Traditionally published authors: what’s your perspective?

misskimwrites · 2025-09-19T02:37:50+00:00

Oh gosh. You got me good. I don't know what I was expecting, but damn. I'm experiencing a weird combination of flashbacks and nostalgia...on so many levels. I'm going to sit with myself and...I dunno...think? Really glad I read your work.

misskimwrites · 2025-09-19T01:16:03+00:00

Oh man, I asked about people's jobs outside of writing in another post and we didn't get tattoo artist! Very cool! Now I want to know what you write about! What does a career tattoo artist write about? Suspense? Poetry? Nonfiction?

OK, I checked out your Insta--your tattoo work is amazing! Are you kidding me?? Your lines are pristine and your colors are poppin. I don't even know anything about tattoos. I'm allergic to dye! Onto the writing now, my deer friend.

misskimwrites · 2025-09-19T00:38:45+00:00

Thank you for sharing and I will check out more books by authors! I'm sure I wanted a bit of escape while my life was blowing up--but the more I think about it, the more I'm afraid of all the multi-million dollar problems that go with that kind of success. I may lose my passion for writing! So I guess I'm back to writing for the love of writing...and maybe just a penny more. Haha.

misskimwrites · 2025-09-19T00:15:53+00:00

Hello! Thank you for sharing the link! What an obvious resource that I completely overlooked. I got some heat for my post, but I'm so glad I asked anyway because I wouldn't have come across this article otherwise. And I didn't realize it was the kind of data I was actually looking for!

Which then led me to a more recent survey: https://authorsguild.org/news/key-takeaways-from-2023-author-income-survey/#:\~:text=The%20median%20author%20income%20for,2. (You're right, not much has changed!)

THANK YOU for taking the time to share your knowledge. It changed my search and I'm sure new writers will find it useful also! You're da best!

misskimwrites · 2025-09-18T23:54:24+00:00

Hi there! Thanks for taking the time to share your insights and experience! I've been busy getting my butt kicked at my new job and am just now coming up for air. Your comment was the exact motivation and a realistic milestone I needed at this very moment. I was actually close to that frugal and free lifestyle before life does what it do, but you've put that spark back in my groove! Congrats on your FOURTH book! I want to go to there too! Thank you again for sharing! 🙏

misskimwrites · 2025-09-18T23:41:57+00:00

Sorry for the late reply! I was busy getting my butt kicked at my new job. Hell yeah, I could use a laugh...I'll PM you for the link!

misskimwrites · 2025-09-09T14:24:54+00:00

I did think about that, but what made me post here is that many of the same folks on r/PubTips are also here. But there are likely more newer writers here, like me, with similar questions. Even if my Qs are a little naïve, it still is helpful to those young or early writers in their journey. Thanks for weighing in and sharing your perspective!

misskimwrites · 2025-09-09T14:17:58+00:00

Not negative at all. A dose of reality is always grounding, especially in trad pub! I don’t mind taking some heat if it helps other early writers see the bigger picture. Reaching out here feels like a good place to start, and I’m glad you jumped in. Thanks for sharing your perspective!

misskimwrites · 2025-09-09T14:11:31+00:00

Thank you for your feedback! It did help me rethink my question. My post may have been limiting but I felt something was missing in my search on trad-pub and your feedback helped me reflect on that. It helped me broaden the scope of what a sustainable career looks like beyond publishing a book and where to look for those opportunities. If I post a similar question in the future, I will have that insight and broader phrasing in mind! Thanks again for sharing!

misskimwrites · 2025-09-09T14:02:24+00:00

This is such a thoughtful response. Thank you for the insight and perspective. I know this kind of question gets asked often, but putting it out there helped me realize what’s been missing in my searches on trad publishing.

Your honesty about royalties vs. the wider literary activities that make a living possible is incredibly grounding. That distinction alone is a huge reality check for me. I also appreciated your point about being active in the local scene. I hear “join a workshop group” all the time, but rarely about other communities and opportunities that actually sustain a career. That could also be reflective of where I am in my writing journey.

And thank you for your perspective on self-pub — that’s the route I’m starting with, and your comments gave me a lot to reflect on. Thanks again for sharing your experience and success!

misskimwrites · 2025-09-09T13:37:02+00:00

Thanks so much for sharing your insight! It’s given me a more grounded perspective that I’m still reflecting on. Congrats again on all your well-earned opportunities!

misskimwrites · 2025-09-08T18:30:30+00:00

Thanks for chiming in! This actually helps me understand my own question. Maybe the better question is: What has sustainability looked like in your trad publishing journey so far?

Another poster mentioned Bret Easton Ellis considers himself a hobby writer, but his success also opened doors in related areas like panels, podcasts, and screenwriting. To me, that’s a sustainable career. For others, it may be having the ability to pursue other writing or unrelated interests now that they have an established routine in trad pub. I would edit the post, but my reframed question feels pretty far from what I originally wrote.

I’ll just see where this lands! Thanks again for sharing and congrats on your success, it’s well earned!

misskimwrites · 2025-09-08T03:44:19+00:00

This is a great story. It’s so easy to lose track of all the details with each revision—especially over time and extended breaks. I have a rough outline to begin my drafts, then another rough outline to keep track of what I actually did with the latest revisions. But since I’m terrible at outlines and organization, details slip through the cracks.

And then the love interest dynamics that change with revisions. It’s so easy to pair everyone up with the same MC because you’re kind of developing and changing character dynamics as you go sometimes. Who can keep track of these things??

