Who here is self-employed?

Major Lambda said:

I worked four years on the book - took pride in my writing, and ALL the time I had the reader in mind. The readers curiosity and interest was my number one goal.

I spend hundreds of hours on research, corrections and editing...... so for my four years of hard and strenuous work....... I would like to get paid.



Major Lambda

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I would like to be paid $5 for every post I make here, but that isn't going to happen. It really doesn't matter how much or little you put into it in the end. It is about the book's marketability. Getting a publisher to commit to marketing your book is going to be the hardest hurdle for anyone not self-publishing. I have known people to spend lots of time as you have, and have a publisher, and still net very few copies sold. It is a saturated field and people are not just that into books compared to a generation ago, at least outside the celebrity and sci-fi genres.

backpacker said:

I would like to be paid $5 for every post I make here, but that isn't going to happen. It really doesn't matter how much or little you put into it in the end. It is about the book's marketability. Getting a publisher to commit to marketing your book is going to be the hardest hurdle for anyone not self-publishing. I have known people to spend lots of time as you have, and have a publisher, and still net very few copies sold. It is a saturated field and people are not just that into books compared to a generation ago, at least outside the celebrity and sci-fi genres.

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The job of the publisher is to do a final edit - Publish ...... market and advertise the book. A GOOD and respectable publisher does that and does not ask for fees upfront.



Major Lambda

Major Lambda said:

The job of the publisher is to do a final edit - Publish ...... market and advertise the book. A GOOD and respectable publisher does that and does not ask for fees upfront.



Major Lambda

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They don't need to ask for fees. Do whatever you want to do. One of the people I spoke of writes for a living. He was asked to do a collection of his writings, it was marketed, etc. and it sold 11 copies I believe it was. We live in a click-click world, and some of those clicks get people free content because they aren't willing to pay for it. Anyway, I don't want to derail the thread further because that is not what it is really about.

Major Lambda said:

I worked four years on the book - took pride in my writing, and ALL the time I had the reader in mind. The readers curiosity and interest was my number one goal.

I spend hundreds of hours on research, corrections and editing...... so for my four years of hard and strenuous work....... I would like to get paid.



Major Lambda

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That is a perfectly rational desire to have but writing is a brutal business. There doesn’t seem to be much of a correlation between how much work you put into a book and how much money it makes. Lots of really good books get turned down by publishers and some pretty crappy ones get accepted.

If I were in your shoes, and I am not, I would try and go the traditional route and find a publisher but if that fails, and I still think it is a book people would want to read, then consider the self-publishing route. If you do that and it sells it will make it much easier to find a publisher the next go-around. But in the end it is your life and your hard work so best of luck in however you do it.

Skeptic Bob said:

That is a perfectly rational desire to have but writing is a brutal business. There doesn’t seem to be much of a correlation between how much work you put into a book and how much money it makes. Lots of really good books get turned down by publishers and some pretty crappy ones get accepted.

If I were in your shoes, and I am not, I would try and go the traditional route and find a publisher but if that fails, and I still think it is a book people would want to read, then consider the self-publishing route. If you do that and it sells it will make it much easier to find a publisher the next go-around. But in the end it is your life and your hard work so best of luck in however you do it.

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I've gone the indie route and my book sales take care of my daily expenses. :mrgreen:

PoS said:

I've gone the indie route and my book sales take care of my daily expenses. :mrgreen:

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What is your book about?

Skeptic Bob said:

I always thought that would be a great way to turn a profit off of a piece of property.

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Before I got into blacksmithing, (no, not horse shoe fitting) my current vocation, I bought, renovated, rented & sold 6 old houses (100 years +) in what was considered to be a rough part of town at the time. All of the houses were structurally sound which is the most important part and the existing plumbing, wiring etc worked but needed upgrading along with central HVAC.
While the neighborhood was considered to be rough, I had no trouble & the location was walking distance to a large & expanding University Hospital. Therefore, I had no trouble either renting or selling them when I decided to move to the country.

Before you buy investment property please remember the importance of location & the trend of the area.

I've been self-employed most of my life after military service & university study.
Briefly put, I've worked as a boat builder, had a fishing/oyster boat & business, bar tended, taught & tutored university students, worked on a pile driver building piers & boathouses, worked as a Psychiatric Case Worker in suicide prevention and on and on.

Blacksmithing is not the way to quick & easy money but has been among the most rewarding jobs I've had. I've made everything from large wrought iron gates to precise, reproduction Elizabethan surgical instruments, Civil War cannon parts, harpoon heads, Art Deco wine racks, reproduction Spanish andirons, wrought iron African animals and the list goes on.

If you do decide on property investment, please do plenty of research on the house as well as the surrounding area. Yes, you can make a profit but you can also go broke from surprise foundation/termite damage, uninsured & incompetent contractors etc Good Luck