House Hunting

My sister and her husband are in the market for a new house. If you've ever been through the process, you know the steps you have to take. While your current home is on the market, you start narrowing down your options on where you want to relocate. You create a list of 'must-haves' and another of 'pie-in-the-sky wants.' You spend hours on the internet sites, looking at homes in your price bracket and winnow down your choices. You also winnow down your lists of essentials, since no new home will have everything on your list. Eventually, you tire of looking at houses and settle for something that's not quite right. Or, you put your foot to the pedal and keep going.

That's the point my sister is at right now. Out of steam, nearly out of options, and ready to settle.

Which reminds me of a story idea I had recently. (Of course it does.)

The story began well enough. Several people had read the original manuscript which featured my heroine in a secondary role and told me they'd like to read her story. I spent a couple of days filling out my beat sheet to see if I had enough of a story to do justice to my character. My list of 'must-haves' was forming. So, I began working on the story. But unlike the manuscript I just finished, which came out of my head with no problem, this one isn't so easy. Do I winnow down my 'must-have' list, throw in a pie-in-the-sky idea, or tire of the plot and settle for something that's not quite right?

Right now, I'm liking my hero much better than the heroine. So it's time to put my foot to the pedal and keep going. Figure out ways to make her more appealing to me, and consequently, to my readers. With two extraordinary characters living through extraordinary times in America, you'd think it would be an easy task. But just like searching for the perfect home, you sometimes have to tear up those lists and begin anew. While my sister tackles finding a home, I'm going to go tackle my beat sheet.

The Waiting Game

As most of you know, I'm in transition on the home front. Buying a house is not as simple as it used to be. After the collapse of the market as we all knew it, the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction. My lender tells me things have gotten a whole lot tighter than they used to be. So, as a consequence, I've been running to banks in West Virginia to get the necessary forms. I don't normally bank in West Virginia, but the bank I had my money in while in Ohio only extends south a little ways. So the choice was either Pittsburgh or Morgantown. These new regulations seem to have left logic at the door, but until the pendulum swings back, I'm stuck with them.

All these different regulations got me to thinking about the state of our industry today. Publishing a book is more simple than it used to be. No longer do you need to print out your manuscript, bundle it up and mail it off to a publisher or agent, who may or may not get back to you in six months to a year.  Now, if you want to go the traditional route, all you need do is attach a file and hit the 'send' button on your email. And if you wish to skip the traditional route altogether, publishing a book on your own has become so simple, almost anyone can do it. The publishing pendulum has swung in favor of the author, finally.

But this new found freedom comes at a price. There are more books hitting the market than ever before. In 2015, more than 700,000 books were self-published, and new books published for that year crept over the one million mark for the first time. What that means for an author is the threat of being buried under an avalanche of other books is greater than ever. Some of the finest voices of our generation will never be heard, while others who aren't accomplished writers achieve head-scratching success. It's a constant battle to get books reviewed by legitimate sites, and every author I know struggles daily with the best way to market their books.

The pendulum will swing back sooner or later, on both fronts. But until it does, we've got to deal with the situation the best way we can. As my lender says, "If you haven't applied for a mortgage in the last three years, you're in for an awakening." The same holds true for publishing. If you haven't been in the market for the past three years, the old ways no longer apply. I've heard a lot of established authors, when talking about how they got started in the business, quantify their remarks by saying things are different now. Not better, necessarily, but different.

This is our new normal, and as I've learned from going through the mortgage process, you adjust your thinking accordingly. The house will happen, my next book will be released, I'll make my deadline for the WIP, and life will go on. I'll still struggle with marketing, but at least I'll do so with a golf course view out my back window.

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