Inspiring Authors to Write

Admiring Authors for their Writing Abilities by India R. Adams

Whether it is Visionary Fiction, New Adult, Paranormal, as a writer I enjoy writing and sharing my enter most being with my readers.  I receive joy when and am inspired to share more through my writing when they purchase my books, follow my blogs, share comments, and ask for more from me regarding a series.  I cannot speak for every author, but I would venture to say, that most authors admire and are inspired through the feedback and action of their readers.

So, what do I think of sites that giveaway eBooks without the author’s permission? I think those site “executives” should imagine they have a little piece of land out in the middle of nowhere. It may not be much, and your friends may even doubt your sanity, but your heart tells you this tiny piece of Earth has promise because you can visualize all the potential this land has. And that is superb because you absolutely love roses, and you know this beautiful property can be
the perfect place to start a rose garden.

So, you drive your truck into town and buy all the tools necessary. That’s right, at Tractor
Supply’s register, you waltz up with your loaded cart and yank out your credit card with a smile
on your face. Why not?  Once the roses are grown, you can sell some to pay off this debt.
Right?

All the way home, you are dancing to the happy tune on the radio because you are about to
embark on a fabulous journey of becoming a gardener. It may not be as prestigious as a movie
star, but you don’t care. You’re following your heart!

Now, imagine yourself out in the field, with the sun beating down on your back as you prepare
the land for seeds. You wipe your brow, thinking, “Holy shit, gardening is no joke. This is more
work than I thought it would be.” But then you remember your vision of colorful roses
blanketing your land, so you get back to work, not caring what it takes because you have the
heart and pride to see it through. Even when the weather doesn’t cooperate and properly
water and nurture your planted seeds. Even when insects decide to nibble on your growing
flowers, mimicking the self-doubt growing in your mind, making you a little concerned that you
have taken on a project far beyond your means and mental capacity. Even when the credit card
company is sending you letters, saying, “Hey, we don’t care that your roses are not ready to be
sold. Pay your bill!”

Nope. You never give up.

And, one day, beyond all the odds stacked against you, your rose garden is done. It is a beauty
that can compare to no other. Colorful petals sing you praise as you stare at what you have
accomplished with nothing on your side but hard work, debt, and prayers.

Now, imagine this: as you are standing there in awe of your accomplishments, you notice a
truck pulling up to your property way out in the distance. Your jaw drops when you realize
someone has exited that vehicle, with scissors, and is now cutting away at your beloved flowers
and throwing them in the back of the truck.

“What the…” So, you run down your dirt driveway and approach the stranger. “Umm, excuse
me, but what the hell are you doing?”

The person keeps snipping away at your flowers. “Don’t mind me. I like roses so I thought I
would take some.”

You just busted butt growing these, right? So, you put your hand on your hip and say, “That is
stealing! These are my roses that I worked very hard for!”

The person lifts a brow. “How hard could it possibly be to throw some seeds in the dirt?”
You practically stumble backwards because this idiot is trying to belittle all the incredible work
you’ve done over the past grueling months. “Have you ever grown a garden? Have you ever got
up at the crack of dawn and worked all day plowing and digging and watering?”

Bets are they haven’t because, if they had, they would sympathize with the pain authors
experience when experiencing theft. And that what it is. No matter how you slice or dice it, it’s
theft.

Here’s the thing: Writing a book is so much more involved than most can even imagine. First,
you have to pick your field (your plot). You have to imagine (visualize your flowers), and then
you have to put so many other priorities aside to find the time to get in the dirt and dig and
perfect your land for all the seeds you have (write, rewrite, doubt your writing, write some
more…). And then, when you are sitting at your laptop (one of your tools you bought at Tractor
Supply) crying because you finally can type “The End” you realize this journey has only just
begun. Now, you have to send your prized possession off to people (beta readers) to see if your
months of hard work have given that story justice. After they give you notes and suggestions,
you have to go back into your manuscript and make adjustments, change scenes, and over all,
improve what you thought was already beautiful.

Is the book now ready for sale?

HELL NO!

Now, you have to send your manuscript to a professional editor. This person goes through your
hard work and says, “We have some work to do.”

You look at your blistered gardening hands and exhale deeply. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
By the time you are through all the rounds of editing, you are not only missing hair on your
head, but you are a bit exhausted.

Is the book ready for sale NOW?

HELL NO!

Now, your sweet baby needs a proofreader. And guess what. These hawk-eyed readers WILL
find more mistakes, sometimes even a time discrepancy in your plot. Does an author give up?
Not this one! I go back into my manuscript and make all needed corrections.

Book ready for—NO! It is still not ready!

Now, I need a formatter. Yep, someone has to perfect my book  not only for print, but eBooks.
One type of eBook? Wrong again. You need an epub, a mobi, a PDF… And you have to be sure
to have all the right layouts for all the different distributors you need to work with: Amazon,
iBooks, Barnes and Nobles, Kobo…. See where I’m headed? So much goes on in the background
so that lovers of books have another book to read.

Don’t forget about covers, wraparound covers, precise measurements for print, blurbs (which
are sometimes harder to write than writing the actual freaking book!), schedule release dates,
talk with bloggers, find reviewers (and cringe at all the rules that are put on us for something as
simple as a reader’s review of your work), schedule tours… all while still being a mom, a wife or
husband, and most authors have a normal job to pay their bills.

The list of what an author has to go through to prepare a story for readers goes on and on (and
only intensifies the more books authors publish), and we haven’t even touched the subjects of
advertising, social media, millions of other rose gardens being just as beautiful as ours, and how
us Indies are up against big dogs (publishing houses) who have much more experience and
much bigger Tractor Supply credit cards.

So, the next time you want to pick flowers from someone else’s property (download stolen
eBooks/PDFs), think of that poor little gardener who simply loves roses.

My mic has been dropped. Boom!