This article is for anyone interested in writing, professionally.
I have found that there are many circumstances in life that I equate to fishing. Writing is one of them. Now, like in fishing, there is some talent or skill involved. If you don’t have the basics down, it is hard to pursue. However, we all know that any little kid with a bobber and a worm will catch a fish, it really just is a matter of patience, time and opportunity. You learn the basics as a kid and perfect them over time.
Which brings us back to writing professionally and how to get started. My first book, “No Bait Just Bears: Black Bear Hunting Tactics” was really a personal project of mine. My love of writing came from telling some of my stories online at hunting forums, or offering advice on how to bear hunt and so on. People would message me out of the blue and ask for help or say thank you for writing about a specific bear topic or story. I began to think to myself, why not create a book for people who cannot use bait or dogs while hunting bear?
I researched it a bit and formed some sort of plan on how to accomplish this. “No Bait” was self published (meaning I paid to have it published, by Lulu.com), but it was a good start. I had been toying with the idea for sometime until my wife pretty much demanded I do it, and thus, the book was born. So I began the tedious task of outlining what I would like to cover and the sequence in which to cover it, not to mention gathering all of my pictures and so on.
Using a self publishing company helped me out greatly, even though it cost money to pursue. I didn’t know how to get an ISBN number, wasn’t sure how to format the book, needed help on the cover art and so on. I knew what I wanted to do, but wasn’t sure how to get there. Lulu.com provided this help. There are other companies out there that offer the same services, but I happen to choose Lulu and would do so again without hesitation. They were great to work with, and no, I am not sponsored by them whatsoever.
So, I casted out my line and snagged it on a log, I lost my gear (or in this case, had to put money into the project) before I caught anything. But, it was an expected loss and just so happens, necessary for the story. Did you quit fishing or hunting the first time you went out and lost your gear or not see your quarry? I highly doubt it. The same goes for writing. I had to put money forth to see my first book project completed, sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.
To aspiring writers (song writers, videogame developers, musicians, and so on), when you get shot down by a publisher, do not take it personal. Notice, I say “when” and not “if”, because you will get shot down. It is just a fact and it is ok. Just this week, I have been shot down twice for articles. The subject matter just didn’t match up with what the publisher was looking for at that time.
But, that is the beauty of self publishing, as long as your check clears and it is your own original material, you can print pretty much anything you want, within reason, and make it available online. Even Amazon.com offers publishing services. That does not mean you shouldn’t do a little research about what is available in the genre you want to cover, or that you shouldn’t listen to any criticism of the title by the publisher, because you should. You want to try to make it appealing to as many people as possible, so you have the chance to sell as many as possible.
Once my first book was released (which literally took me several years to gather the information, stories and pictures I wanted to include) I began to send it out to specific people in the industry that I hoped would get some sort of attention for possible sales. Did I expect to sell a million copies? Not at all, bear hunting as you can imagine is a bit of a niche market. However, I did think that my book was going to be useful to bear hunters and that if I could just get someone to pay attention to it for a second, something might happen…..like tossing a floating frog over a submerged log…a lunker big mouth might bite!
Did I get a huge fish to bite on my casts? No, not really. But I did get a strike! I did get the attention of my publisher of my second book. After some back and forth, I was approached with a book deal and of course, took it. I had my work cut out for me to meet the contract, that is for sure. But it was a great challenge and one I rather enjoyed completing, which led to the publishing of “The Ultimate Guide To Black Bear Hunting”. Now, I was not only a self published author, but an actual paid, published author, by a big name publisher! I was, and still am, very proud of that accomplishment.
In the meantime, a year had passed and I was starting to see profits from my first book, finally. The good thing about books (and ebooks) is that once they are out there, they are out there. You can make some sort of residual money off of the title until it is retired, if it ever gets retired. Plus, you never know, you may find yourself with a hit book one time, and that could be all it takes.
In the mean time, I continue to write for magazine publications, as well as push some other book title projects to other publishers. To me, each book project is like a soft lure or crappie jig, maybe of a different color or size. I just have to find the right match of publisher and book, just like you have to find the right match for color and size to fish wanting to take a bite.
In my past, I was a videogame business developer, meaning, I negotiated the distribution and/or publishing contracts between videogame developers (like the writer of a book) and the videogame publisher (like a publisher of a book, someone to put the money forth to get the item to market). It was no different back then. I would have titles to place in North America or Europe, etc. and I would be placed with the challenge of finding a publisher home from the product.
Now some products you just couldn’t place, they were not any good. I didn’t run into many of them, as I would avoid working with them in the first place, but then again, there were other titles that you knew you could find a home for, you just had to have the right conditions.
To me, writing about our hunting heritage and outdoor lifestyle is a passion. I am not doing it to get rich or famous. I really could care less about fame in any sort of way. Am I a writing purist against opportunity and companies approaching me for reviews or other options? Of course not, no. But writing and sharing my experiences with the public to encourage our youth and showcase to the public our hunting heritage is something I am going to continue to do, whether I get sponsored by Kuiu or Cabelas or any other outdoor company. With or without endorsements, I am pursing this love and I would encourage you to do the same. It is my hope that at least one of my readers of the titles or articles I have released have found joy in reading about the topics, and that, maybe, just maybe, some of the advice I had given allowed them to be successful in hunting or taught them something new.
I hope that this article has given you encouragement to pursue writing if that is a fiery passion of yours.