* * My books go to a new level, or not

There’s an old saying that everybody has a novel in them. Certainly we all have a life story, and others have shared their life stories with us. And many of us have imagined other stories. But I know from personal experience that getting those stories onto paper is no mean feat.

When I began writing seriously three years ago, I quickly learned that ‘professional’ writing is a completely free-form activity; there are few rules and they are always changing. So I’m always in search of ways to learn how to do it better. Two recent events are illustrative of my status.

Last week, I was a featured speaker at a meeting of the Virginia Tech Faculty Women’s Reading Club to talk about my three books and the processes I’ve used in researching and writing them. I’ve had the opportunity to do many presentations, but this was unusual in that most in my audience of around 30 had already read my first book, The Spine of the Virginias. It’s about the formation of West Virginia from Virginia during the Civil War and of the people and culture on the contemporary border. Many in my audience were already familiar with my work.

I enjoy public speaking and I feel like I do a good job of conveying the enthusiasm I have for my topics. Afterwards, I was able to sell several of my other two books, and they gave me a nice gift.  It was a totally pleasurable way to spend an hour.

Then on Friday and Saturday, I attended the Fifth Annual Roanoke Regional Writers Conference at Hollins University. I’ve been to every one of them, and its always a great way to learn more about the craft, see old friends and meet new ones, and trade ideas. What I’ve come to increasingly conclude is that writing and writers come in all shapes and sizes. It is a completely free-form craft.

First, there are several major groupings: fiction, non-fiction, essays, blogs, plays, and more. Then there are subsets. For example, in fiction there are short stories and full length novels. There is young adult fiction, children’s fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. Non-fiction has a similar diversity of genres, from history, to travel, biography, science, inspirational, how-to, and more. There are conventional books (softcover and hardcover), e-books and audio books.

Second, this is the best of times and the worst of times to be a writer. Computers are ubiquitous and the Internet gives anybody that has one the ability to produce and widely disseminate the written word. The good news is that anybody can reach a wide audience. The bad news is that some people aren’t skilled at it and can produce lots of inferior work. The other bad news is that the folks who are good at it are often not compensated well for it.

In bygone days, the primary avenue for young writers to cut their teeth on writing, so to speak, was newspapers, where under the tutelage of peers and editors, an emerging writer could be schooled in the craft. Nowadays, many newspapers are hurting financially and opportunities are diminishing.

What this all boils down to is that it is exceedingly difficult to make much money, not to mention a decent or exceptional income, from writing.

My most recent book is Harmonic Highways, about traveling Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, The Crooked Road. I interviewed a number of musicians. One told me that making real money in music was almost unheard of, especially in Bluegrass. “We play for the fun. If we can sell some CDs and make enough money to pay for our strings and some gas, we’re happy.” He said a few people made lots of money, but “they are really talented, have worked really hard, and have gotten really lucky.” I realized it is much the same with writers.

I’m closing in on the first draft of my fourth book, a novel set in the area around Galax and Fries. My first three books were published by Pocahontas Press, a 25-year old Blacksburg publisher that my wife and I purchased from the heirs of the founder, Mary Holliman, when she died a year and a half ago. I’ve been thinking that it would be grand to get an agent for the next book and shop it with the big publishing houses with national distribution. I heard something at the Convention that is causing me to re-evaluate.

One speaker is a reasonably accomplished writer with several books on the market. She works feverishly full-time on her books, yet admitted that she makes half the money she formerly made nursing. Plus, the publisher’s editors are intensely demanding, often insisting she almost completely re-write her manuscripts before they’ll print them.

Right now, I have great rapport with my readers. They often say nice things about the places my books take them and the things they learn. I’m selling in the hundreds, not the tens of thousands. But I have control of my books. I do most of my own graphic design. I have editors who work for almost nothing, simply for the pleasure of the work and the recognition I give them in the Acknowledgements. Because there are fewer middle-men, I can keep more of the selling cost. Fortunately, I have another source of income, so I’m not dependent upon sales of books to put food on the table.

More sales would be nice, especially for the implied legitimacy. But I’m beginning to conclude that perhaps my current situation is the best of most, if not all, worlds