The Business of Writing: Keywords

Of all of the posts I'm writing for this A to Z Challenge, this one is the most relevant for bloggers. 

When I went to a one-day conference on Paths to Publication put on by Antioch Writer's Workshop, one of the presenters, Cathy Day, recommended that when we write blog posts, the title should never be oblique.  It should be whatever someone would enter for a Google search if they were interested in the topic we are writing about. 

And then we should add a plethora of keywords or labels to the post so the content will be more easily searchable.

Cathy Day demonstrated it in the session - and it worked.

So, if I want to attract people interested in coal towns or Appalachia or the 1930s to one of my posts about the research I'm doing for my novels, I need to put that in the title of my post and add lots of labels including Appalachian writing to every post like that.  Otherwise, my readers - the people interested in my writing - will never ever find me.

Who knew it was that simple? 

The Business of Writing: Grants for Individuals

In my grant-writing class, I was given the opportunity to do something I didn't expect: write a grant proposal to fund my own research.  The Foundation Center has a Grants for Individuals database.  I am pretty sure it's not available for free.  If you want to access it, you may need to find a university or public library that has a full subscription. 

I write historical fiction and have plans for at least three research trips over the next year. When I searched for funding sources specifically for individuals doing historical research, I didn't find many.  But there are plenty for authors.  And lots for writers like me - not yet published older mommies.  However, there are apparently a lot of us, so the competition is fierce.  Once you apply, you have to wait a while to reapply for most of grants. 

I compiled a list of the grants that I may apply for down the line once I actually get something impressive on my CV (besides my vast experience as a software developer/nerd, which doesn't help at all). 

If anyone is interested, I can do some posts about the specific opportunities later (not just the ones for middle-aged mommy types of people).  Have you ever thought about applying for a grant to fund your writing?

The Business of Writing: Excuses

At a normal kind of job at work, you wouldn't make excuses for not doing your job. You might - people do - but it doesn't exonerate you from getting the work done. 

As writers, if we consider this to be our work, we shouldn't accept excuses from ourselves.  We should set reasonable plans and expectations given the number of hours we have to work.  And we should hold ourselves accountable.  (Yes, this is a pep talk to myself.)

The Business of Writing: Duplicity

Not that definition of duplicity!  I'm referring to the old school (perhaps archaic) definition - doubling.  Maybe duality is a better word.

What I mean by duplicity and duality in terms of the business of writing is that we as writers have to be two things and do them in equal proportions. We must be writers and business managers. We must use the creative side of our brain in the one endeavor and the logical side for the other. Although our inclination is to be creative, I'm convinced we must manage the business side to be financially successful in this business, regardless of what route we take to publication: traditional, small press, or self-publishing.

The Business of Writing: CV

One thing I've done recently is write a CV for myself.  I had to do it as an exercise in my grant writing class because I am writing a grant proposal to fund my own research.  The challenge I ran into in writing my CV was the blank page staring at me, which was absolutely terrifying. 

(CV stands for Curriculum Vitae. It's a detailed, multi-page résumé. Here's an academic link on how to write one: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/641/01/.)

I had a CV for the work I did as a software developer, but translating that into a CV for a creative writer was brutal.  I have not yet published any of my creative work, so I decided to include my works in progress with a blurb for each. As you probably know, writing a blurb can be more difficult than writing the whole novel.

Having a homework sort of deadline for writing my CV helped me write all of my blurbs - I set the anxiety aside and just did it. I ended up really liking what I came up with - and I get to look forward to a critique of them from my professor, which can only help.

For me, the glaring lack of publication credits on my CV is strangely motivating.  It makes me want to get busy and get something, anything, published. 

Do you have a CV as a writer?  If you do, have you ever had the opportunity to use it?

The Business of Writing: Accounting

I know Accounting isn't the most interesting topic to start off with for the A to Z Challenge. But if you are treating your creative work as a business (which I'm recently convinced we should be doing), keeping track of the money you spend is everything if you want to reduce the tax on the amount you earn as a writer. 

A few years ago, just before I injured my leg, had my last baby, and the economy took a hard dive, I started my own software consulting businesses. I used an accountant and learned from her the ins and outs of starting a small business.

The key to succeeding financially, besides getting work, was keeping track of receipts to be used as deductions, including household expenses since I worked at home.  Based on the square footage of dedicated work space in my home, I was able to write off a percentage of things you wouldn't think have anything to do with it, like homeowner association fees and the cost of salt for the water softener. 

One of the most important things I learned from my accountant is that I had to pay the employer portion of the tax for Medicare or Social Security (I don't remember which).  The bottom line is this: when self-employed,  I had to charge significantly more per hour to cover the cost of that tax. Otherwise, I would have made less in the end. 

As creative writers we can't set our fees in the same way, but it's definitely something to be aware of.  If you are on the verge of making money with your writing, make an appointment with an accountant right away so you don't spend the money you will need to pay in taxes. 

I'm no accountant, so don't take my word for it. Get a CPA or go to the small business association web site for your area and/or the IRS web site.