on The Write Practice:

What are your goals for being a published author? Do you want to know how to make money as an author? Or a living? And if you do, how much do you really want it? Because the depth of your desire will determine your path and your success.

In our modern world, I believe it is possible to make a living as a novelist—ifyou go the indie route, maintaining control over your creative work and garnering a much larger chunk of the profits than you’ll get from signing contracts with most major publishing houses.

Things in the publishing industry have changed dramatically over the last decade or so. Once upon a time, in the days before I started writing, I imagined life as an author would consist of days spent in simple solitude, making up stories and sending off manuscripts to agents and publishers.

I’d start my next book while waiting in pleasant anticipation for someone to buy my previous work and take care of all the technical details involved in publishing it—editing, cover, marketing, book signings, and so on.

Let me tell you about the two pivotal events that radically shifted my perception.