A writing career is a game of snakes and ladders.

"A writing career is a game of snakes and ladders."

That's how author Alison Stuart described 30+ years in publishing when we sat down to talk — and the metaphor has stayed with me. You climb. You land the three-book deal. You think you've made it. Then a snake sends you sliding back to the bottom of the board.

Alison has done it all: traditional publishing, indie publishing, the earliest days of ebooks, the US contracts, the series cancellations, the comebacks. Drawing on her experience and my own 18 years in the industry, I've written up the lessons I wish someone had handed me at the start:

→ The money myth needs retiring. Advances are smaller and slower than most people imagine, and traditional publishing is rarely where the real income sits.
→ Indie authors are the trailblazers. The email lists, reader communities and ebook strategies that traditional publishers now copy were built by indies first.
→ Control your series from book one. When a publisher picks up two books and drops the third, you're stranded. Ownership changes everything.
→ Your readership is the only asset that's truly yours. Publishers come and go. A loyal audience is what sustains a career.
→ Don't rush to publish just because you can. Craft, editing and honesty still matter.
→ Protect the joy. It's the reason any of us started.

Alison left me with a question worth sitting with: when the next setback sends you back down the board — and it will — what makes you pick up the dice and play again?
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I'd love to hear your answer. 

https://open.substack.com/pub/amrasarmchairanecdotes/p/snakes-and-ladders-what-30-years?r=i0jxk&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true