Barely Alive After 2025

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If there's one tweak to a famous quote I love it's, "We do this not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy." If this doesn't describe this year's creative efforts, then I hope I don't give myself nearly as much to do next year. I figured I was due a break after a few years of recording and publishing audiobooks for The Fluxion Trilogy. Instead, a project I thought would take a month ended up sucking me in for several. The emotional burden of many things this year forced myself to give my creativity some grace to let a few things drop from the plan I set forth in January. Still, I managed to be quite productive on the few things that mattered most. Here's the summary... 2025 YEAR IN REVIEW The $1,300 Alphabet While I started The $1,300 Alphabet last year, there was plenty of activity with my illustrator, Nancy Anderson, to get this alphabet book containing...
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2024’s Checklist

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I love the quote, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." This year, I had an ambitious goal to accomplish something every month. I was wrapping up a few years of 10th Anniversary projects and wanted to get a head start on the next few years of projects. Some of these tasks were easier than others and some took a lot more work than I had expected. Ultimately, I'm proud of what I accomplished this year, so here's how my initial January plan stacked up... JANUARY/FEBRUARY: Releasing the complete, definitive edition of The Fluxion Trilogy wasn't too difficult for the hardcover, paperback, and eBook versions. However, all the experience I gained from producing the first three audiobooks came to a head when I realized I needed to re-record a lot of what I had previously done the last few years. This set me back a bit as I had originally only expected that I needed to record the Appendix...
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Celebrating 2023

Celebrating 2023

by benmweilertNo Comments
I saw a lot of milestones in 2023. Not only did I publish my 10th book this year, but it also won a major award. This was my 10th year as a Municipal Liaison (ML) for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and my 14th year of participating. I also finished my first trilogy of 10th-anniversary editions, along with audiobook versions of these books. This was also the year I joined the Colorado Author's League which has helped me connect with other writers in my state. Not all the plans I made at the beginning of the year came to fruition, but the beauty of having multiple projects in various stages of planning is that I can pick what I want to work on next. So, while plans change, here is what I actually did this year... 2023 YEAR IN REVIEW The Third Degree (10th Anniversary and Audiobook versions) By now, putting together a new version with character sketches (by Robin Childs) and a...
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The Psychology of Selling Books

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Of the many hats that self-published authors wear, salesperson can sometimes be the most intimidating. Obviously, we try to craft titles and blurbs that pique a reader’s interest as well as pay for professional-looking covers that grab potential readers’ attention. We’d like to think that just having a great cover and story idea will automatically generate sales for us, but selling books is more complicated than that. There’s a psychology that goes into selling books, especially in person. What is your writing worth? As a self-published author, what do you think your writing is worth? In the noise of an over-saturated literary market, sometimes the price of a book can swing a potential buyer from hesitant to willing. If it’s priced too cheap, then the customer will think the quality is lacking and isn’t worth their time. If it’s too expensive, a customer will think it’s not worth their money. A lot of readers won’t give unknown authors a chance unless the...
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Two Creative Certainties: Taxes [PART 2/2]

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It may come as a surprise that taxes are marginally easier than death when you’re a creative individual. While the latter requires explicit and detailed instructions on what to do upon your passing, the former is something you can control and often doesn’t involve more than a few extra forms when you’re filling out taxes for the year. Still, if you are selling anything that you created, the government will want a cut of that income. The one thing to be careful of here is that often this endeavor is considered a “hobby” instead of a business. If you want this extra income to be a business, it needs to be making a profit on an annual basis for many years. Consider how much you spend on stocking your inventory of products, advertising, and the variety of other costs that contribute to your creativity before determining if you’re even in the black when it comes to your business (which will...
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Two Creative Certainties: Death [PART 1/2]

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Before the recent birth of my second child, my wife and I were preparing for this new life coming into the world by ensuring that our kids would be financially secure upon both of our deaths. While we’re only in our late-30s, it’s difficult to consider both of us dying unexpectedly in the near future. And yet, we have had close friends who were about our age pass away suddenly this last year, so we know it can happen. When setting up a will or trust for your next of kin, there are a lot of assets that are easily included in these documents. Houses, investments, retirement accounts, and bank accounts. However, there is one thing a creative person needs to consider when planning for their death: what happens to the rights to their creative works? If you traditionally publish, some of these details may be already covered in your contract. If you self-publish, now might be the time to think about...
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What is the scope of your success?

by benmweilertNo Comments
An argument I often see in the writing community is how to define specific terms. Some examples are "When am I considered a writer?", "How long should my novel be?", and "Do I have to be traditionally published to consider myself an author?" Ultimately, many of these questions have one key concept: success. Just like how there are many genres out there, there are differing ideas on what constitutes a writer's success. This can either be a significant motivator or a source of endless depression, so let's look at how to measure the scope of a writer's success. What are your goals? I decided to take my writing more seriously in 2017. After cutting my teeth on the self-publishing process for a few years, I released the second edition of my debut trilogy and set a goal for myself to publish at least one book each year. Even though this goal brought me some stressful moments (and motivated me to seek therapy...
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The Case for Conventions [PART 2/2]

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Last month, I wrote about how selling books in person as a vendor at conventions (or “cons” for short) is a great way to get in front of your audience. However, there are many more benefits of attending conventions, whether as a vendor or just as a participant. Because—not only are you as a writer and author attending these conventions—but your fellow writers and authors are as well. If you want to network with others who have also published books, then conventions can be the best way to do this while also selling your books to potential readers. Part of networking at conventions is discussing the craft with others who are doing the same thing you are. You can learn a lot from someone who has gone through the process to make hardcovers, audiobooks, or even books in different genres. It’s great to see others selling books at these cons, not only because you want your peers to succeed, but it...
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The Case for Conventions [PART 1/2]

by benmweilertNo Comments
It's often been said that writing is a solitary profession. The problem is that—if you want to sell your books—you need to interact with other people. Selling online can be a challenge when there are so many options easily available and selling in brick-and-mortar stores has its own limitations and constraints. As an independent, self-published author, one of the best ways I've found to get my books into the hands of potential readers is by attending conventions as a vendor. There are lots of different conventions (or "cons" for short) out there. For some examples, check out my Events Page to see a history of all the cons I've attended as a vendor. Since most of my books fit in the science fiction and fantasy genres, I have found sci-fi conventions to be great places to set up shop. That doesn't mean there aren't cons for other genres where you can find readers who would want to read your books. In...
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Selling Books in Brick-and-Mortar Stores

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One challenge of self-publishing books is that you need to be convenient enough for your potential customers that they'll buy your product. When I started my author journey, I was so proud that I had a physical paperback version of my book that people could buy. But people wanted an eBook version. Then they wanted an audiobook version. I eventually made these versions available so that these customers would have no excuse not to buy my book. However, the latest accommodations customers want for self-published books is "Can I buy it at a store?" Traditional publishing used to be the only way an author could sell their books in brick-and-mortar stores. Fortunately, it has become somewhat easier for self-published and independent authors to make their books available in places that aren't exclusively online marketplaces. Being able to sell your books in a Barnes and Noble or independent bookstore improves your credibility as an author. It might earn you more sales because...
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