An Inside Look At The Career Of A Self-Published UF Author

If you've paid me any attention before, then you are probably aware that I am a huge proponent of transparency. I enjoy it when a creative peels back the curtain and lays out all the numbers (which happens far too rarely), so I've long been sharing out blog posts about how I did each month, how my book launches go, and the exact cost to get books to market. But I have never done a wholistic look at what it's been like to be me, an author of redneck wizard books.

Below I am going to break my path along into sections. Each one will have a rough span of years beside the title, but understand there were rarely any sort of clean break. Most of these sections will in some ways overlap with the next usually, so expect the dates to reflect that. So here we go:

'The Writing Career of Bob, in the numbers!' or: 'How Bob Still Isn't A Full Time Author After A Decade Of (Sorta) Working At It!'

Pre-Stage: I've Always Liked To Write

As far back as I can remember I have liked to write. I have a copy of a book about a monster who killed people with a ham sandwich that I wrote in like, first grade I think? I was called Lowa, which was AWOL backwards. Why that? No clue.

My first attempt to write anything serious, was a try at writing a Warhammer novel when I was in high school. It went poorly, being little more than dwarven wish fulfillment. Oof, I cringe to think about it even to this day. In high school I also developed a habit of writing one page flash fictions that were usually pun based. They would usually get a chuckle from my teachers.

In college I tried my hand at writing some very gnostic inspired eldritch horror. I don't think anything really survives from this time beyond some general worldbuilding that wound up inspiring some of my Jubal County horror related stories.

In 2008 I got divorced and laid off within a few months of each other. With suddenly a lot more free time on my hands I tried my hand at writing another novel, this one a fantasy book set in a world I had created for DnD. I think I got four or five chapters done at most before fizzling. I also sporadically wrote the odd poem over the next decade or so. But after this failed novel I don't think I wrote a single line of prose until late 2012.

Stage One: The Short Stories of Robert McGough (2012-2015ish)

I started my 'career' back in the fall of 2012, with completing my first NaNoWriMo, in which I wrote 50k words of short stories. I literally asked my friends how they would like to die in a short story, and then wrote it up. This was me knocking the dust off a passion I'd had when I was younger, and had rediscovered as I was in the tail end of my Master's Program in a degree that had zero relation to writing.

Once I had these stories in hand, some fantasy, some horror, some steampunk, and a decent amount of quasi southern gothic (where I was building the world of Jubal County without realizing it yet) I decided that it was time to get out there and tackle the world! My very first piece actually got published in the Rubicon, the Troy University Literary Journal. They actually changed the rules to allow me to submit as an alumni, which I thought was really awesome of them. This led to me looking into other literary journals and the like, which is where my first few credits came from. Here is a list of what I got out there:

• "Gone Bad" - The Rubicon, Spring 2013, Troy University Literary Journal

• "We Serve At Seven" - The Rubicon, Fall 2014, Troy University Literary Journal

• "Stilton's Crossroads" - Squawk Back Magazine, Issue 140, April 2015

• "Toothsome" - Weird Montgomery, Vol. 1 Issue 6

While having some folks publish my southern gothic-ish stuff was nice (three of the four above are proto-jubal county set shorts), my first loves have always been horror and fantasy. That is the stuff I really wanted published. Plus I wanted to get paid (the above paid in copy at best). So I started hitting Facebook groups that shared places you could submit to anthologies, and began to start sending stories out. A lot of rejections came in of course, mostly form letters. But I got a few personalized rejections, which I cherished. And then wonder of wonders, I got a few acceptances! I tacked every rejection and acceptance up on the wall above my work station, a sort of wall of inspiration.

And that's when I learned that short story anthologies, at least small press indie sorts, pay absolutely terribly. I recall getting my one and only royalty check in the mail, and it was for 4 bucks and some change. Most of them paid maybe 10 bucks and an author copy. A few would let us buy copies at cost, to then turn around and sell. But you know what? Folks don't have a ton of interest in buying a book that you only have one story in. Some do...but most don't.

