huh? And earnings vary wildly, according to the publisher, the subgenre, the author's "name," and so on. So you're not going to get a satisfactory answer (if you get one at all) to that burning question, How much does a romance novelist make?
But I'll give you a hint: Unless you become a Very Big Name, you're not going to get to wear diamonds and drive a Ferrari.
Think about this: Where you're working now, you have benefits. Not only does your employer pick up half the tab for your Social Security, you also get goodies like health insurance and 401(k) plans. Not so for writers. Like all self-employed folks, they buy their own insurance, see to their own retirement plans, and pay double to Social Security. Add to that the standard literary agent's commission of 15% and you can see you'd have to earn a whole lot more than you're making at your current gig to be able to chuck it all and start writing fulltime. (I'm able to do it because I'm a homemaker who had no personal income to begin with!)
And there's still more bad news: Writing income isn't terribly reliable or predictable. Having sold one book or even twenty doesn't guarantee you'll be able to sell the next one. And even when you do sell books, a lot of things can go wrong, and most of those things you won't have any control over. You might get stuck with a cover so hideous booksellers can't even give your books away. Or your publisher could go belly-up. It happens.
The bottom line is, writers write because they just can't help themselves. If they can find a way to make some money at it, they're thrilled. But they'll keep writing, regardless.
How about you? |