Simon Whaley’s Business of Writing - October 2022
Welcome to my October newsletter!
A few days ago, I saw my 200th image broadcast on one of the BBC's weather bulletins. Anyone can upload a weather-related photo to their website, so it's always amazing when they pick one of mine out of the tens of thousands of images they get every day.
Our Writing Journey
For me, September ended with my second novel, Foraging for Murder, being selected by Amazon as one of their October Monthly Deals. This means instead of the ebook being £1.99, they’ve dropped it to £0.99. And at the time of writing, I’ve sold over three times as many copies this month as I typically sell in the same period, so hopefully it’s been beneficial.
I say, hopefully, because it’s not always easy to assess how successful a promotion might be. This is the first time they had invited me to take part, so I was keen to find out how it would go. Naturally, I’d done some research beforehand and, typically, came cross some mixed reviews. Some authors loved being selected for a Kindle Daily Deal (where Amazon promotes your book for 24 hours), but hated the monthly deal because your book is one of many being promoted during the month and it gets lost among all the other monthly deal promotions.
But as I keep reminding myself, those writers are talking about their journey, and I’m travelling on my writing journey. Just because their experience wasn’t great doesn’t mean that mine will be the same. (And so far, it doesn’t seem to be.)
We all have our own writing journeys, and for an upcoming issue of Writing Magazine, I chatted to Melvina Young, who’s a senior writer at Hallmark Cards in the USA. Now, we might not think of greetings cards as a typical writing market, but most cards you buy to send to loved ones have words inside them, and someone has to write them.
Melvina’s writing journey was certainly an interesting one, because she originally trained as a historian.
‘To me,’ says Melvina, ‘at the heart of effective teaching and meaningful writing, was helping people connect deeply through telling our human stories and then building common understanding, mutually held respect, and empathy for one another. In my job, I helped people and made a good difference in the world. I came to Hallmark because, as I researched other jobs, it was clear that I could keep making a good difference in the world through writing. I still get to help people make those important connections, but on a more intimate level.’
The switch from academia to creative writing was easier than Melville expected. But when she stopped to think about it, there were many transferable skills.
‘I hadn’t really thought of myself as a creative person before. But I have always been a deeply empathetic person who could write well, especially in capturing emotional experiences. I was able to bring my academic skill set—listening, learning, researching, writing, refining, and crafting—into this deeply creative, curious, innovative, intellectual, and emotionally intelligent space.’
And this is what she brings to her daily writing job.
Connecting Emotions
‘Every day I get to think about how human connection looks, how it works, how it acts, how it shows up in our lives, how it enables us to carry each other through, and how it makes life a wondrous thing to live.’
‘When a child is born, I get to help someone say, “Congratulations on one of the most beautiful things that will ever happen in your life.” When someone marries, I get to help someone say, “You chose this person and now you’ll build something beautiful and unbreakable together.” When life is hard, I get to help someone say “This is hard. But I see you. I’m with you.” And when life delivers the heartache that it inevitably must, when the loss is immeasurable and unmatched, I get to write for the uniqueness of each person’s grief.’
‘You could say I get to write different kinds of love stories every day. To love is to fall, to dream, to dare, to hope, to give unconditionally, to carry, to lean, to have patience, to mess up, to extend forgiveness, to try and try again, to endure. And every HMK card, no matter if it just says, “Hello” or, “Your love gives my life meaning,” says to someone, “I care.” All of that is love, you see.’
For Melvina, her writing is all about expressing emotions. That’s why people send cards. People who don’t write often find it difficult to put their emotions into words. That’s why they buy a greetings card - because the card does the hard work for them, so they don’t have to. And that’s what a greetings card writer does... puts difficult emotions into easy words.
Looking back, Melvina can now see how her writing journey began, developed, and prospered. Whatever route she took, it was her journey. She doesn’t need to compare it with anybody else’s writing journey, because she’s not travelling on that.
You can read more about Melvina's tips on writing for the greetings card industry in the December issue of Writing Magazine, out at the beginning of November.
It’s always interesting to know how other writers fair on their writing journeys, but we should always remember we’re on our journey, not theirs. We have to do what’s right for *us*. And just because something was right for them, it doesn’t mean it will be right for us.
So don’t worry about what others are doing. Just look at your own writing business. As for me, I’ve just noticed that sales of Blooming Murder have also increased this month while Amazon discounted Foraging for Murder. It looks like, for me, having an Amazon Monthly Deal has been pretty useful!
Until next month!
Simon
