From the Ashes

Being an author is hard. The publishing industry is tricky to navigate at the best of times, and with the current climate in small publishing, it can feel utterly impossible to succeed.

I check in with my author groups, and another friend has lost their publisher. A small press has closed, and their whole catalogue of books needs new homes. Less than a month ago, an online book distributor closed and offered to settle all their accounts for ten cents on the dollar.

Those heartbreaks and setbacks can seem insurmountable. Great writers pack it in and choose not to publish anymore because they can’t stand the heartache and seemingly futile struggle. And honestly I can’t blame them. One of my books will soon have been through three publishers. Three times I’ve gleefully accepted a contract; three times I’ve had my heart broken. Part of me wishes I had the temperament to be able to quit. But I don’t. I’m too stubborn. So I’ll push forward and find another way to have that series out there and be grateful I have other projects with other publishers available to keep me from feeling like a complete imposter.

The theme on the blog this month is meant to be “new beginnings.” And I am starting right back from the beginning. I’m not trying to be depressing or to discourage anyone from following her dream of publishing, because it’s not depressing. It’s just the reality in which we find ourselves. It’s culling the herd. Those of us who are left—the ones who have fought through publishers closing, missing royalties, and a seemingly impenetrable market—are phoenixes. We rise from the ashes again and again. Fighting for the next contract and even the next sale with everything we have. And when the world caves in and our dreams again crumble to ash, we rebuild, hoping for something bigger, hoping for something more lasting and productive.

I wish I could say that I think the days of authors being shirked of their royalties and of publishers closing with little more than a Facebook post are over. That I won’t find anymore author friends heartbroken over their newly-homeless books, but I doubt that’s true. Give it a month, and someone else will be fighting their way back up from the bottom.  Some will quit, some will press on, starting from the beginning. Rewriting their blurbs and sending them out with nothing more than hope to keep them moving forward.

The new beginning has been forced upon us, but from the ashes we will continue to rise. Chasing a dream we can’t help but to follow.

Creativity and Resolutions

Hi everyone! My name is Jennifer Galasso. I'm a YA writer and fantasy artist/illustrator who pens mostly Gothic and horror fiction with a touch of magic and the supernatural. I live in Rhode Island with my husband, Richard, and fourteen-year-old daughter, Samantha, and am SO excited to be a new blog contributor in 2017. What a way to start the year!

Most of us will agree, 2016 was a difficult year for many reasons. Despite the horrors of the previous twelve months, most try to stay optimistic and set goals to make improvements personally and professionally. Some common resolutions: eat healthier, write two novels, get more sleep, start a workout routine, sell a million books and leave the crappy day job, etc.

One of my resolutions this year was to become more involved in a writing community. As most writers know, art in any form—especially writing—can be very isolating. I tend to shut myself away just to get work done. But it’s also important to interact, especially with other writers. Rejection is a big part of the craft and it helps to have support and people who understand your pain who are more than happy to applaud your victories, and who you can cheer on through career highs and lows, as well.

Within a couple days of making my resolution, I saw Sharon’s post about becoming a YAtopia blog contributor on my Twitter feed. Oddly enough, I had just been thinking about Sharon and how I hadn’t seen many Twitter posts from her lately. Seeing her post that day seemed like divine intervention, fate, destiny … in a nutshell, meant to be.

Ironically, a few years ago I made a similar promise to break out of my hermit tendencies and get more active on Twitter. The first step was entering pitch contests, and Sharon was the host of one of the first ones I entered! She taught me that putting myself, and my work, out into the world wasn’t so scary and that there are MANY supportive people in the writing community. She was right and I have never forgotten her for that.

Even more than fate, the key, I think, is opening up to possibility, and in doing so many amazing opportunities arise. The same goes for creativity. A lot of people ask artists and writers where they get their inspiration and we all know what a hard question that is to answer. I don’t think it matters where we get inspiration, just that we open our minds to the possibility of becoming inspired. It’s like shutting off your cell phone—people may try to reach you, but you won’t get any of the calls! The same goes for creativity. Sometimes you have to shout at your muse to wake the heck up and then take whatever small idea you get and cultivate it into something … anything! (Even if it sucks.)

So again, thanks to Sharon who, like my first pitch contest, gave me this amazing opportunity, and thank you to all who helped build YAtopia into a fantastic blog and awesome writer’s community—I’m so excited to be here! Here’s to 2017 being a year to inspire and grow and cheers to resolutions—hoping you achieve ALL your dreams and goals! 

 

Beginnings

Day two of 2016. The year is still new. Still fresh. Still full of plans and promises. An opportunity for new beginnings, new goals, new successes. But where to start?

To quote Julie Andrews, "Start at the very beginning."

But for me, I don't really have any "beginnings" to start. I'm in the middle of several things, yet, for a couple of months, I've felt stuck in this middle. The middle of writing. The middle of indie publishing plans. The middle of a vast ocean with no sign of land. I haven't even been sure about which direction to row, so I've been sitting in my little boat, drifting over the waves, hiding from battering storms and blistering sun, ignoring all thing writing because I don't know which direction I should be rowing.

But it's time for new beginnings. It's time to start rowing.

In October, I decided to pursue indie publishing, and I haven't changed my mind. I might have felt adrift for a while, but it's time to pull out my compass and find my direction. And sometimes, going back to the beginning is the best way to find direction. I don't necessarily mean to start over, but taking the knowledge gained since starting out the first time and returning to step one, when the ideas were new and fresh. When hope and possibility felt endless. And harness that excitement and let it propel me straight through the middle.

Because while the beginning feels exciting, the ending will be so much sweeter.

Are there any projects you've felt stuck on? Let the promise of a new year and new beginnings give you a second chance.