All the Lies - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,42

writer who was self-publishing. I knew that the Kindle existed and people were doing self-publishing, but I didn't realize how successful you could be. He went over the basics of marketing, nothing too intricate, but what really caught my attention was the fact that he said that he made as much money from writing in his first year as he did from working his full-time job as a chemistry teacher. I saw that as a way to do what I really wanted to do.”

“Yeah, I know that feeling,” I say, nodding.

“I wanted to make a living at it. I wanted people to read my books. Before I went to the conference, I wrote a book and submitted it to forty-five different literary agents, most of whom didn't have the decency to get back to me. I figured that I had nothing to lose so I might as well just try to publish and market it myself. So, that's what I did. As soon as the first one came out, I was already done with the second and halfway through writing the third. When I did research on independent publishing, I realized that it's all about content. The readers who like these kinds of books are feverish for more titles. They just want to read them all. Well, I decided that if that's what they wanted, then that's what I'm going to give them.”

“Did you sell books right away?”

“No, not at first. I took a class on Facebook advertising and then another one. Still, I struggled. But I figured that if I have content and books for people to read, then I can always tweak the marketing and the advertising and learn more about how to do it right. About a year into it, I finally hit on the right ad copy, blurb, cover combination, and people started to download my books and read them. I continued to publish and I still publish a book about every six weeks.”

“Wow, that's a lot.”

“Yes, it is, but the thing is that I have been trying to be a writer for my whole life so once I started being successful, I figured the best thing that I can do is keep writing.”

“I like that attitude. That's probably going to take you far in life.”

“Well, it took me here.” He points to his house. “I never had the goal of being rich, I just wanted my books to find readers. Then, the more books I had, the more readers I found. It was kind of like a snowball effect, but I appreciate every last one of those readers.”

26

Emma

I have never spoken to a writer before in real life and I find this conversation utterly fascinating. Of course, I have learned a little in the Facebook groups and read what feels like a hundred different writing advice books on Amazon. Yet, it feels so exhilarating to talk to one in real life. Especially, one who is so successful.

“How do you manage to publish so often?”

“Well, I have a lot of them already written and in various stages of editing and marketing. I have the pre-order set up for the next five books, but I'm already working on book six in that series.”

“How long are your books?”

“About 50,000 words. 300 pages, give or take. I found that to be the sweet spot.”

“Are most fantasy books much longer?”

“Yes, especially those that are traditionally published. I personally like the feeling of completing a book and then staying in the series, not just as a writer but also as a reader. There's something about finishing something that gives you this positive feeling and I want to give that to my readers.”

“So, how much do you write each day? Each month?”

He pauses for a moment and looks out into the distance. I follow his gaze and we stare at the horizon where a gigantic saguaro cactus reaches for the sky.

A big black crow, or maybe a raven, perches on the top, balancing on the bright yellow bud of a flower, expertly avoiding the needles of the cactus.

“Different things and different approaches work for different writers,” Liam says. “When I first started out, my goal was to just write 3000 words a day. I would often procrastinate and sometimes it would take me hours to get this done. Then I immersed myself in books about the writing process, experimenting with other writers' approaches like they are jackets in a department store. A small few were a good fit, but most did not.”

“So,