Simon Whaley’s Business of Writing: October 2024 - Leap of Faith

Welcome to my October 2024 newsletter.

Since last month’s newsletter, the UK experienced witnessed some magnificent views of the Northern Lights and I photographed them for the first time. Living in the Midlands, we tend not to see them, because I’m too far south, but October 10th was a good night!

The Northern Lights in Shropshire! © Simon Whaley

Red sky at night, Northern Light hunter’s delight! © Simon Whaley

Leap of Faith

“It has to feel right. If it doesn’t, don’t do it.”

“I think it feels right,” I replied, “but it’s scary. I’m giving up a lot.”

His chuckle filled the earpiece. “Scary is good. It means you’ll work harder to make it work. Just remember one thing. It’s a leap of faith. Without it, you’ll never know if you can make it happen. Taking it doesn’t guarantee success, but it’s the only way to find out. Good luck!”

That phone conversation took place twenty-one years ago this month. I was sitting in my car, parked in the staff car park, chatting with a freelance writer who’d recently facilitated a workshop at the writers’ group I go to. At that workshop, I’d spoken to him about going freelance, and he’d given me his phone number.

“Call me if you have any questions.”

I had loads.

When I called him, Hodder had just published my first book six weeks previously. I had also just landed a series of magazine commissions. And yet, I was still employed full-time at a local authority, with all the bureaucratic joys that come with working for a local authority and having a two-hour commute every day.

Over the coming days, I decided it was time to jump. I wanted to give this freelance writing a go. Now, just felt right. My gut instinct was with me on this one. How else would I know if I could make it work?

Decision made, the next step was, when? Sometimes, the Universe makes those decisions for us. An opportunity had arisen for the local authority to relocate all of its staff that were dispersed across several sites around the county into one extensive building. Strategically, this was the right thing for the council to do. For me, though, it added another 15 miles each way to my commute and another half an hour each way to my travelling time.

Although I’d already made my decision, this just confirmed I was doing the right thing for myself. And it (sort of) clarified when I was going to make my leap. I resigned, stating that my last day working as a local government employee would be the day before all the staff relocated. (Despite the fact that I only had to give four weeks’ notice, it took the council another ten weeks to get their act together! 🤣)

In this business of writing, everything is a leap of faith. Should I pitch this article idea? Should I invest time and write this book? Should I look for an agent, a traditional publisher, or self-publish? Every time we begin a new writing project, big or small, we don’t know how it will pan out. Some writing projects work. Some don’t. But until we make that leap, we’ll never know.

I’ve written in this newsletter before how the writing world changes. Markets shrink or disappear entirely. New ones open. It can take a leap of faith deciding to risk working with a new client, too.

But it’s only by taking a leap of faith in ourselves that we create opportunities for others to take a leap of faith in us. The magazine editor can’t accept a pitch unless we have the courage to send it. A literary agent can’t take a leap of faith in us until we dare to send them some of our work. A reader can’t take a leap of faith in us unless we’ve launched ourselves into writing our book. Ultimately, every piece of writing we do is a leap of faith.

So that initial leap of faith starts with us. Some leaps are smaller than others. Either way, every leap is a gamble of some sort. And if you won’t gamble on yourself, why should anybody else?

At this time of year, I often think back to that initial leap of faith. From that jump, so many things have happened. That initial leap has led to thousands of other leaps. (You’d think with all this leaping, I’d have lost some weight!)

So if you’re in a quandary about whether to begin a new writing project, ask yourself what’s the worst that can happen. And if the answer isn’t life-threatening, then consider making the jump. You never know where you and your writing business might land.

Blooming Cheap!

I don’t know what Amazon UK is doing, but I noticed the other day they’re selling my first novel, Blooming Murder, in paperback format for £3.50 instead of £9.99 (and it is Amazon, it’s not a reseller). Now, as a self-published author using Amazon’s KDP platform, I can’t buy author copies at that price! So if you prefer reading physical books, rather than digital books, then this is most definitely a bargain. I don’t know how long this will last (hopefully, this offer won’t disappear before this newsletter goes out), but yes, dear subscriber, I have bought a couple of copies myself at that price!

The Self-Publishing Guide

Writing Magazine has just published The Self-Publishing Guide, the complete guide to self-publishing your book. Packed with advice about how to get your manuscript in shape, how to edit and proofread your manuscript, sort out covers, and market your book, there are even step-by-step guides to how to upload your manuscript to the major publishing platforms.

I contributed seven of the articles in this collection, which just made me realise how much I’ve learned from self-publishing over the years! (Now there’s a leap I hadn’t imagined taking over twenty-one years ago!)

Copies are available in newsagents or you can buy directly from: https://www.writers-online.co.uk/store/reader-offers/writing-magazine/the-self-publishing-guide-first-edition-issue-1/

Until next month, keeeeeeeeeep writing!

Best wishes,

Simon