Since this is Thanksgiving season, I decided to ask myself what is it about my writing career that I’m most thankful for. There are so many things to be thankful for, and I feel I need to remind myself once in a while just what they are.
I was listening to a podcast the other day and the narrator asked the author what part of the writing process she would outsource if she could.
This writer is a quite successful independent author. She said that when she started out, she did everything. But she’d become quite successful and was able to hire a personal assistant to help her. One of the things her PA does is format her books.
Since that is one of the hardest parts of the job for me, I laughed and told a friend, “When I get rich and famous, I’m going to outsource formatting my books!”
I’ve already hired two editors and a cover designer. But I felt like I wasn’t making enough money to source anything else out. Then I noticed on the email I got from the woman who designed the cover for my Christmas Romance she had added, please talk to me about formatting.
I took a chance and asked her. Her prices were so reasonable I didn’t have to wait until I became rich and famous. I told her what a nightmare it was for me. She said she’d be happy to do it because she’d done so many it wasn’t a nightmare for her. I was thrilled by how fast she got it done. And when I tried to upload my files to Amazon and Ingram they went through without a glitch. I am so thankful to Paty Jager who told me about Covers by Karen. Paty has always patiently answered my questions.
On the podcast they suggested doing the parts of the writing business that you love and hiring the rest out. I like marketing my books. I know I’m not that successful at it, but it’s a part of the business that I enjoy. So, for now, I’ll continue to try and market them. If I could afford to have a marketing person, you can be sure I would.
My books are so much better since I hired my editors. They go through my books and give me feedback, and correct grammar and spelling. They are incredible.
I’m so thankful for my cover designers. I used 99 Designs for the first four books and Covers by Karen for the last one. They all did such a great job. I know writers who design their own covers, and they are beautiful. I think that’s great, but I’m not a designer. I have no idea how to even begin to do that, so I’m thankful for artists who are good at what they do and design the covers for me.
I love having the freedom to pick the titles and the cover design. And I love to write, of course, or I wouldn’t be doing this.
I love my readers and I’m so thankful for them. Even though my tribe isn’t that big yet, they are wonderful. They share my social media posts and tell their friends to read my books. A couple of my readers have asked their libraries to carry my books. They are amazing!
It makes my day when one writes to say they enjoyed my book and couldn’t put it down. Or they stayed up all night reading. One reader told me this about the Christmas Romance I just published: “I loved every page!”
I’ve been so lucky along my journey to meet so many wonderful people. From the writing instructors to other writers who have gone out of their way to offer help when I’ve needed it. I’ve also reached out to industry professionals who’ve been more than kind and answered questions about law enforcement.
I’m thankful for my family who have encouraged me and helped in any way they can, from designing and maintaining my website, to taking my author picture to reading early drafts and giving input and editing.
I love this job. As I read back over this blogpost, I realize how lucky I am to have so many people who have helped me along the way. I hope to write for many more years, and I hope that I’ll look back often and think about all that I’m grateful for. It’s easy to get caught up in the grumbling, and I do from time to time. But when I stop to think about it, there is a lot more to be grateful for than to grumble about.
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are counting your blessings too.
Ladies of Mystery 
Lana, your post is inspirational. I, too, am grateful to all those who have helped and help me. I have to say, Paty is one of those people thought of during grace at the Thanksgiving Day table.
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Thank you for the nice comment. People helped me when I started out, and I like to pay it forward. There is so much that we independent authors have to tackle every day besides writing that it does become daunting at times. I would love to find someone to help with marketing. My PA is doing a good job making the memes, but I need someone to help with ads.
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A wonderful post that reminds all of us that we get where we want to go with the help of many others, even when we think, erroneously, that we’re doing it all ourselves. Happy Thanksgiving.
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