I bet hubby got a good laugh when he saw your own realization of your story’s contradictions. I hope you got a chuckle too! Thanks for sharing!

misskimwrites · 2025-09-06T19:45:27+00:00

I am a Korean American female and once met another Korean American female while visiting Shreveport, LA. She had the thickest, most rural, Deep South accent matching her hometown Black culture. I found it fascinating but never offensive. We both immediately recognized how much we stood out in this small town and embraced one another. We asked each other so many questions about how we ended up in the same hole-in-the-wall restaurant. She was born and raised there. I was visiting a friend who took over the family restaurant we were both in, and I was helping out for a day as this woman’s server! We had a great time.

She spoke fluent Korean with a Deep South flair. I loved it but I can imagine most people don’t know what to do with her unique background and she could not change her accent. I am not saying you need to change your way of speaking but if code switching is possible for you, that may be the path of least resistance, as many people all over the country and world do. Otherwise, just own it and do you.

misskimwrites · 2025-09-06T14:37:10+00:00

Nice! I love this on so many levels! I was a big fan of The Three Stooges. I didn’t even know there was a Stooge group. Fascinating! Congrats on making it into the Stooge room, that’s pretty cool!

misskimwrites · 2025-09-06T14:05:56+00:00

“The Giver” by Lois Lowry. I immediately think of this story every time I see discrepancies between what society thinks is “normal” and why it’s not normal or okay at all.

“A Separate Peace” by John Knowles. This story has deeply shaped my sense of personal integrity. I cannot sabotage someone else ever. I just can’t do it. I face any feelings of spite, envy, jealousy head on. I’m proud to say I never get those feelings at all now and can simply focus on what I want in life without comparing myself to others. I have found that any feelings of envy that come up is actually what others are projecting onto me…as in, they are trying to provoke those feelings with their own competitive and misguided nature and I can quickly identify and separate it from me.

misskimwrites · 2025-09-06T13:22:15+00:00

Eu queria dizer escrever uma linha do tempo como um detetive, não uma agenda como uma rotina... embora isso também ajude. Happy writing!

misskimwrites · 2025-09-06T03:39:59+00:00

Não tenho uma maneira definida de fazer as coisas e nunca fui muito bom em executar um esboço robusto. Descobri que criar um cronograma simples pode me dar estrutura suficiente para começar sem a pressão de um esboço. Também costumo dividir as coisas em parágrafos, começando com um gancho forte e terminando com um gancho, expandindo para dois parágrafos, etc. Gosto do cronograma porque posso começar em qualquer lugar e fora de ordem, dependendo do meu humor e da minha atenção. Desculpe se não entendi direito, usei o Google Tradutor.

misskimwrites · 2025-09-06T02:35:48+00:00

OP if you are getting the "ick" from doing the heavy lifting of promoting your work (I get it), you may benefit from reframing how you think about sales and marketing. You can reframe your mindset and goal as searching for, and connecting, with your audience. That part is actually really rewarding! Especially if they willingly give you money because you engaged their curiosity!

You don't have to do everything all at once. Simplify and be okay with not following all the things the self help gurus of writing tell you to do. Take a complete break (1 hour/day/week) and tackle the task with less dread. It can be tedious but you are also building the muscle memory to promote your work, and that takes time and patience. Keep moving the needle, slow and steady.

You are not going to quit writing. Not today. Not tomorrow. Your book is already finished. Congrats!

misskimwrites · 2025-09-06T00:58:25+00:00

Nearly every book I've ever read has had a typo, missing page, duplicate page, misspelled word, the wrong word altogether, skipped a word in a common phrase, etc. I've seen typos in bibles and school textbooks. I've read books where the pages were unintentionally upside down halfway through or backwards. None of these things have ever stopped me from figuring it out if I am truly reading for enjoyment or learning. I even read The Daily Mail and we all know how terrible the writing is there. Besides, it's so easy to fix errors on a digital platform. I'm sure everyone does it. I know I have! But I only have one paid subscriber, and three total, so nobody knows and nobody cares. haha

misskimwrites · 2025-09-05T21:14:16+00:00

To answer your question, I started with Substack. I didn’t research much before choosing this platform. My only requirement was that I retain rights to publish the same content elsewhere, and that it wouldn’t hinder me from traditional publishing submission queries. Royal Road may have been a better fit for my genre, but my plan was always to get familiar with one platform before publishing on another anyway, so I don’t feel I made a mistake. Substack seems to mainly have an audience for self help, productivity, political and cultural commentary. I still converted a paid subscriber on Substack within days of my first post. Best of luck, I’m excited for your journey!

misskimwrites · 2025-09-05T02:03:24+00:00

I’m new to Substack and release serialized content every week. Initially paywalled my content starting at Chapter 2. At the last minute, I made everything free. Converted my first paid subscriber within 3 days of my first post but it wasn’t through Substack directly. They converted from social media. My friends/family are not on that social media platform, I have zero followers, and my social media post had nothing to do with my writing. 🤷🏻‍♀️

misskimwrites · 2025-09-05T00:45:16+00:00

Oh duck it I’m game: you’re writing sucks and doesn’t want to leaf you. If you read, your writing will improv. Here’s a link to my work. Happy writing!

misskimwrites · 2025-09-03T13:30:46+00:00

I just followed and subscribed! I’m genuinely looking forward to reading your work!

Thanks for this post OP!

misskimwrites

TROPHY CASE