I rarely thinks things through. Then again, anyone who has met me knows that I jump first ask questions later. This way of life cost me a few dollars, headaches, sleepless nights and panic attacks over the years. Fun right? Best part is, when I began writing, I can say I had a decent amount of money saved up. Now, not so much.
What made me lose so much money? I think the answer to this is, becoming an indie author. This life is expensive and the worst part is I made mistakes that could have ruined me. Everyday I thank my lucky stars that I saved up enough money to take this massive blow. Now I think back on what were my expenses and they seem pretty standard in this industry.
The first part of this painful story was an easy purchase; I got the platform to write in. Microsoft Word, to me, was inexpensive and much more accessible to use than Google Doc, and the best part was my father had a free key. Then began the fun process of writing and editing for myself. Again, I have to reiterate I’m Latino from the island of Puerto Rico. My first language is Spanish, so I knew after I completed drafts, I needed an editor. My friend at the time offered to edit my manuscript for free, but I slowly ended up paying him a decent amount of money since I believe in the “No work should be done for free” philosophy.
Since that was taken care of, I began the next fun part, the search for illustrators. I knew this was a steep hill to climb since, at the time, I lost my job, moved to Connecticut, and had to pay rent. Lucky for me, I moved in with family. This stroke of luck meant I did not have to sell my car or go strip at the local gay bar for money. Lucky me, right?
After a few candidates and searching, I found Cindy Avelino, who, to this day, I glorify as a deity for accepting the job and working with me at a reasonable price while creating such amazing work (You are the MVP).
After some well-spent cash and amazing illustrations came the crash of the century, the editor. All the research in the world did not prepare me for this. So many editors and fake people just waiting to take advantage of new authors. Luck was on my side for once as I met this nice lady on the internet who would do my work for a decent amount of money. After price comparing and reading her testimonials, I decided I would give her a chance. So I did, and to my surprise, we worked great, she taught me a few things, and I grew as a writer along the way.
I read on the internet that people usually hire two editors to make sure they correct each other and catch what the other one missed. That made sense to me, so I found an editing company that seemed like a great match. Their salesman promised me the best work, and it was the same price as the first editor. I gave them my manuscript, signed a contract, hoping for the best, but this was a mistake. They were a month late with my manuscript; they did not edit but added grammatical errors into a word document, so they do not appear incorrect. Words that I purposely changed to see if they were doing a good job were missed entirely. The tense was wrong, and just thinking about them makes my blood boil.
After calling them out on their mistakes, they promised me to fix them all if I gave them two weeks; feeling generous, I allowed it. To my dismay, they screwed it up again. The worst part is they did not even fix any mistakes but added more. They asked for one more try, and in my head, I was thinking, “Sure, one last try.”
Need I say more?
They failed for the last time, I had to fight with them to get a full refund, and when they told me no, I was livid. I did what any smart person would do, contact my bank, told them my story, and showed them proof in the contract I signed. Lucky me, they had the clause that they owed me one hundred percent money-back guarantee if I was not satisfied. The bank, in turn, put an inquiry on them, and no more than one hour later, the editorial company called me on the phone asking me to withdraw my claim against them to the bank. I was grinning through the phone as I told them I wanted one hundred percent money-back like the contract we signed said. Two days later, I got my money back, and I reached out to my other editor and asked her to help me again, which she did. Now that the book has four editions, but I still find stupid errors in punctuation and capital letters.
It happens, I know, but still.
Then the last leg of my money loss with no income came to fruition, Marketing. I did Facebook and Amazon advertising multiple times; it somewhat worked. I sold some books, but not enough to offset my spending. I paid for marketing books and sale strategy that they all said the same disclaimer, “May or may not work.”
Looking at my bills and loss, I can safely say I have sunk in seven grand on one single book.
Every time I get the question, “Why do it? Why waste so much money on this hobby? Is this stress and money loss worth it?”
I look at my book and smile, saying, “Some people collect stamps, others waste their money on jewelry. I Enjoy the Illustrations and the touch of paper. I know I will not become famous overnight, but there is a handful of people who love my book. I will finish the story for them and me.”
I need a drink after remembering how much money I spent.
K.Rivera Author page 