Author: Lisa Lang Blakeney

I’ve watched Scribd evolve over the years from this cool place where you could post some of your content and get new eyeballs on it, to this place that was basically an illegal download zone, to this cutting edge new site where you could subscribe to a book membership that is pretty much like subscribing to Netflix.

It was interesting to see the site move and change with the times…but just when I was going to dip my toe in the subscription model waters Scribd announces that it is going to take a blunt cut to most of it’s romance titles. The reason? Romance readers read too many books and Scribd pays authors full price per book, not via a lump fund like Amazon KDP.

Scribd will be keeping a few of it’s Romance titles, especially if they are full-length novels and are under 3.99– even more so if they’re free (like series starters). [I don’t know this for sure, but that’s what the powers that be are saying about the selection process.]

I think it’s a shame that romance authors are being penalized because our readers read a lot, but I get it. Scribd needs to pay the bills and romance readers are probably breaking the bank.

This is definitely something to keep an eye on in general in the marketplace. Will the subscription model be able to remain standing, because I would guess that many of Scribd’s subscribers are romance readers.

I have made my living as a business writer and coach, in fact I’ve published several non-fiction books, but it’s been absolutely terrifying writing fiction for the first time. I mean utterly terrifying. I don’t have the benefit of being so naive about the writing process (like some new authors are), that I think I can just write a book and people will love it and buy it. I know first hand that isn’t anywhere near the case.

I have recently finished the draft of my first full manuscript titled Cousins–A new adult romance and the first book of a series about two cousins who end up falling for each other (think Stepbrother romance). I agonized about how to begin all my chapters. How to end them all. My punctuation. My grammar. My use of slang and profanity. If I would ever let any of my daughter’s read it (maybe when they’re 30:). If there was too much going on in the plot. If there was not enough going on in the plot. If my characters were making a connection. If the sex scenes were hot enough.

I could go on and on…but what I’m saying is that while this type of analysis paralysis is normal for writers during the writing process, at some point you have to relax and release. I just forgot that. It took me a VERY long time to finally say “okay good is good enough” and send it to my editor. The only way I’m going to get better at this is to write another book, and another, and another. Get feedback, improve my skills and write again. And I can’t be a chicken shit about it.

I’m an author and I need to act like it.

I need to take any hard jabs I may receive about the book with a grain of salt, and any praise I get with gratitude. I need to remember why I write. Why I have to write…because it’s a part of me. It’s what I do. Some people are going to like it and some people won’t…and that’s okay, because ultimately I need to remember that I’m writing for me first. I’m my first reader…and you are yours.

I found a lot of useful stats and information in this presentation made by Smashword’s Mark Coker.