Celebrating the Small Full-Time Writer Wins
I told myself that when I hit 1k Substack subscribers, I would spill the tea on what’s been going on with my full-time writing journey, including some of the aspects I haven’t talked about before.
($43,440.60)
That is the figure marked ‘Net Due To Author’ on my last royalty statement that I received for my book. Meaning that I will start collecting royalties as soon $43k+ more of my books are sold.
That’s cool. Hey at least they aren’t sending me a bill lol. I was quite aware that the book I wrote, my memoir at that, in my full audacity, as a Black, queer woman who has been divorced from a husband, a wife, and a country, was ‘niche’ to put it simply and not likely to garner NYT bestseller buzz. I had no pretense or delusion about that. Nor was I so naive as to think that I would be able to count on any royalties to pay my bills.
But my $40k book advance + $8k to record my own audiobook absolutely paid a few years worth of my bills. Cool cool.
But more than that, having my book published fulfilled a childhood dream of mine, and served the purpose of making me an author. And despite the fact that I am relatively a ‘no name,’ it turns out that a few people have bought my book. And a few people have even read my book. And some people even really liked my book a lot. And some of those people who have bought my book, read it, and liked it, have talked about it and shared it with their friends and a few have even took the time to rate my book.
On Amazon (cursed be their name), my book has 5 out of 5 stars thanks to 11 wonderful people.
On Goodreads, my book has a 4.48 rating out of 5, thanks to 40 ratings and 6 reviews.
(I was too bored with this to search any other sites to see what my book ratings and reviews are anywhere else, but I am also told that Chat GPT knows about me and my book and my Legacy Trips. So that’s cool too I guess.)
I lost count on the number of people who have told me directly that they loved my book. That’s actually not true, I never counted them so I can’t say I lost count of the number. But I did receive a lot of pictures from people posing with my book. And I continue to get pictures from people when they see my book in a bookstore somewhere out in the wild. I’ve included some of those pics scattered throughout this post, though this certainly is not all of them. But it’s these intangible things that I have used to measure the actual worth of my book baby…and it can’t be accurately represented by the -$43k royalty statement from my publisher.
For true, this little writer’s heart is overflowing from the responses I’ve received from my book these past few years. And that’s quite enough for me.
In fact, it is this feedback I’ve received and the entire experience of being a writer that caused me to decide to give this full-time writer’s life a try. Here is a bit of what it has looked like so far this year:
I hit 1k+ subscribers on Substack. Now, I did bring over my mailing list from Mailchimp that I have curated over the past 7 years. But still. This milestone counts big time when I’m counting the small wins. And it feels really good to say that. As my readers here, people always have the option to unsubscribe and opt-out. So while it is true that I’ve lost a few readers along the way (mostly because I have been consistently and loudly outspoken about the fact that the only terrorist organization I condemn is the United States of America), it is also true that I’ve added several hundred new readers to my work this year. And that is a big fucking deal. So if you are here and you subscribed to follow and read my writing, please know that the very simple gesture of hitting ‘subscribe’ means everything to full-time writers like me. Even if you read my shit and don’t ‘react’ to it, you are still here and that means something to me. I don’t take that for granted. And maybe one day, you’ll like my shit enough to hit that heart button, or better yet, restack it (to the very few of you who have heart reacted and restacked, THANK YOU!!). But what the full time writer in me really needs is for the number of my paid subscribers to double, or even triple. So if you enjoy and/or want to support my full time writing habit, please become a paid subscriber which would help me pay my bills since I won’t be seeing a royalty check from my book sales anytime soon/ever.
Late last year, I decided and declared that I wanted to ghostwrite memoirs. So I’ve been learning about what that process looks like and dipping my toes in. The four main reasons I decided to do this is:
I wrote and published my own memoir.
A few friends have asked me to write their memoirs.
