I’m going to let you in on a little secret: Not every author writes books because they love writing books.

Huh?

Every author has a different motivation for sitting down at the keyboard (or with pen and paper, as I did with my first book) and pounding out a story.

My journey started in university.  Well, poems and short stories in elementary and high school.  University and my drama program?  I wrote two plays.  Uh…one bombed and one did okay.  I took two creative writing classes.  In the first, I started a novel.  OMG, I cringe at it now.  In the second class, though, I started a romance.  Only I didn’t know it would be a romance.  I’d only read my first Harlequin the year before.  I had no idea how category Harlequin romances would change my life’s trajectory.

I did well in that class — and kept writing that book.  Now, it SUCKS.  And was never completed. But I love the story and will one day tell it in an authentic way.  The heroine has been mentioned in another one of my books — so her story’s coming.

Basically, I kept writing.  I started numerous projects and would pick one up occasionally.  I would commute on the train in Toronto and write scenes.  I also wrote two scripts for a television series my friend was working on.  Didn’t sell them, but it lit a fire under me that they even got read.

I continued to write on and off for fifteen years. Never finishing a book. But planning.  Always planning.

Then I had a mental illness crisis in 2012 and was off work for a year.  I had thought I was going to write one book, but a secondary character, whom I’d seen as a throw away, kept nagging me to write her story.  So I did. By hand, In pieces.  Took 8 months and I wound up with 126k words.  Eventually I put the pieces together and had a manuscript.  Even I knew the thing was a mess.  But I found two beta readers who loved it.

In the meantime, I went back to work. Something happened in the news and I started in on the ‘what ifs’.  I had the genesis for a story. I wrote intensely over the next six weeks -including at work between phone calls (I worked in a call centre). I discovered I could write a lot of words in the seven seconds between calls.

I had a book.  Only one this was 85k words — the perfect length for a Harlequin Superromance.  My beta readers loved it, and I sent it to Harlequin. I’m not going to bore you with my 2 ½ year horrible journey to not being published with them (but coming rather close).  I moved on.  I sent it elsewhere, but I just couldn’t get traction.

The advice I got (and that I give to anyone who will listen) is, while you’re on submission and waiting, to write the next book.  And I did. Over and over and over.  But the time HQ rejected me I had 16 more books and 3 partial books in that series written plus a dark erotic BDSM trilogy — because I could.  I wrote a million words in 2014 and damn near that many the next year.  In 2015-2016, I moved into editing and my word count dropped.

In the end, I sold that BDSM trilogy to The Wild Rose Press.  And I wrote another MMF BDSM for them.  I’ve also, under that penname, written another MMF, an FFM, and a couple of short stories — all BDSM.  I even have one short story on audio.  That’s Gabbi Black.  I’m committed to writing at least one story for her every year because I love BSDM.  Although now my stories are much lighter — shows you where I am in my life.  Oh, and I have way more experience in kink than when I wrote the trilogy — so that knowledge gets incorporated into my work.

Those 20 or so books?  I wrote a series starter, have a prequel, the HQ book became book 2, I wrote book 3, and book 4 is the 126k word cluster mess that I need to sort out. I hired a freelance editor, she worked me hard, and the first 4 books (prequel and books 1-3) are out as Love in Cedar Valley.  Gabbi Powell.  I’ve also published a novella in that series and a short story.  I have another short story coming later this year.  I’ve committed to my freelance editor that I will fix book 4 and send it to her by the end of the year.  I even have a beautiful cover.  Just have to find the time.  I’ve also committed to sending her 2-3 more edited ones per year from the pile so we get through all 20 before she retires or I die. (we’re both older, so it is a race against time)

Finally, comes Gabbi Grey.  Didn’t see her coming — even though that was my first penname.  I wrote two MF short stories that got published.  One publisher was looking for MM novellas with one guy working in the trades and set in the continental US.  I wrote a story, and a nice author randomly offered to beta read it for me (I will always be grateful for their kindness to a total stranger).  They had very constructive comments. The biggest being — this story is too short.  Tell the story you were meant to tell. I backed out of the project with the publisher and, during my next mental health crisis, wrote the book I was meant to.  120k.  From the initial 50k… Uh…okay…

My freelance editor had a go of it, and I’ve tried to sell it to traditional publishers.  All want it shorter before they’ll look at it.  Now I’m hybrid, though (indie and working with a traditional publisher), I’m wondering if I shouldn’t indie publish the book.  It’s in the wrong point of view (I wrote it third person but everything I do now is first).  I’m currently fixing another manuscript and changing POV takes weeks of intense work.  So 120k word gay romance is on the back burner.

In the meantime, my new publisher, The Wild Rose Press, was putting out a series.  Intrigued, I contemplated what to write and decided on a gay romance — which they weren’t expecting in their small-town series set in Vermont. They greenlit and project and I wrote an MM paranormal ghost story.  Then the publisher wanted books with ice cream.  I wrote another gay romance.  Then they said I could write another book in the Vermont series.  I wrote a sweet gay romance.

