How to Stay True to Your Passion
— My thoughts and experiences with Self Publishing 5 books.
“Don’t write for money. Write because you love to do something. If you write for money, you won’t write anything worth reading”. — Ray Bradbury
Stephen King was asked in an interview: “Do you write for the money?”
“My answer is NO! Not now and never did! I’ve made a great deal of dough from my writing, but I never set a single word down on paper with the thought of being paid for it. I have written because it fulfilled me. I did it for the buzz. I did it for the pure joy of the thing”
He also said:
“ If you can do it for the JOY, you can do it forever. Writing is MAGIC, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is freeee. So, drink. Drink and be filled up!”
Thanks Stephen King.
I’ve always believed in creating stuff for the sheer JOY of it.
Why? Because there is something attractive about passion. I’ve always believed wholeheartedly in this quote:
‘CREATIVITY IS IT’S OWN REWARD’.
Speaking of passion, in 1989 I had a ton of passion for music. I was singing with my guitar as a solo act around the Denver area in hotel lounges. I took requests from the business men and got some tips in a fish bowl.
This was back when almost all Holiday Inns had a singer in the corner of the room during Happy Hour. (I just wrote this chapter about it for my upcoming Memoir)
I then formed a band and began performing around the Denver area. Small clubs. Nothing big.
One night my muse woke me up out of a deep sleep.
“I want to sing in a bigger theater!”
I felt it was time the music be heard by a larger audience.
The next day I drove to a 300 seat theater called The Shwayder Theater in central Denver. I walked straight in and asked to speak to the theater director. I don’t know where I got that confidence from back then, but I guess I had a lot of it!
Who was I to do this? I was a lowly lounge singer, but I was following my muse. My inner ‘voice’ wanted me to produce a show in a larger theater.
My family doubted me.
My dad asked,
“How did you get that theater to book you? You don’t have a name. You’re not famous…”
His words sounded like, ‘You’re nobody”
“I just walked in, dad”.
I had a vision and I stayed clear about it.
Even my band members asked, “Do you think we’re ready to perform on a big stage like that?”
I said “YEP.”
I not only booked the theater but I designed the programs, recruited some friends to help sell tickets and be ushers, got an emcee, rehearsed with the band, and — on opening night:
It was a SOLD-OUT CROWD! We even got a standing ovation.
(I did this show as a Benefit Concert for a charity at the time for Missing Children. I got a few Denver Broncos on board with the charity too. So it was a real win/win.)
— and my vision came to light!
The point is, that I followed my muse.
I didn’t know I couldn’t do it. I didn’t wait until I had any credentials. I did it anyway.
I’m proud I followed my heart.
That concert launched me into my music career and gave me credentials. (We also had a video done of the show which I used to get other gigs in the future.)
To me, it’s the same thing with publishing books… or any creative endeavor.
You gotta FOLLOW THAT MUSE!
Speaking of Self Publishing Books
I‘ve read several articles recently about Self Publishing on Medium and elsewhere that have made me very uncomfortable. A few have said that self-publishing is not a worthy endeavor.
I have self-published 5 books through Amazon KDP publishing which worked very well for me.
I felt compelled to respond to those critics here.
In one article an author said emphatically:
“NEVER self-publish a book unless you’re ready to market your books. Self-published books have ZERO VALUE! … Your book is worth zero until you start marketing … until you put the marketing ‘machine’ in place …”
I believe these statements are not only untrue but offensive.
ZERO value? Do self-published books have ZERO VALUE because the author doesn’t have the marketing in place, yet?
That seemed ridiculous.
Not everything we do in life is for financial gain. Not every Author publishes books for money. Especially not artistic people.
I’ve heard it said that:
If you are not prepared to market, DON’T BOTHER to self-publish!
Wow. DON’T BOTHER? Why not? Why not bother?
It wasn’t a BOTHER to me at all to write or publish my books. It was fun and healing — and a life enhancing experience.
It was a pleasure.
Making art is a pleasure.
Many say you:
NEED MONEY AND TIME to publish and market a book.
Honestly, I didn’t have much money at all. I had just retired from my art business. At the time of publishing my books my boyfriend and I were living on fumes. We were in some serious financial shit — but I still published — not one, but five books.
I had a need — a great passion, just like with my music — to share my books with the world and to express the creative energy in me.
That didn’t take money.
You can express yourself creatively for free.
Maybe I felt it was more chicken shit to hold my books in and NOT share them.
Author Seth Godin declares that: “Self-publishing is the responsibility of choosing oneself.”
So, I chose myself.
My Experience with Self-Publishing 5 Books
When I published my books, I didn’t have a marketing machine in place.
I didn’t want to market. I wanted to write.
Then, I bravely published my books. Just like my musical concert, I KNEW I had to follow my muse which at the time was telling me to WRITE!
The VALUE I got from writing and publishing my books was priceless.
Certain things in life you can’t put a price tag on.
Reasons Why I Self-Published My Books
I self-published my books for many reasons.
