Why do you write? Why do you breathe? Why do you wake up in the morning? What’s in it for you?
What’s in it for you?
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Good advice
There goes out the window the general definition for good advice. I care not if is critique or feedback, or just mean and cynical advice. If it motivates me to keep doing what I do is good enough for me.
We’re in the storytelling business
Don’t deceive yourself. You’re not just telling stories. You’re telling stories and getting paid for it.
Would you buy a book because…
Would you really buy a book because…
Everyone else is reading it?
It has thousands of 5* reviews on Amazon?
You think the person who wrote the 1* review is an idiot which means the book is good?
One of your friends wrote it?
You like the cover?
What it takes to become a writer?
Unyielding work ethic
Building a start-up means you have to decide what you will do and also what you won’t. Believe in your dream, work day and night and never compromise. It sounds difficult because it is. I can vouch for this with every night when I wake up searching my notepad under the bed to write an idea.
There isn’t any writer consumed by the drive to write who doesn’t understand what I wrote above.
The publishing Big Five dilemma
The Big Five publishing houses produce almost 60% of the English-language books and thousands of small publishing houses and self-published authors produce the rest. The turnover and the rate of failure of the little guys are huge.
The break-even point for book sales and the professional writer’s journey
One of the first question I receive when I talk with business people about project management tools for writers and about all the money and work hours that go into building Asengana is: “What’s your break-even point?”
I applied the same answer for the process of writing, publishing, and selling a book. It will be a back-of-the-envelope type calculation, but I will provide you with the document to download and add as many variables as you need.
The buying part is easy
To get your reader there is the hard part. There’s nothing easy in addressing numerous potential buyers. Readers aren’t just readers.
Don’t ask anybody if you should write a book or not
Do you really care if your friend, or an expert, or anybody that reads a few pages of your book thinks you should quit? Does really helps you if they say you should keep writing? When you’re alone with your keyboard, paper page, or recorder, does it really matter if the others support you or not?
Enchanting the beta reader
How open are you to the suggestions made by the beta readers of your book? How much of their input are you willing to accommodate in your rewriting process? How do you thank them and make them feel special when their ideas become part of your idea?
The dangerous long-term memory of your potential readers
If you are one that doesn’t understand that a writers’ group is about writing, and your opinions are full of hate and disrespect for others your book launch might be closer to failure than you think…
The price of a new book
How much do you think an acquaintance or even a friend will risk paying for a book that might be good or not, just because they know you?
Is it possible that a reader might risk a small amount of money for an unknown book?
Is it also possible a person will pay more than your price after reading the book if liked?
How about an online shop from where you can download a book for free and you can pay the price or not after you read it?
To be remarkable and enchant readers
I lost the opportunity to sell my book because I didn’t try to be remarkable. And if I, the writer, the wizard of words, am not capable of captivating one person, how will I enchant millions?
Personal branding
The second part is about how to reach your goal. It’s about planning. It’s about understanding that online personal marketing is a process.
The career path of an avid reader
When I got my first paycheck, I bought books. Reading was still the only form of freedom. As years passed, I moved through careers, jobs, and always felt a prisoner. Reading kept me sane. Reading and living in the worlds created by words was my freedom.
Stop writing books
What can you do in a world where those thousands of hours are dedicated to writing by thousands of other people?
Your eReader device – a tool or a lifestyle
Reading a book is reading a book, no matter the support on which is written. If I have to make a choice about what is important for me, I will not ponder about what eReader to use. The only thing that matter is the act of reading.
The power to sell good books
The monopoly of the publishing houses wasn’t broken by the opportunity to self-publish, but because their power to sell got taken from them. Internet and social media did this.
The test of time and writing a book to make you proud.
Do you feel satisfaction for what your book has achieved in teaching readers something good, changing the world?
Is it a gratifying experience to hold a hard copy of your book in your hands? Do you feel proud of your creation and say: “I wrote this book!”?
The case for writing the end first
I always write the end first. Even if I don’t have a clear idea about what my hero’s journey will be, I write the end first. It is my innate need to know where I’m going. The only way I know when I’m getting to my destination.
What makes your book a real book
When the reader feels something reading your book and is burned by the desire to share that feeling with you and others, in that moment you know you wrote a real book.
Sometimes writer – definition
Sometimes writer = a person engaged in writing books, stories, articles, etc as an occupation or profession living in a splintered state of the creative process.