That was when I realized that if I was going to one day hope to do this for a living, I was going to have to start writing novels. So while I tried to decide what I was going to write, I kept on churning out steampunk and horror short stories. I actually developed a large number of steampunk stories during this time, that were all interconnected, roughly telling the backstory of how a team of heroes came to be together in this fantasy steampunk world I had created.

• "Whispers on the Wind" - Journals of Horror: Found Fiction, Horror Anthology Edited by Terry M. West, Released Oct. 2014

• "Colonel Gurthwait and the Black Hydra" - Avast, Ye Airships Anthology, Edited by Rie Rose Sheridan, Released Feb. 26th 2015

• "The Jar" - Southern Haunts: Magick Beneath the Moonlight, edited by Seventh Star Press, Released November 2015

• "Black Dog" - New Legends: Caster, Castle, Creature, edited by Visual Adjectives Press. Released May 2016

Stage Two: My Brush With Small Press Publishing. (2015ish-2017)

Not too terribly long after I got good and rolling along in my writing I was approached by a small press. Essentially, they knew I had been a part of a writing group on campus, and could take criticism well. And since I was writing steampunk, a genre they wanted to break into, they offered to publish collections of my short fiction. The plan was to release 4 small ebooks of around 25k words each, spread out over a couple of years. At the time we entered into the agreement, I had 3/4 totally written, and I had the last one written as the 3rd came out.

This certainly stoked the ego. But I never made any money from them. Not a cent. They paid out every quarter that you made at least 50 dollars. When you consider that Amazon was taking 35%, and the press was taking 35%, there wasn't a ton of % left for me. Which could have worked, if:

• They had done any sort of real promotion. But they were new to this type of publishing and didn't know the right moves to take.

• They had actually edited all of the three books they put out (they ended up releasing an entire volume unedited).

• I had known anything about marketing, and felt comfortable promoting (I refused to promote an unedited book, I was ashamed of it).

All in all, it wasn't a great experience. It stoked the ego, which was nice, sure. But it made no money, and I had a product I was ashamed of being associated with. So we agreed to go our separate ways. I don't hold them any real animus, this was their first foray into genre fiction publishing, which they were unprepared for. And I didn't do my due diligence. Not that I knew what my due diligence would have been. At this point I had never met another non-academic author, so I had no one to talk to about it.

Here is what I ended up getting published through them:

• "Rumor Has It" - Released August 2015

• "Red Sky at Morning" - Released August 2016

• "Within the Siren's Call" - Released October 2017

Stage Three: Writing, But To What Purpose? (2016-2018)

All the while I kept writing. I churned out a ton more horror short stories. I started work on a steampunk novel set in my fantasy steampunk setting, but it fizzled. I wrote a small self help book called Create Your Way To Freedom (solid-ish advice, but in dire need of an update, so sorry, no link!). I played around in some other settings, and started working on the stuff that would become the first Howard Marsh novellas. I started writing some dark fantasy shorts in a new setting, called the Konislund. I started a writing group in my area at some point during all this, one that ran up until Covid hit.

Then I got hit with an idea for a horror novel.

This novel was written pretty much in two months, with a two year gap between them. I wrote the first half for NaNoWriMo one year, then two NaNo's later I wrote the other half. I now had successfully finished my first full length novel! I was pretty blown away at that fact to be honest. And I wasn't really sure what to do next.

That's when I found out about these events where you can pay some money, and they give you face time with actual agents who you can pitch your book to. You also get some classes out of them, but I always skipped the classes for the most part, and just did the pitch sessions. I ended up being asked to send in the first few chapters, or 50 pages a few times, but no one ever signed me on. Which was pretty disheartening, but what can ya do? I also tried sending it to a few agents once or twice, but I'll be honest, my heart wasn't in it.

You see, I had no idea if I was actually any good or not. I had no idea if I was just wasting my time. No one outside my friends and family had ever really read me, so I had no validation. My adventure with the small press didn't inspire a lot of confidence either, what with never even making the fifty bucks it required to get a payout.

