It is with a heavy heart that I make this post. I have put this off for several years. Despite the level of stress the business side of writing has been, I have pushed through it to keep writing. But after working for two months, I realized how damaging the stress has been to my health and well-being. While working, I felt so much better than I had in years. That’s how I know it’s time to take a step back.
The business side of writing is exhausting. Unfortunately, I can’t undo that part unless I unpublish all of my books. I have a little over 100 out. What if someone wants to read something I’ve written? I don’t want to remove the books in case that happens. So I will keep them up. That means I still need to maintain the books that I have written. I still need to report whatever earnings, no matter how small, to the accountant so I can accurately report the income and expenses to the IRS and Nebraska Department of Revenue.
It is A LOT easier to make money when working for someone else. I hate that writing has come down to money, but that is what happened. Gone are the early days in 2008-2011 when I was just playing with creating stories and having fun seeing them in ebook and paperback form. As soon as money came into the equation, the IRS let me know that I needed to treat this like a business, and I have been diligent ever since. When you’re making good money, it’s easier to keep writing because you know your efforts are paying off. But, to be honest, when the money keeps going down, and all of your marketing efforts don’t help, it’s not easy to have the energy to write. The more years that go by with income dropping, the harder it is to keep up the writing. And I have finally hit the point where I can’t go on. I can make more working a part-time job than I can by writing. I need to make money, so I’m going to keep looking for jobs outside the home.
The future of this newsletter:
I will keep this newsletter blog up for probably a month to give everyone time to read this post. After that, there is no reason to keep this up. I will move it to “unpublished” status, which will remove it from the the internet.
If I pick up on writing again, I’ll republish the blog and make the announcement.
The fate of my main website and my author blog:
I am going to keep my main website up since I am keeping the books up.
As for my author blog, I want to keep journaling my thoughts about writing (in general), publishing (in general), the books I already have out, and other random stuff, so I will keep my author blog going. It’s fine with me if no one reads it.
The fate of my YouTube channel:
This isn’t a promise, but I would like to narrate some more books. My sister listens to them while she’s on the road. (She’s a trucker with her husband.) She loves Return of the Aliens. That will be the first book I do.
The fate of Facebook:
Since my sister and a few friends are over there, I will stay there.
***
I don’t want to end this post without expressing my deep appreciation for all the years of encouragement and support you have given me. It has made all the difference. I never would have made it this far if it hadn’t been for you. I reached 100 romance books. That’s something I can be happy with, and I hope you can be, too.
