Biggest Expense?

#indieauthors #writerslife #amwritingromance #RomanceReaders #paranormalromance

I was asked recently how much it cost me to start my author career. I did not need a loan. I started it with a borrowed laptop. I was working as a professional educator. So within a few months of writing, long before I published anything, I knew I needed a better laptop. Eventually, I broke down and spent the money on an Asus Chromebook. I ordered it from Amazon during a Black Friday sales event and got the midgrade processor version for less than $600, and I love it. (I am a Google girl) It is in equal competition in my heart with my Samsung Note 8 cell phone that I also write on. (I upgraded when it was time and bought a phone with enough memory to actually replace my computer while I was out.) But these are things people buy randomly for personal use so I have never viewed them as expenses. (I'm sure if I had a tax specialist they would argue otherwise.)

The real expense came in the software I purchased and the website. I have purchased two software programs in order to help me with the marketing and promotion.
I have mentioned Dave Chesson and Publisher Rocket before. It cost me $97. But it was the best money I have spent for marketing my books. Keywords. This software is awesome. It helped me get my books noticed. Thank you Dave Chesson!
I also made a purchase of the Coreldraw suite of programs. I think I paid $60 for it (another Black Friday buy). That is the program I use to craft my book covers and my videos. I love it. I stole my son's ancient HP desktop when he upgraded to a new gaming computer and installed the software there as I needed Microsoft to run it.
Then I paid for the blog and website from Weebly. In total I think I have spent maybe $450 on the blog and website. I purchased it for two years and added the email functions and whatever else I thought I needed that I don't remember and may not even be using. (I consider this the essential foundation structure for the business of my books.)
None of these people paid me to say any of this. I am not telling anyone that they have to have these things to be successful authors either. I am sure that there are other website builders, video making software, and things available to help you find keywords. I am simply listing the things I use that I paid money for.
So you can see that I have spent less than $1000 in the mules I use to drag my cart around. I also did not go out and buy these things all at the same time. The Coreldraw program I bought as recently as this past Thanksgiving. I actually still use Google drawings to create most of the excerpts and storyboard tiles that you will find on Pinterest and Facebook and in the videos on YouTube. 

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So there you have it. If you want to be a writer, it is not an expensive thing to start up. Most of the authors I know of do not expect their books to be their main source of income. I want to make it absolutely clear that I have not made my investment back in royalties yet. Surprised? It's true. I only barely started earning any royalties on the regular a few months ago.
I have been fine tuning my books and learning about marketing and promotion. I have no money, so I am super cautious about giving it away without a significant return on investment being proven. Publisher Rocket has been paid for. So has Corel. I am still working toward getting enough royalties to pay for this blog. I am getting there.
​If you want to write, be serious and dedicated, but above all you must be patient. If the story is good, good readers will join you. But you must tell them about your story to attract them to sit down to read it. More on that in another blog.

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​Dragon Masters is coming! It is available now as a pre-order for 20% off the regular price. Grab it while it is at the debut price. This is the twelfth novel in the Draoithe series. Torch and Blue have tackled one mission after another for Draoithe and are due for a bit of rest and relaxation, but when their mates drop in on them, they have to find a way to claim institutionalized former slaves for their own. Arcane magic with serious rules may be their only answer.

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Shameless self promotion done! I gotta run off to work. If you read, please be kind and leave your review.
Be Careful!
Happy reading,
Ophelia Kee