I did end up having one friend read it, someone who surprised me by asking to do so (I was under the impression they weren't a big reader). And they loved it so much they got their friends to read it. Which is honestly the only reason I tried the little bit that I did to shop it around.

So I was writing a lot of words, but to what end? I wasn't really seriously trying to get them published, I had even stopped submitting my short stories places for the most part. I was writing...but nothing was getting me closer to my dream.

Step Four: Freelancing on Fiverr (2016-2017)

My memory isn't the best. So I'm not entirely sure what dates I started and stopped freelancing on Fiverr. But what I did is I created a gig on there that said "For 5 Dollars I Will Write 500 Words Of Whatever You Want." And lord, did folks take me up on that. I got a large number of ghost writing offers that I turned down, but I did end up writing everything from a gritty crime noir story about a person's pet cat, to a Doctor Who/My Little Pony crossover erotica. It got wild. I made a decent little chunk of side money, that I mostly used to help pay bills.

This was actually a great experience for reasons beyond the money though. First, it taught me writing to a deadline. I developed a good bit of discipline doing this, which built on my NaNoWriMo induced discipline. It also got me to stretch my legs creatively. I ended up writing a huge number of items and genres that I would never have written otherwise. It's also how I ended up getting my logo. I ended up taking one gig off Fiverr, and traded blog work for graphic design work, one of which was for logo (which I love so much!).

Why did I stop?

Because I was spending too much time writing other peoples stuff. I found that I was prioritizing the work of others. Which if my only goal was to be paid to write words for a living, then I could likely have kept working at that, and maybe even eventually gotten there. But my dream is to be an author of my own books, and this got in the way of that.

Step Five: My First Brushes with Self Publishing (2017-2019)

As I started winding down my Fiverr, I decided to dip my toes a little more seriously into self-publishing. In 2016 I had released that little self help book, so I knew a bit about how to go about it. But a 7k word ebook that your friend traded you work to get the cover made, is one thing. Putting out something longer...

I decided to put out two collections of short stories, each around 25k words. These were those dark fantasy short stories set in the Konislund. So I decided to put out 'The Tales of the Konislund' initially as two ebooks, then as a bound single volume. And you know what? I did it.

And this is where I learned that if I am not confident in my product, I will not promote it. I still didn't know much about marketing, and I still wasn't sure if I could write worth a damn. And the editing was pretty damn slap dash. Then my neighbor left one of the ebooks a one star review, and just really tore it to shreds.

If you hunt super hard, you may find some sort of vestige of these books on Amazon. I can assure you, I do not endorse you trying. They may be fine in content, but the editing was very sub-par, and I am just super unhappy with them. So I took them down, and one day you may see them again. But not any time soon.

Stage Six: Getting Serious, and Becoming Bob. (2017-2021)

I still knew that novels were going to be what got me where I wanted to be most likely, and one horror novel does not a career make, so while I was dipping my toes into self-publishing I tried my hand at writing another novel. What ended up happening was that I wrote two, books one and two in a military fantasy series. Bladeborn and Blightborn are sitting in the chest, waiting on me to write Gallowsborn (if I can ever figure out what I want it to look like), and then they may see the light of day.

I also knew that I was not happy with my work that was out to date for the most part. Well, I was actually fine with the anthologies I had been in, but here's a weird tick of mine: I knew it was going to drive me up the wall to have all those anthologies showing on my Amazon Author page alongside my Jubal County Saga. I wanted folks to click my name, and only see books that would actually generate me money. Those anthologies I am proud of being in, but more in a 'list it on a resume or overly long blog post' sort of way and less 'I want folks to go out and read them' sort of way. So I stopped writing under Robert, and started writing under Bob. Which is what I go by in my day to day life anyway. Hence Tales by Bob, not Tales by Robert.

