Guest Blog with Carmen Fox

THE LIFE OF A WRITER

I often get asked the question, “Why does it take writers so long to release new books?”

It takes me, personally, about nine months to write/edit/publish a new book of between 90,000 and 100,000 words. This may seem long to some, but there are different factors involved, many out of the writer’s control. Waiting on editors and cover design is just one example where writers have to take the backseat. So let’s look at what is in the writer’s control: writing the book.

A Day in the Life…

Here’s a breakdown of a typical day for me:

5:30 a.m.

- get up, shower, breakfast, commute to work

8:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

- day job

12:30 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

- writing novel or blog post or editing

1:00 p.m.- 4:30 p.m.

- day job

4:30 p.m. – 5:20 p.m.

- commute home

5:20 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

- chores, dinner

6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

- writing/editing

7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

- promoting/book-related activities: social media (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest); planning promotional activities with other authors; submitting review requests; answering readers’ emails; website maintenance; etc.

8:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.

- catching up with family, watching TV, required reading or voluntary reading, or doing coursework

10:30 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.

-  getting ready for bed

11:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

- sleeping

I feel blessed to have the time I do have to write. I imagine writers with children have even less time for writing, sneaking snippets of time here and there, which can lead to insanely late or early hours. And like me, most authors have full-time jobs, which allow very little time for what we love doing most.

Is It Worth It?

I’m also often asked about money. “How much do authors earn on each copy sold, advances, publicity costs, etc.? Is it worth it?”

The time of the big advance is over. If you get a contract with one of the big five publishers, you might get lucky, but smaller publishers don’t pay advances.

Every ebook sold brings in between $1 and $3 for the author, provided that book is sold at a price of between than $2.99 and $4.99. Every time the price drops to below that threshold, the writer will only make about $0.10 to $0.70 per copy sold. The income from print books is about the same as or minimally more than that from full-price ebooks.

Many new authors sell about 50-150 copies of their first book, and with that money they have to pay for blog tours, swag, advertising, entries for book awards, membership fees to writing organizations, offer giveaways…

In other words, most authors initially lose money on their books. This loss might be higher still if you’re a self-published author, because in addition to more work, you’ll also have higher outgoings.

The situation improves slightly the more books you write and publish. But if that is the case, why not write more?

Unless you’ve ‘made it’ as an author, you don’t actually have a lot of time for, well, writing. As you can see in my daily routine, I total roughly 1-2 hours writing or editing a book a day—unless life gets in the way. If I’m lucky, I can fit in another couple of hours at the weekends. That doesn’t leave much time for a social life.

And when you see your book appear on piracy websites, or slated by harsh reviews, it’s tough to keep going.

The true reality is, when you’re a writer, you have to love your ‘hobby’ with all your heart, because the other rewards are not as great as one would imagine.

BOUND

The Silverton Chronicles

Book Two

Carmen Fox

Date of Publication: April 30, 2016

Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance

Publisher: Smart Heart Publishing

Cover Designer: Ana Grigoriu

epub ISBN :  9780993199233

Book Description:

Bound by blood. Bound by loyalty. Bound by love.

Florian has it all: excellent fashion sense, a kickass job with his best friend, and a hard-won place among Silverton’s werewolves. When a pack of females pads into their territory, Flo’s alpha dispatches him to handle a merger. Total cakewalk. Except Keely, their alpha, has no intention of submitting her wolves to Flo's larger pack. Worse, a single glance from her baby blues sends his eloquence on vacation and his heartbeat into overdrive. His flirtations seem welcome too, but there's a snag. She doesn’t know he’s a vampire.

While Flo struggles with his conflicts—obey his alpha, or win over Keely—his estranged sire blasts into town with a catalog of radical ideas. And hanging out with unsophisticated werewolves didn't make the list.

With violence in the air and all sides testing his loyalties, Florian must bite back, even if showing his fangs costs him the girl.

Excerpt (action-based)

With the ceiling spinning above me, I spat out his taste. Even that took effort. My body was a mess of floppy appendages without the muscles to shift. But I’d done it. I’d pushed my sire out of my mind. Did that mean I was free of him now?

Gino shot to his feet. “Get up.”

He turned his back to me and stared through a gap in the curtains.

I tightened my jaw, scrambled up, and had to lean on the armchair. No strength. Lack of blood. Total head rush.

“You are not to see your friends again, is that understood?” The sharpness of his voice didn't ease the thudding in my head.

I hitched my shoulders to restart my suffering circulation.

“Ali?” I called with my mind.

He would give me strength.

“Ali?”

Nothing. My knees trembled. The hollow Ali had carved out and filled with his bothersome emotions lay empty.

Memories of when we first met streamed into the void. We’d laughed, and we’d argued, and gotten piss-drunk at the local bar more than twice, but we’d always, always been like brothers inside that hollow.

I touched my pockets, felt my jacket for…for what? This was crazy.

He could be busy, or he simply hadn’t heard me.

“Ali? Where are you?”

“Florian.” Gino’s pitch tightened. “I need you to listen.”

I’d ejected Gino from my mind too late. Ali was gone. My sire’s remaking of me had snapped our link like a brittle twig.

About The Author

Carmen lives in the south of England with her beloved tea maker and a stuffed sheep called Fergus. An avid reader since childhood, she caught the writing bug when her Nana asked her to write a story. She also has a law degree, studied physics for a few years, dabbled in marketing and human resources, and speaks native-level German and fluent Geek. Her preferred niches of geekdom are tabletop games, comics, sci-fi and fantasy.

She writes about smart women with sassitude, about pretty cool guys too, and will chase that plot twist, no matter how elusive.

Guarded (The Silverton Chronicles – Bk. 1) became a no. 1 bestseller in the vampire and werewolf mystery categories.

For details on this or Carmen's other work, visit her website at

www.carmen-fox.com