Turning fiction into a business opportunity

[VeeGirl]

@joanna what is your reason for using a pen name for non fiction? I'm wondering if using your real name or pen name for non fiction would be better depending on the topics.

 

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[joanna]

@joanna what is your reason for using a pen name for non fiction? I'm wondering if using your real name or pen name for non fiction would be better depending on the topics.

Sort of similar to why I ended up using a pen name for the fiction books - branding. I use my full name for coding/design work, and any books in that area will be published under that name. If you have experience that adds klout to your books, it makes sense to go for your real name.

The current non-fiction books I have were in a niche were using my name wouldn't really make a difference. A pen name also makes it easier to sell the business as a whole if I ever decided to do that.

In general, use a pen name in non-fiction if you want some sort of anonymity and/or you want to distance yourself from the brand. Also a bit like in fiction, certain genres might react better to a certain personality types. It doesn't necessarily have to mean you need to be a fake, but just be yourself within that facet of your personality. I guess you could think of it the same way actors or singers have stage names.

Without knowing more details about your situation generic advice only goes so far

 

[VeeGirl]

Thank you @joanna your reply was just what I needed and definitely cleared up a few things.

On a side note, if anyone is interested in stock photos, graphicstock.com is having a huge sale. If you use the code SPECIAL99 you get a year subscription for $99 (regular price $588) with unlimited downloads. I'm still thinking if I should go for it because they don't have a lot of people/food photos which is what I need.

 

[seamles]

I'd be interested in an update for sure! Your website looks amazing and very professional (probably due to your previous background!) I also visited your book cover page, which is also impressive.

I don't know if I can actually start with that for my first book but hope to check it out more soon!

 

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[joanna]

Thanks for the kind words @seamles. I didn't have much progress recently so been quiet, mostly doing ghostwriting, editing and covers, so haven't had time to write my own stuff. Got a few publishing related things to be done soon, but have to keep my head down to get everything in place.

Recently I did a live streaming of a cover design, so once I process the 3h of raw footage into something more manageable with design tips and commentary, I'll make that a mini-product.

The anthology has been out for a while, but haven't seen sales being affected by it. So going to publish the story as a standalone soon. Looking to use that as an example for a "publishing process" video.

A few things popped up recently that completely messed up my schedule, but slowly recovering. So hoping for a productive week.

 

[joanna]

Update time!

OK, maybe there should be a bit less excitement there

*Designy stuff*

https://new.livestream.com/accounts/7886146

Trying to get over my fear of public speaking and doing videos I started to do the pre-mades live. I've planned to do one a week for months, but there was always something popping up. So I decided to get some accountability in place. Even if no one comes, the event is set and I have to get that cover done, no excuses.

*Writing*

Finally got some writing done on The Hunt. Added about 2-3k (haven't been tracking this well).

Doing quite a bit of editing/ghostwriting - that kept me busy. Got an offer to possibly become a co-author of some of the ghostwriting stuff, so still have to make a decision on that.

*Publishing*

I have my first author for the publishing company (who is not me that is ) so it's an interesting journey getting all that ready for publication. Considering maybe getting more authors via outsourcing, but the costs are a bit prohibitive.

Trying to be extra productive this week. So maybe will have some progress to report on Monday.

 

[joanna]

So... it's been a while.

*Ghostwriting*

Finally finished the ghostwriting book. The two books were an interesting experience. Sort of like my two years as a teacher. After the first year I thought it was great and maybe it could be an interesting career choice. Then the second year made me thoroughly revise that choice... A class of primary school children from hell for a year can do that to you My ghostwriting experience has been similar in the sense that the second book did force me to look long and hard at the time cost involved. I thought I can just let things flow and follow a given outline. Unfortunately I can't help but try and fix things, and inject logic and make things believable. Argh, which leads to a lot of time wasted on analysis, and the word count being a bit unpredictable (and I seem to have trouble writing short). Although my current client is very understanding the general expectation is to write to a given count, or at least close to it (not around 8-10k turning into 28k... because argh, damn transition scenes).

After a bit of deliberation I decided that my time will be better spent on other things like design and writer tools, and devote writing time to only my own work.

*Publishing*

I've mentioned before I have acquired my first author. Long time without updates... The book is now published:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KSNGAV2/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20
It's a Twilight parody vampire adventure story. I'm looking for reviews ( as always ) so if there's any takers it's discounted at the moment.

*Design*

I've actually kept to the weekly schedule with me Live Design session (except this and next week since I'm on holiday). It's nice to have some external pressure, even if no one does show up live At the same time one of the Live Design Pre-mades already sold, so it's quite a fun thing to do.

Doing these session also made me realize how much time the covers take. With 3h+ for a pre-made, and often a lot more for a client, as well as multiple stock images per cover I decided to up my prices. I think I'm also starting to specialize in a certain look (photomanipulation heavy) which has its benefits, but again the downside is more time taken. I'll keep the cheaper price for the simpler pre-mades, but more complex ones will now be more expensive.

*Writing*

As part of relaxing on holiday I want to get started on the short story about a soul devouring parrot I did the cover for this (and the sequel) some time ago:

Well, short-story *caugh*, will see about that.

 

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[joanna]

Quick update.

3k into the parrot story. Trying to deal with wedding organisation, a week long renovations project that has me move out of the house till it's done and running other parts of the business doesn't leave much writing time. Hope to catch up a bit while the painting is going on next week.

Finally got around to re-doing the cover for the next book in the Dragon series (had the new logo and illustration done months ago...).