To jump ahead just a tiny nudge, in 2020 I decided that I wanted to get some credits writing for video games or tabletop games. I have always been heavily invested in this space, being a Dungeons and Dragons player since 2004 or so, and once even toying with starting a d20 company. So I started another Fiverr account, where for at first 5, and then 10 bucks, I would do 500 words of worldbuilding or lore for your game. When I started it, I was the only person on there really doing it, and I got to work on a ton of cool projects. I only took projects that would allow me to credit myself as having worked on them, but it was a ton of fun! I got to work on some neat stuff. I ended up stopping about a year and a half later, for basically similar reasons to why I stopped my first fiverr, but it was a fun ride while it lasted. It also served to build up my self publishing war chest, which was honestly the best part, though I didn't realize it at the time!

At Dragon Con 2019 I saw that they had signups to get a 15 minute mentor session with an author or publisher. I looked, and saw the name John Hartness. While I hadn't heard of him, I saw that he wrote a series called 'Bubba the Monster Hunter.' At this point I had one question I desperately needed to be answered: should I try to shop around this weird little redneck wizard novella series I had written, or would it be a waste of time. John seemed like the perfect person to talk to. Turns out, he was. He basically he laid it out that trad publishers don't really like novellas, and that a methgician is an even harder sell. But he explained that the very things that made it a bad fit for most trad publishers, made it a good fit for self publishing, if I would take it seriously.

I left that Con feeling so energized. I had, at this point, done a few events at small conventions and libraries (Fanticon, SonoCon, and Gump City Comic Con). Not really seriously selling, but more along the lines of a promotional booth just pitching me and my podcasts (with the odd short story collection that I had a tale featured in) in exchange for doing organizing and moderating a few panels. But I was resolved: get these books out, and do ALL THE CONS!

In February of 2020, I took my now LadyWife to our first con, a steampunk convention in Atlanta. We had a blast, and I was excited to really start hitting the ground running.

Covid came in March.

So my plans for doing a ton of conventions were promptly dashed. But seeing as I was spending my free time in my bubble now, mostly just curling up on couches with the LadyWife, I decided it was now or never. I learned what I could about self publishing, and hired an editor and a cover designer, and put out book 1 of the Jubal County Saga. My editor was British, and she 'fixed' all my southern dialect in the dialogue. My cover designer was czech, and I found her on Fiverr. She was fantastic. I paid them out of money I earned on Fiverr, and didn't have to come out of pocket.

And yeah, book one didn't sell well. For book two I swapped editors (Cleo is from Texas, and she's great), and I taught myself enough graphic design that with my LadyWife helping me choose the colors (I'm shit at color selection), I was able to make my own cover. And you know what? It didn't sell well either. It actually sold worse.

But I was such a baby writer still at that point, that having a launch that made over 100 bucks was a huge deal for me. The bigger deal though was that reviews started to come in from all the free ebook copies I had given away. And the reviews were good. Even better, they were good reviews from total strangers.

It was what I had needed most of all. The validation from strangers that I might not be the next Earnest Hemingway, but I was at least a solid writer that folks actually enjoyed to read.

Here is what I got out during this time:

• "Meteorology" - Alabama's Emerging Writers, edited by Z Publishing. Released August 2018 (Released under Robert I believe).

• "The Essential Guidebook to the Secret Lives of Clams" - Released March 2020 (This is so dumb, but I love it. Total joke book, and released under Robert).

• "Bringing Home the Rain: The Redemption of Howard Marsh 1" - Released August 2021

• "The Depth Of The Water: The Redemption of Howard Marsh 2" - Released November 2021

I also had did my first panel at a bigger con, Alabama Comic Con.

Stage Seven: The Other Hustles

I want to briefly acknowledge some of the things that I did/do along the way that aren't Author related, but are more brand related. I've long known that to reach my dream, having a bunch of revenue streams adding together would make my plan a lot more viable than just relying on book sales. So here are some other side avenues:

• Very early on, I started doing freelance writing for bands. I still occasionally do it, if the name is big enough or they are a friend. I've written for artists like Stitches, Upchurch the Redneck, and Goldy lockS.

