The Ups and Downs of #AuthorLife

by Shari Randall

Authors find many events to celebrate on the writing journey. Just a few days ago fellow Writer Who Kills Lisa Malice wrote about being a debut author. Debuts are definitely worth celebrating as well as publication days AKA “book birthdays,” signing a contract, and publishing a new story in a fun anthology. If we’re lucky, also we celebrate nominations and awards and being named to "best of" lists. 

We don’t mention it as much but I think we should celebrate a book or story simply being written. So many people have told me that their dream is to write a book. Writing a book or story isn’t easy – it’s hard to find the time, hard to make the time, hard to start, hard to keep going, hard to finish, hard to edit. Hard – goodness knows – to rewrite it!

 

So I try to keep that in mind and celebrate each step. With every publishing milestone, I stop and think to myself “#authorlife.” Coffee with an editor. Yes, #author life! Typing THE END on a manuscript - #authorlife! It’s my way of stopping to savor, to smell the roses, of this crazy turn my life has taken.

 

That brings me to the less sunny milestones of #authorlife. Series cancellations. Short stories that turned out to be novels and vice versa. Losing beloved editors. Rejections.  

 

I recently passed one of those less-than-sunny milestones - having a series drop out of print.

 

Giving author talks at libraries is one of my favorite parts of #authorlife, and they often include the opportunity to sell books. I needed some copies of my first book, CURSES, BOILED AGAIN, so I ordered some from an online bookseller.

 

The next day I received an email from the bookseller. “Sorry, it’s OOP.”

I wrote back, “OOP?”

“Out Of Print.”

Oh.

That sound you heard was my heart dropping off a cliff. My beloved first novel – out of print. It felt like all my characters had been swept off a beach in a tsunami, without a chance for me to say a proper farewell.

 

Gone.

Well, I was naïve, and honestly, not paying attention. The book was released in 2018. Books that don’t sell a certain threshold go out of print, especially books that were published six years ago, an eon in the publishing business.

 

What to do? Simply wish my characters RIP? Or…..another adventure in #authorlife?

 

I decided to get my rights back, revive the series, and publish it myself. I'm working with a wonderful artist on designs for new covers. A fresh look. I couldn’t let my characters go, and I hope the new covers will entice new readers.

 

I’ll be self-publishing them, so that's another stop on the road called #authorlife. Wish me luck.

 

How do you cope with the ups and downs of writer’s life?

Shari Randall is the author of the soon to be revived Lobster Shack Mystery series. As Meri Allen, she writes the Ice Cream Shop Mystery series, which is still in print and available wherever books are sold  (thank goodness!)