I LOVE reading and listening to audiobooks of memoirs. My recent and favorites include: Will by Will Smith, Jennifer Lewis: The Mother of Black Hollywood, Worthy by Jada Pinkett-Smith, How To Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair, Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H, Gathering Blossoms Under Fire by Alice Walker, Born A Crime by Trevor Noah. [Please consider purchasing any of these titles and more from my Bookshop.org affiliate link here!]
It will pay well and will allow me the flexibility and freedom to focus on my writing and working with special projects solely as my source of income and feeding my creative spirit and purpose…which is the whole point of this full-time writer’s life!
So I began creating a format and flow that I have shared with potential clients about what they will experience working with me to help them bring their book baby into the world as their ‘surrogate writer.’ I even offer memoir ghost writing packages that include spending time writing with me here in Costa Rica! I’ve had the opportunity to present my surrogate writing services to several people and I am proud to announce that I will begin working on my first memoir ghostwriting project in June! And I will be sure to share with you about the process ;) I am taking one more client this year and my schedule is open to take on up to 3 clients next year. Hit me up if you want to book a call with me to learn more about this really cool process and how we can work together with me as your surrogate writer.
So far this year, my paid writing projects/clients have included a writing a weekly newsletter for a small business in Atlanta, coaching an aspiring author as she completed writing her memoir, and I continue to be a featured writer for the publications Here4TheKids Connections and America Hates Us.
I still host my monthly virtual writing circle (open to all my paid Substack and Patreon subscribers, next one is Saturday, June 14, 9a-12p ET), and I still participate in writing circles and community with The Open Book Co. Both spaces continue to nurture and develop my style, voice, accountability and community.
I am still working on writing The Solo Poly Diaries: How Free Do You Want To Be, but I’m also taking a bit of a pause at the moment. This particular project has brought up a lot of questions for me in how I write and share about the people who I have been in relationship with, from former spouses, partners, lovers and friends to my current romantic and platonic relationships, even my family. I actually have a lot more to say about this and will, but right now I have some things to work through in this area as it has presented some very unexpected feelings and realizations to come up for me with my writing style in a way that has my heart tender. You could say that I’m facing a writer’s crisis of identity and I am deep in process here and am going to give myself time.
In 2023, while at law school, Chelsea experienced something bizarre. A stranger gave her some sensitive information and then disappeared. That’s the true part. What happens place next is a 3 part series that I am writing somewhere in the genre of Black feminist, Afro-futuristic, dystopian, science fiction. Right now, I’m calling it TESTAMENT and am at the beginning stages of world building. This is so far outside of my comfort zone and completely different from anything that I have ever done before. Working on this series is STRETCHING ME! But I am obsessed with it and can’t wait to watch it unfold and come to life outside of my imagination.
I have started writing microstories (you’ve seen a few of them here) and I am having fun with these. Next, I want to start writing micromemoirs which are 200 words or less. I also plan to play with writing fast fiction, which are short stories that are 1000 words or less.
To me, being a full-time writer means that I have decided to create a life for myself where I spend all my time reading and writing, and it pays my bills. Here are the topics that are currently pulling at my heart strings and the edges of my brain grapes, and what I REALLY want to write about so this is what’s in store in the weeks ahead from The Are We Free Yet Files and The Solo Poly Diaries:
Conscious uncoupling and closure…because is it just me or is everyone’s friends going through or heading towards divorce right now??? And also, let’s say your ex-girfriend moves to the little town in Costa Rica where you live but doesn’t say anything to you about it, what would you think or do? I swear this shit only happens to me and if the Universe didn’t want me to be a writer then why does it give me all this weird and wild content?! CONSCIOUS UNCOUPLING AND CLOSURE PEOPLE!
Perimenopause and my upcoming birthday on 7/3/77 and the fact that I will be 48 years old which is just 1 year away from 49, the age my mother was when she died.
Palestine.
And so I will…I will write about all of that. And so much more. I promise. Eventually. Because that’s what the fuck Substack is for, and that’s what the fuck full-time writers do.
Ta-da.
Somebody buy that girl a coffee ;)
Whew! You a busy lady! I am so intrigued by the Chelsea story, can't wait to hear more! 🖤