Here are a few:
1. Writing them helped me heal through a time of grief.
2. I enjoy the process of putting books together.
3. I liked the idea of creating a ‘body of work’. Body of work is my goal not money.
4. Each book of mine taught me something about myself and helped me grow.
5. I liked the creative process of formatting, illustrating and getting them DONE. ( I illustrated two of the five books)
6. It’s fun and relatively easy to publish books through Amazon KDP Publishing.
7. Because …I COULD.
None of these reasons had to do with marketing or money.
Each of my books was a stepping stone for me in my writing life and each book definitely had VALUE.
Just like my music concerts, I was glad I shared my books by publishing them. Some readers even wrote to thank me for them. Some were entertained. Some laughed. Some were inspired. Some gave me amazing reviews. (I even got a high percentage of 5 star reviews on Amazon: 85 %, — which I hear is quite unheard of, especially for a poetry book.)
Here are a few reviews of my first book Catch a Poem by the Tale:
Although I like poetry, I seldom sit down to read a whole book of it. Yet Michelle Monet’s Catch a Poem by the Tale was the happy exception… Each page brought a new delight! Applause, encore, Michelle!
“Catch a Poem by the Tale” is cleverly written, well-organized, and truly original, both in its concept and its execution.”
Erin~ rated 5 stars. It was amazing!
To be honest, I’m unsure of why I didn’t write a review right when I finished this book. I did more than just enjoy, I loved them…This book hasn’t left my mind since I finished it two or three months ago…These poems saved my life in a way I never thought possible and for that I thank Michelle Monet, the outstanding writer of them all…”
5.0 out of 5 stars A Euphoric Journey! An Utter Delight Of A Book!
In Michelle Monet’s book “Catch A Poem By The Tale” she takes her readers on a euphoric journey filled with rich color imagery comprising a melodic symmetry. With every word, she captivates her audience by creating beautiful colors. Each word is a dot which together forms a prism, transforming into a kaleidoscope. She achieves this effect through instilling the emotion into every word she writes.
So — it looks like my books did bring some VALUE to readers.
It’s Not About Money or Marketing For Me.
If it were about money, honestly I would’ve done a lot more marketing of my books.
I also would’ve taken up an offer to be WRITER OF THE WEEK recently on a Writers Website. I was offered to have all 5 of my books ‘featured’ if I agreed to a video chat.
At the time I wasn’t interested. I declined.
I was going through too much emotional family shit in my life at the time. The last thing I wanted was to have my face on a video camera, or to go RAH RAH RAH for my old books.
I had already moved on. I wanted to write essays now. I wasn’t inspired to write poetry anymore. Also, my old books felt like old news to me.
I wasn’t worried at all about marketing them either. I trusted the Universe enough to know that when the right opportunity came it would happen. I didn’t want to force it.
I was in the writing life for the ‘long haul‘. These books to me were just the beginning of my writing life. I was in no hurry.
Amazon Makes it Easy for Anyone to Self Publish
Thankfully and amazingly, there is Amazon KDP Publishing. They make it quite easy to publish your books and not have to wait to get a traditional publisher. I wasn’t into waiting. I wanted to express myself NOW. Not later.
That idea appealed to me.
I wanted to get things DONE in my writing life and not have to wait for permission.
I guess I’m an impatient creative person.
I was grateful that Bob, my other half, had a lot of experience and expertise in formatting, graphic design and computer skills. He’s a smart tech dude thankfully! Likely, I might have had to pay for someone else to do these things if not for him and his skills.
So, yes, I got lucky by having him assist me — but, honestly, I published my books on a very tight shoestring budget.
All my books turned out fine (maybe more than fine) for first efforts. They look …OK…not perfect, not grade A +, but that was NOT my main purpose. My purpose was not to have a killer book cover either.
I wanted the words inside the book to matter more.
Also, I wasn’t aiming for perfection. I was aiming to get them DONE and MOVE ON.
Elizabeth Gilbert, Author of the Eat, Pray, Love etc. books said:
’”DONE is better than PERFECT!”.
I live by that motto.
So, what some say is that I should’ve waited until I had MONEY — to do something my heart felt compelled to do?
I really didn’t have much money, but I made up for it in dedication, enthusiasm and passion. I think those things take you further sometimes.
‘Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail’ — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Follow Your Heart not the “Experts’
So, I think we must follow our heart when deciding whether to Self Publish — and not follow the ‘experts’ who tout all the reasons you can’t do something or spew all the reasons you MUST do it their way.
yadda. yaddda.
I want to tell anyone who is thinking of self-publishing a book that there are many ways to do it, just like there are many paths in life.
Yes, there are those who believe that you must WAIT to publish a book until you have a marketing ‘strategy’ or a marketing ‘machine’ in place.
But, for others, like me we might prefer the exact opposite.
Sometimes, there is no strategy at all. It is just your heart. It is art that wants to be expressed through you.
It’s that simple.
THANKS FOR READING! Contact me at: [email protected]