Jude Willhoff - From Dreamer to Doer: A 12-Step Indie Author Business Plan for Writing Success

Nonfiction

Motivational/Inspirational/Self-Help

Copyright 2015 by Jude Willhoff

ISBN: 978-0-9916364-3-3.

A ll Rights Reserved . No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission, in writing from the publisher. E-books are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this book.

Cover design by The Killion Group

From Dreamer to Doer:

A 12-Step Indie Author Business Plan For Writing Success

Start by doing whats necessary; then do whats possible;

and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

~ St. Francis of Assisi

M aterials : You will need a creative mind, a one-year erasable calendar and a package of erasable, colored markers to complete your business plan. After reading my step-by-step business plan, go back and write everything on your calendar using a specific color for each step.

L ike many of my writer friends I spent years as a dreamer: I endlessly wrote, rewrote, and waited for the call for my big date with the New York publishers. Alas, in spite of my best intentions, I was always being stood up on a Friday night. Nevertheless, I persisted writing for years, had several books completed, won many contests, and came close numerous times with three different and highly successful agents in getting traditionally published.

By 2010, however, what is known as the Digital Revolution began happening all around me. Because of the easy accessibility of online retailers like Amazon and Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, Smashwords, Kobo, and iBooks, many authors started having success by loading up their novels themselves onto these e-book sites. These authors became their own Independent Publishers (also known as Indies or Self-Publishers) without going through the traditional New York channels. A whole new wave in publishing began, and many of my friends chose to take this route. Stories abounded of independent authors making huge amounts of money, sometimes millions of dollars, and keeping up to 70% of the profits! I admit I was tempted to dip my big toe in the indie publishing pool, but being old school and in a critique group where most of the members were traditionally published and suspicious about the viability of indie publishing, I continued to hold out.

However, I did meet with my agent to discuss going digital with some of my books, and she reassured me that this wasnt the time. A sale for me was imminent, and I could possibly sell that publisher all of the books Id written. It could happen any day, she claimed, we were so close! In fact, there was a verbal contract with a Harlequin editor who simply wanted one more rewrite. So once again, I rewrote an eighty-thousand word manuscript in three weeks, working late into the night to make the requested changes. I wrote every spare minute I could find for that New York editor and held out for the brass ring: A New York publishing contract. To make a long story short, the editor abruptly left the company and my book fell through the cracks.

Once again, my agent reassured me that there was another editor with a New York publishing firm that was interested in my books. So I continued writing and waiting for my agent to call with the good news.

Until one day my life changed in the blink of an eye.

I never got that brass ring, but I sincerely feel I received something better: True personal and professional empowerment.

The following is the story of what triggered me to find the strength and courage to make my publishing aspirations come true. Through my specific, action-oriented From Dreamer to Doer: An Indie Author Business Plan for Writing Success, I dove into indie publishing and became a doer instead of a dreamer.

It all started on a cold February morning when I checked into a hospital at 8:40 a.m. as an outpatient for x-rays and a myelogram. For many years I have had back issues with arachnoiditis, which is clumping of the nerve roots that causes chronic pain, for which I received a spinal cord implant. Most of the time, Ive been able to manage my back pain. But with my latest back troubles, my back would give out on me for no reason, causing severe pain that literally knocked me to the ground and made it impossible for me to stand or walk. The first time this happened, Id been out showing a house. When I returned home and got out of my car, all at once my body was engulfed in excruciating back pain, and I fell to the floor. I could barely move! Thank God, I had my cell phone in my jacket pocket. I called my husband, and he and my daughter Aimee, whos a nurse, came and helped me into the house.

When my back goes out, theres nothing my neurologist or anyone can do for me. Lying flat and perfectly still for several days is the only thing that relieves this condition. Im rendered completely helpless. The house could burn down around me and I wouldnt be able to move without assistance! Luckily, I have a loving husband and supportive family who take care of me when the going gets rough. For several days, I had to lie around and give my back time to heal so it would be bearable for me to stand and walk again. As a realtor, what if I was in the process of showing a house and my back went out? I couldnt work this way anymore, so I knew I had no choice but to accept my doctors referral for a myelogram of my spine.

Having had the myelogram a few years earlier, I knew what to expect. It was painful and I absolutely dreaded it. I wished I could have an MRI and be done with it, but because of my spinal cord implant, that wasnt possible. After the test, I was supposed to lie flat for four hours to avoid a massive headache. Okay, I thoughtI can deal with this. Ever prepared, Id brought my Kindle and planned on reading during that time. Id taken the day off from work and planned to go home and get some writing done as soon as the tests were over. After discussing the procedure, my neurosurgeon informed me that he believed the arachnoiditis had progressed, or I had somehow managed to get a herniated disc or a hairline fracture. The test would help to reveal what medical interventions might be needed. Anticipating the pain ahead of me, all these nervous thoughts were weighing on my mind as I filled out the required information at the hospital check-in desk.

Soon, the registration staff escorted me to a waiting area for radiology. A nurse came and took me to a room where they gave me a gown and instructed me to get in a hospital bed. They told me I would take the regular x-rays of my back first and then the myelogram.

Within a few minutes, a nurse rolled me in the transportable bed to the x-ray area for a process of sitting, standing, bending of my back prior to having the myelogram. Fortunately, I did those x-rays without a hitch! After the x-rays, the nurse transported me to another room to wait for the myelogram. We talked and I shared that Id had the myelogram a few years back, which was extremely painful. She tried to put me at ease and told me how the test had improved since then, because the needles were smaller now. I could only pray she was right because I hate needles.