Stop asking how much money I make.

I worked for twelve years in the field of education, and let me tell you… I did NOT do it for the money.

Nope. I once told a neighbor what I made and she laughed so hard she started crying. Then she saw my face and realized I was serious.

Yeah, that was awkward.

Then after a series of twists and turns, I did it. I took the leap. I committed to being a full time writer!

My day consists of getting up at 6:45, taking the offspring to school, grabbing a cup of coffee and sitting at my keyboard. Some days I outline, some days I write, some days I revise, some days I edit, some days I format.

Books do not appear out of thin air. They require work. Shocking, I know.

Lucky for me, when I’m in the groove I’m actually pretty quick. During the month of September I wrote an 83K novel in 21 days. In October I wrote, edited, and published Reborn. In November I finished writing and published Revenge while editing my 120K manuscript that I’ve been working on for YEARS. That book, Killing Darkness, the sequel to Taming Darkness will be released on December 5th. AND before Christmas, it is my intent to wrap up The Blood Clan Chronicles and publish the final installment, Redemption. Then it’s on to edits of the book I wrote back in September so I can release that in February.

Tired yet? I can’t afford to be tired. I chose to be an Indie author, which means the more books I have available the more my name becomes a brand. The more recognizable I am, the better my sales. Which leads me to the reason for my blog post.

People need to STOP asking me how much money I make. Seriously. Stop. It’s INSULTING and RUDE and it makes YOU look ignorant. Usually the conversation goes like this:

“How are book sales?”

“Great!”

“What’s great? How many?”

“Uhhh… I sold X amount last week alone.”

“How much is that?”

**Cue my reaching for a bottle of vodka.**

First of all… you shouldn’t even ask how my book sales are. Do you actually care? Does it impact your life in anyway? I’ve also found that the people who ask are the people who have not bought my books. If I give a low number, does that make you feel better? If I give you a high number you raise an eyebrow in disbelief thinking, “Wow! She made a ton of fast cash and all she did was write a few words down.”

I don’t understand why in any of the professions of the arts, people feel justified in asking this question. I also have noticed that it is MEN who more often than not are the ones who ask. I suppose a woman who goes after what she wants is intimidating to them, so they feel this need to tear at her to make up for their own incompetence.

At the end of the day, I can close the door on all the haters. I’m doing what I love. I DO go to work everyday– perhaps not in the conventional way that most people do, but trust me I’m working. I’m putting in 12 hour days. I am an INDIE writer which means I not only write, I do all of my own marketing. I’m the one who handles the covers. I’m the one scheduling reviewers. I’m the one approving the budget and I’m the one with the final say. You know why? Because I’m my own boss. So the next time you’re about to ask an author about sales… how about you help contribute to their sales instead.