Then they wanted a Christmas cookie book.  I tried but couldn’t cram the story into 35k words. I withdrew the story and finished it myself. I bought a cover, learned how to indie publish, paid a narrator to record it, and released the book into the world on November 15^th, 2021.

I haven’t looked back except to marvel.  That book is my best seller by far.  Book 2 in that series, which came out of nowhere, is the next bestseller. Then the various series I’ve written stories for including The Haunting of Pinedale High, Single Dads of Gaynor Beach, and Friends of Gaynor Beach Animal Rescue.  Then I finally got around to writing and publishing books 3 and 4 in my Love in Mission City series.  Plus short stories, as well as novellas and shorts for charity anthologies and on it goes.

Gabbi Grey has, unexpectedly, become my most successful penname.  The one I didn’t see coming. The one who writes queer romances.

So I should drop the other two and focus on her, right?  Especially if I want to break even and, eventually, make money (Spoiler -most authors, even if they manage to publish, don’t make a ton of money. Even those with publishing contracts might not be making as much as you might believe.) I don’t talk about money often.  I have a fantastic super important job.  The extra each month, after all my basic expenses are paid, goes into my writing.

Editors, covers, marketing, promos, prizes (and, for me, audiobooks). Also classes, memberships, and ads if you’ve got the ability to run them. Being an author can be expensive.  Some authors do it for less and still succeed.  I tell authors starting out they need four things: an editor, a professional cover, a website, and a mailing list.  Now, often you can barter for some of that and go super cheap.  Oh, and you need a good story.  Even the prettiest cover and the best editing won’t help if the story isn’t compelling.

I love my life.  I’m living the life I’ve always dreamed. I don’t want to be a ‘full-time’ author because I can’t live with uncertainty.  I have a great job where I work hard. I have benefits and a pension plan I pay into.  I’m working to pay down my mortgage.

I also write full-time.  How?  Four hours each morning for writing and marketing. One to two hours after work doing more marketing.  Ten-to-fourteen-hour days on the weekends.  A ton of writing and marketing.  Last year I wrote 832k words.  That’s full-time author territory.

I just happen to have two great jobs.  That goes with healthy family and happy dogs.  Anything happens with that equation, and my writing will decrease.  For now, though, I’m good.

And my ADD brain is happiest with three pennames. For maintaining different rhythms for each.  Hell, even different POVs.  Gabbi Powell is all third person while the other two pennames are now entirely first person.  Just a preference.  And something to keep my mind engaged.

That’s why I can’t stick to my lane.  I’d probably be more successful if I picked one penname and just wrote big books.  But I wouldn’t get the variety.  The thrill of writing stories for charity anthologies.  The joy of working with other authors in shared worlds.

Interestingly, my mentor/critique partner/future co-writer/friend laughed when I said I couldn’t stick to my lane.  She pointed out she wasn’t even on the highway.  Which is true. She writes what she wants. As long as it has a happy ending, she’s good.

So, what about you? Interested in trying your hand at writing? Already there? Or how do you feel about authors who switch lanes?  Will you follow them wherever or do you count of them for one thing and get frustrated when they move somewhere else?  Leave a comment and let me know. Random will pick a winner of a $5 Amazon gift card. Good luck.

About the Authors

Gabbi Grey

USA Today Bestselling author Gabbi Grey lives in beautiful British Columbia where her fur baby chin-poo keeps her safe from the nasty neighborhood squirrels. Working for the government by day, she spends her early mornings writing contemporary, gay, sweet, and dark erotic BDSM romances. While she firmly believes in happy endings, she also believes in making her characters suffer before finding their true love. She also writes m/f romances as Gabbi Black and Gabbi Powell.

Newsletter sign-up:  https://sendfox.com/gabbigrey
Website: https://gabbigrey.com/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Gabbi-Grey/author/B07SJVFX1M
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15456297.Gabbi_Grey

Gabbi Powell

Gabbi Powell has been a lover of romance since she first put pen to paper in the eighth grade to write her first romance.  She writes her novels while living in Beautiful British Columbia with her trusty ChinPoo dog a as companion.  She also writes gay romances as Gabbi Grey and contemporary dark erotic BDSM novels as Gabbi Black.

Website:   http://gabbipowell.com/
Newsletter sign-up: https://sendfox.com/gabbipowell
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Gabbi-Powell/author/B08T8NTQNY
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21065056.Gabbi_Powell

Gabbi Black

Even though Gabbi Black is a firm believer in happy endings, she makes her characters work for it in every romance she writes, no matter what the genre. From contemporary to BDSM, they are penned early in the morning in her home in beautiful British Columbia while her trusty ChinPoo dog keeps her company. She also writes gay romances as Gabbi Grey and small-town romances as Gabbi Powell.

Website:   http://gabbiblack.com/
Newsletter sign-up:  https://sendfox.com/gabbi
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Gabbi-Black/author/B08D8LNY7D
Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20592691.Gabbi_Black