• I've had a Patreon since long before it made since to have one. I don't even remember when I started it to be honest. But I have about a half dozen subscribers at this point.

• In 2018 I started selling POD shirts on Amazon. I didn't put any real time in it until 2020 though, when I designed and listed 150ish new designs.

• In 2018 I, alongside a dear friend, started the Books, Beards, Booze podcast. It's run off an on ever since. This makes essentially no money, but I think of it like backdoor advertising. In 2022 I started the Southern Fried Fantasy podcast, where I interview southern authors. It has since completed. Same deal though, zero money.

• In 2020 I started making and releasing small, simple rpgs. Most are One Sheet Rpgs, but a few have been longer. I sell them on itch.io and drivethrurpg.

Stage Eight: Starting to Make Real Progress (2021-Today)

In 2022 book three in my Jubal County Saga came out, and for the first time I broke even on a book launch. I realize making 450ish bucks on a launch sounds like peanuts to some authors. But for me? Damn that was huge. So I decided to keep after it, and get the rest of the first six books written and out there. And as of me writing this, they are all out into the world!

Outside getting the books to press, the biggest step forward for me has been networking with other authors. At the 2021 Dragon Con I went to a panel that had another author self-publishing southern urban fantasy. We swapped emails after, and that is how I met Ben Meeks. We've vended, paneled, and brainstormed together countless times since. He's who introduced me to Venessa Giunta, who runs the only author group on Facebook worth a damn. Through them, and John Hartness I have met and gotten to network with so, so, so many great people who have become my Con family. Folks like Rachel Brune, Bobby Nash, Steve Jaffe, Martin Shannon, Alexander Nader, Ron Lahr, Joe Compton, my nemesis Madilynn Dale, Michael J. Adams, VK Fox, Jilleen Dolbear, Berta Platas, Nancy Knight, and Chris Rowan.

I have also gotten on a big transparency kick. It has long frustrated me that 99% of authors don't really talk about their number of sales/how much they make. It made it impossible for me to tell if I was doing good/terrible/ok/etc, at least early. Once I made friends with some other authors, sure, they would tell me in private how sales were. But that doesn't help folks looking to get into this space with real data. So I break all that kind of stuff down, all the time, where anyone who wants to can read it.

So yeah, at this point I feel like I am actually really starting to make some good headway. There are small steps back all the time of course, but in general each year has been far better than the one before it. If I can just keep that trajectory, then everything will be coming up millhouse! Anyway, here is what I accomplished in this period:

• "Feet in the Fire: The Redemption of Howard Marsh 3" - Released January 2022

• "Praying the Day's Not Poison: The Redemption of Howard Marsh 4" - Released August 2022

• "Walking the Darkness Down: The Redemption of Howard Marsh 5" - Released March 2023

• "Calling the Devil Partner: The Redemption of Howard Marsh 6" - Released July 2023

I have also done panels now at: Dragon Con, CONjuration, Multiverse, ConCarolinas, more Alabama Comic Con, Fandemic, and Magic City Con. I was even the Author Guest of Honor at Imagicon.

Stage Nine: The Future.

I go more in depth into it in THIS blog post, but in short it's now time to start getting a lot of the other items I have had in the chest, out into the light. I want to be able to cater to a wider swathe of readers by having horror, fantasy, and steampunk works available on my table and website. These are all genres I love and write already, I just need to get them out there for folks to read!

The goal is to get to where I am doing at least one convention or large festival each month. I don't have every month planned out just yet for next year, but I am getting pretty close. In person sales will be a huge part of my career if I can get to that point, so laying that ground work and building connections can never start too soon.

When I started back in 2012, I had set myself a 10 year goal of making my dream come true. But in reality, while I was putting in work the whole time, I really consider my journey to have started in earnest when I made the switch from Robert to Bob. So my dream of dreams is that in about 8 years I will retire from my state job to do this full time.

Will I get there? Eh, probably not. Mostly because health insurance is expensive, and ain't gonna get any cheaper for my fat and aging ass. But will I try?

You bet your ass I will.