Welcome to my new subscribers who joined via a sign up sheet at a workshop. It’s lovely to have you here, but if you’re having second thoughts please feel free to unsubscribe or email me and I’ll do it for you.
I’ve spent the past few weeks doing all kinds of admin stuff. Not a fan of the details – I’m definitely a big-picture girl, much to the horror of my husband, the details guy. I mean, come on, that’s his thing. If we were both big on the details, we’d never do anything.
The admin stuff I was doing this week was publishing the ebook version of my non-fiction title The Art Inspired Writer.
The last time I published anything, we were in lockdown, so that gives you an idea of how long ago it was. So there I was on Monday, muttering at my computer and cursing the day I decided to publish things. Why can’t I just go full Emily Dickinson and die with an attic full of words? Then future generations would have the pleasure of discovering my amazing talents…
As you can see, I was delirious with tedium at this point.
But I persevered, and now the ebook version is out there for the world to see. I’ll admit that it’s a minimum viable product. An ebook is gateway publishing, literally the least I could do. I toyed with the idea of doing a Kickstarter, but, wow, all the palaver just put me off.
Honestly, I was about to throw in the towel and just post the book as a blog, but while I was up to my ears in linking Square to Payhip and getting my damn margins right, I received an interstate inquiry about facilitating a workshop next year. It was just the boost I needed to plough through and get the book done.
What a lovely little bit of validation it was. Just as I was asking myself what the point of it all was, someone put their hand up and said, ‘hey, keep going! We’re interested in your niche little book, you arty nut job.’
I’m paraphrasing, but this was my takeaway.
I love my niche. I’ve found my ikigai; the thing I love to do, that I’m pretty good at, that just happens to be the thing some people want, and are prepared to pay for.
I enjoy being niche. My art book and my critique book are super niche. I’d like to think my fiction is more accessible, but in the era of Romantasy and the 50 shades of erotica, I’m sticking to my own weird niche of art inspired stories and sweet romantic stories where everything ends well for the nice people and there’s a learning curve for those who are not so nice!
I’m not always so niche though! I went to the Romance Writers Conference in Hobart in August and was fortunate enough to be on the organising committee of the first ever Currumbin Crime Writers Festival. Both were amazing experiences, and I’d highly recommend both attending a large writers conference and getting outside your comfort zone and volunteering for a committee or writers group.
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