I’ve basically trained myself to be creative on demand—and leave my muse out of the equation all together. Inspiration is too unpredictable—I seem to get better results from just old fashioned perseverance.
But there are times when it’s more difficult to write than others and I wonder if there are other writers out there in the same boat.
I’m going to limit my observations here to genre writing, which is all I’m familiar with. But—and this is a generalization—I think that genre writers are some of the hardest-working folks in the business.
I’m part of a couple of different promotional groups that are made up of genre writers published by big houses. Many of them have more than one series that they’re currently working on. Most are promoting at least one new release while on deadline with at least one book. And they’re promoting the heck out of the new release–really strenuous, long-term marketing.
Almost all of them do a lot of sales tracking. And there are plenty of places to track these numbers. Some of them get the numbers directly from their editor (I got a few numbers from mine.) Some subscribe to Publisher’s Alley (and I’ll admit to being a subscriber.) Some even subscribe to Bookscan, which is REALLY pricy. Others look at Amazon and Barnes and Noble sales.
I do some sales tracking. I know enough to know that Delicious and Suspicious is selling well. I know enough to know that my publisher is happy with me.
But when I start doing sales comparisons between other releases or try to figure out where my sales are coming from or how to duplicate it—it just messes me up when I try to segue into a writing session.
I think this is because I’m being analytical—which is something I’m not great at, anyway. Then I try to go from looking at charts and numbers and chart legends—and return to being creative.
It’s hard. Most of the writers I know look to good numbers as validation of their writing talent. Or at numbers as a sign whether their series is going to be continued or not. And they’re still busily working on their next book or coming up with the next series idea while they’re tracking sales.
Going from sales figures to creative writing isn’t easy. It’s also not easy to go from reading negative reviews (which happen to all of us) back to writing.
So, for me? I just want to know things in generalizations. Is my publisher happy or unhappy? If they’re unhappy, is there anything I can do to make amends or help out in any way from a marketing perspective?
On my end, I’m just planning to promote as best I can and write as well as I can. Because I think it all boils down to the writing in the end. Readers will buy good books. But I’ve had plenty of authors look at me askance when I’ve admitted that sales tracking only makes me feel anxious.
What do you think? If you’re published, do you study sales tracking? Or, if you’re unpublished, is there another factor that messes up your writing mojo?
Elizabeth – It’s interesting that you mention creativity and what gets in the way of one’s mojo. For me, yes, I do think about sales and I would love to do more promotion than I am able to do. But the reality is, sales tracking makes me really anxious, too. I get so discouraged that it keeps me from really feeling confident, so I don’t spend as much time doing it as perhaps I should.
Real life is what comes in the way of my writing. Or more specifically, my day job. When I am working on financial models, or conducting negotiations, I have no problem writing. But on the days when I spend the better part of the day writing proposals, I just cannot get into the proper frame of mind to write for myself.
I try to track sales, and find it one of the more frustrating aspects of being published. No matter which way you track, there’s just no way to directly track sales to marketing activities, so you never really know what works and what doesn’t. It’s hard to find a balance between writing and marketing/promotion. I loved what Hank Phillippi Ryan told us at a recent writers’ workshop I attended. Since there’s never enough time to do it all, she suggested to organize our promotional activities into three lists: must do, nice to do, and would do if I had time. Using those criteria has really helped me feel less stressed about what I do as far as marketing goes.
I’m with Rayna. I find it difficult to switch from the(job) IT world to my beloved creative writing world. And the more I say write…write, the more I sit there like a deer in the headlight.
Teresa
I’m not sure my brain won’t explode with all that data! :)
Sales, marketing, sales tracking, all make me nuts. If I start to focus on those things, how many people are following my blog, am I getting enough comments, blah blah, I can’t be creative either. thank you so much for writing about this, Elizabeth. Sigh.
Karen
Some days it really seems hard to find a balance between writing, marketing and moving all projects forward. The writing and promoting mindsets are so different. Very timely post.
Nancy, from Realms of Thought…
Studying sales tracking–piece of cake. I get monthly royalty checks from one of my publishers, quarterly from another, and they show which books have sold, how many copies, and where. Then I take those checks and go have a cup of coffee. If I’m lucky, I’ll get change.
But as far as knowing what drove any particular individual to purchase a book or download–no way. And because I can’t do much to control the reasons people DON’T buy, I just get back to writing, which is actually enjoyable. At least more so than statistics.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
I think tracking my sales would just cause a panic attack. Not sure if I’ll brave that aspect come October.
I do sales-tracking when it comes to writing new mystery games. I study what’s selling – what type of game, how many characters, the demographic that buys the most – and then write a game that checks off as many boxes as possible.
