Damn it, Jim! I'm a writer, not a used-car salesman!

The last few months have been incredibly busy - publishing two novels, several short stories, redesigning my website, promoting my work... That's left very little time for my first love, reading, or for writing reviews, working on my next novel, or social networking and blogging. I have a forth novel coming out in February, a paranormal historic romance set in WWII France, and plan to publish several short stories between now and then. The first part of 2012 looks to be as busy as the last quarter of 2011.

I currently have a reading list that looks like Santa's delivery schedule, and more books being added almost daily. There are so many awesome Indie authors out there, and so many great books. I'm planning to get back on a regular reading/reviewing schedule in the coming year. It's one of my New Year promises to myself. Another is devoting more time to writing. Unfortunately there are limited hours in the day, days in the week, and weeks in the year.

For any independent author, and more and more New York published authors, promotion eats up far too much time that could be spent reading and writing. We risk losing sight of what we love for the drudgery of selling our work. I know authors, published by the biggest houses in New York, who've spent their entire advance - and more - on promoting their work and have become so busy promoting that they haven't written a new word since being published. I know Indies who work nearly sixteen hours a day promoting their work and hardly any time writing new stories.

With THE COLLECTIVE, I did all the things authors do - blog tours, trailer, mass promotion. The book debuted as a best seller on Smashwords and pulled CybrGrrl along for the ride - she hit #1 the same week THE COLLECTIVE released. Both books stayed at #1 for the entire month of November. Great, right? But at what price? My every waking moment - and there were many all-nighters - was spent in promotion mode. I know many Indie authors who keep that kind of schedule going 24/7/365 and they consistently sell books. But is it worth the effort?

Every author must answer that question for themselves. For me, I don't think it is. I work a day job to pay the bills. I have two sons in their twenties, one still in college, a wife, and a cat. I have precious little time available and I want to spend that time doing what I love - reading and writing. But I also want readers to enjoy what I write as much as I enjoy my favorite authors. At one time I'd hoped to engage an agent who would sell my work and allow me time to devote to writing. What I have seen, as friends grabbed the brass ring of publishing, was that they are working as hard as the Indies promoting their own work.

Of course there are the Twilights and Harry Potters out there, but there are also people who win the lottery or break the bank in Vegas. If THE COLLECTIVE had the backing of a multimillion ad campaign, readers would be standing in line at theaters debating Team Archangel versus Team Collective. I enjoyed Twilight, but it wasn't better written or edited than any of the Indie books I love. Today's Best Sellers are simply the best marketed. There are thousands of amazing books which never sell more than a few copies.

I'm reminded of the greats, like Edgar Allen Poe who paid to have his work published only to lose money in the process. It was long after many authors died that their work became classics, and many struggled in obscurity their whole lives with no profit from their writing. It is the way of art. There are precious few fiction writers who can make a living at it, even fewer who hit the big time and join the ranks of the "Best Sellers." Many of those are one hit wonders, and will be forgotten in years to come.

I've taken a long look at why I write and what I really want. I write because I need to write. Most writers will understand what that means. I would write if no one ever read a single word of it. So first and foremost I write for me. I read because I love reading. No movie, TV show, or other form of art can ever replace that. Readers will understand that passion, even addiction, to the written word. I also love readers and writers. They are a special group of people and the only people who understand my passion for literature. So I need my fellow literature junkies as well.

I write for the benefit of my own soul and for the enjoyment of fellow readers. I network to establish connections with other bibliophiles who share my love of literature. Neither of those have anything to do with promotion, selling books, or making money. Of course there is the argument, which I have made to myself, that without promotion no one will read my work. Best Seller means more readers. But if promotion replaces reading, writing, and meeting other lovers of literature, why am I wasting my time?

I've decided in the New Year to devote myself to what I love. I will read, I will write, I will review and promote my fellow writers, and I will publish. If one person reads and enjoys what I write then I have succeeded in connecting with another soul and sharing my own. I hope this doesn't come across as smug on my part, but I'm 50 years old and life is too short to spend my time as an eBook used-car-salesman. I'm a writer. That's who I am.

I will do what I love and hope someone out there finds pleasure in what I offer. If I'm good enough, then someday a young reader may be inspired by my writing as I was by Poe, Verne, Bradbury, and all who came before. We live in an age when our words are far easier to immortalize than ever before. Unknown writers have passed by, their words forever lost, yet today we can easily offer our words to the electronic cloud and they will remain as long as the internet exists and there are people willing to read.