2010: year in review
MMX was a highs-and-lows kind of year for me.
On the high side:
I don't want to by typecast as the steampunk guy, or less the steampunk erotica guy. Writing fiction has an appeal to me, but if I'm going to make money at it, I have to elevate it beyond a hobby and invest a lot of time and effort into it, and that still requires a fair bit of luck.
Non-fiction has more money in it, even in these dark days of publishing, and a faster turnaround. My "information packrat" tendencies might be an asset or a liability in non-fiction.
Freelancing articles are one path. Another is to devote my energies to the history book project, and either work up a sample chapter and proposal, or go the self-publishing route. I could finish it, get on Kickstarter, rustle up enough money to get the book proofread and laid out (and pay for photo rights and other things I don't even know about), get it on Lulu or CreateSpace and promote the hell out of it. Again, that's a hell of a lot of work before any reward.
All of this is really a distraction from the fact that I've been temping for a long time, and haven't had anything resembling a real job in years.
On the high side:
- My first book, The Innocent's Progress & Other Stories, was published by Circlet Press in September. I've wanted to see my name in print for a long time, but I have to say I never thought it would be a book of steampunk erotica, nor that it would be an ebook. Amazon Kindle sales picked up significantly, jumping from 1 in November to 10 in December, according to NovelRank. I also started buying ads through Project Wonderful in late December, after sales spiked up.
- My essay was printed in Inside Joss' Dollhouse.
- I finished and sold two more stories for Circlet Press that will be published in 2011.
- I also got back into journalism a bit, with stories in The Tyee and starting to write for OpenFile.ca. It's funny how much I enjoyed getting back into it, though there were times when I was very afraid of it. Considering that I cut my journalistic teeth on doing 600-word local news features for The Courier, I don't understand my own hesitation.
- I got to travel to Detroit and attend Leather Leadership, which reinvigorated my interest in the Scene and the history book project.
- I had an extremely well-paying temp job that lasted for months.
- After three years, I stepped down from the MVK board at the 2010 Annual General Meeting. I stayed on as ombud, though. While this wasn't an easy decision, I
- I spent a lot of time out of work.
- I used a food bank once. (I made a big donation to them when I was making money again.)
- I'm still pretty much where I was a year ago in terms of relationships.
- I'm still pretty much where I was a year ago in terms of employment.
I don't want to by typecast as the steampunk guy, or less the steampunk erotica guy. Writing fiction has an appeal to me, but if I'm going to make money at it, I have to elevate it beyond a hobby and invest a lot of time and effort into it, and that still requires a fair bit of luck.
Non-fiction has more money in it, even in these dark days of publishing, and a faster turnaround. My "information packrat" tendencies might be an asset or a liability in non-fiction.
Freelancing articles are one path. Another is to devote my energies to the history book project, and either work up a sample chapter and proposal, or go the self-publishing route. I could finish it, get on Kickstarter, rustle up enough money to get the book proofread and laid out (and pay for photo rights and other things I don't even know about), get it on Lulu or CreateSpace and promote the hell out of it. Again, that's a hell of a lot of work before any reward.
All of this is really a distraction from the fact that I've been temping for a long time, and haven't had anything resembling a real job in years.