Just trying to juggle promoting and writing messes me up!
If I was published, I don’t think I’d want to check my sales tracking! It’s kind of like looking at reviews, which I probably won’t do either (positive or negative). It’d just drive me crazy if the sales weren’t selling how I expected, or make me feel too much pressure for the next book if it was selling better than expected. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss!
I’m really happy for you that Delicious & Suspicious is selling well! I’m not at all surprised because it’s terrific!
“…is there another factor that messes up your writing mojo?”
You mean other than blogs and Twitter and kids and home renovation responsibilities and my wife and sleep and the day job and family stuff? Er… I wonder why I put blogs and Twitter at the beginning of that list….
*cough*
Glad to know Delicious and Suspicious is doing well! I think book reviews, tracking sales numbers can make you crazy — kinda like checking your blog page views every day etc. It should not be the only metric you use to value your writing, but in the marketplace, it’s probably the only one that counts at the end of the day. That kind of pressure could make any writer shut down and rock themselves to sleep in the corner. Obviously I don’t have this issue yet, but one day I’d like to have this problem!
As to my writing mojo — beginnings and ends of projects are the toughest. I’m still formulating my ideas or trying to figure out how to tie everything together and these processes take time to execute. Any sort of real life issues can derail my productivity. But I’m getting better at powering through.
I don’t think I would be a sales tracker. First of all, I’m terrible at math. Second of all, I probably wouldn’t understand the numbers. My creativity gets hurt when I’m interrupted or when other things have to be done, which means postponing writing.
THIS would be why I write in the bath. My day job is (like the sales tracking will be) very analytical. I will probably add it to my list of obsessions and will need to create a physical barrier between it and the writing. When I so completely change where I am and what I’ve surrounded myself with, I can usually change hats. (I obsessively track my blog now–what topics work, what don’t)- so I am sure I will do that with book sales.
For me, what REALLY messes with my writing mojo is editing and querying. Querying, in particular is HORRIBLE. I think part of the problem though, is I can (and do) bring those to the tub with me.
I know what you mean! My day job is accounting and it’s so hard to turn that off and switch to the creative side of the brain.
I find checking sites that track sales is just something else to keep me awake at night, but I do check Amazon occasionally anyway.
Rayna–I wonder if that’s because proposals have a little creativity to do with them, too? You have to be persuasive, I’m thinking, and that’s definitely a creative skill.
Margot–Isn’t that the truth? When we don’t want to do something, we’re just not going to find the time.
Nancy–The balance really isn’t there for me, most days. Some days I’m much more productive in some ways than in others!
Ingrid–I like Hank’s advice! I think I might have to do that, too.
Journaling Woman–I have those moments, too, and I don’t even have a day job!
Alex–And it probably depends on what your publisher wants to you keep track of, too.
Diane–Me too!
Laura–Sometimes you can’t help looking at either because someone will point it out to you…a well-meaning person, of course! But I do like trying to avoid reviews (good and bad) and figures.
Jemi–Maybe that would explain some of the issues I’ve had over the past week! Brain explosion. :)
Karen–I think it takes a special type of person. And I’m okay with not being that type!
Simon–The word “blog” is profanity to my husband! :) As is “Twitter.” But then I guess we’d have a lot more together time without those nice little distractions, wouldn’t we?
Terry–Ahh…royalties! :)
I think so many people are governed by whims when they read! I know my tastes in reading change. But I am loyal to authors I really enjoy, too. I’m like you–fewer stats, more writing.
Bluestocking–Unfortunately–sales seems to be the only indicator of any real value. It’s a shame, but it’s a market demand thing. Lots of stuff could sink a book, though, besides the writing–the cover, the title, etc. But it’s the writer who really takes the hit on it all.
I think I’m good at beginnings, but endings are really hard! I always want to be clever, but it’s tough. Maybe I should write the ending at the beginning when I’m still fresh!
Helen–I don’t really understand it either! But there was a helpful tutorial that Sisters in Crime did…so it helped me. Too much! Then I started lookng at the numbers too frequently to be good for me.
Hart–I did that a little last year with the blog–then I found that the results totally baffled me! So I gave it up. Which is probably what will happen with the book sales tracking, too.
Querying! That’s the worst. Bleh.
Elspeth–And that’s probably the really SMART thing to do. In fact, the writers that I can think of that are doing the best, financially, are applying what they’ve learned with sales to their future writing. Maybe I can adjust!
Shelley–I’m amazed you’re good at two totally different things! That’s a real gift.
Jane–Sometimes we just can’t avoid Amazon!