One thing leads to another ...

See

 

http://www.theindependentpublishingmagazine.com/2014/03/self-publishing-conference-uk-notes.html

 

Douglas

Next Meeting Wednesday 9th April 2014 at 19.00

Opening line for next meeting's writing

'She didn't need a looking-glass to know she looked a right mess ...'  1500 words

Douglas

Author misery - thanks Russell - get better soon!

Russell Blake

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Author Myths – 1

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 11:24 AM PDT

I hear ‘em all the time in chat groups and forums, and they drive me nuts. Author myths. Shit that’s just not true, and yet continues to circulate like literary fool’s gold, luring newbies and veterans alike into a kind of idiotic somnambulism.

I’m here to disabuse folks of a few of them in an ongoing series of blogs. Here, in no particular order, are several doozies that I believe are responsible for more author misery than VD, hangovers, or taxes.

1) Books Sell Themselves. No, Victoria, they kinda don’t, at all, and never did. That’s why trad pubs spend massively on promotions. Because they know that visibility sells books, not invisible cosmic forces or author brilliance. It’s a highly competitive market with millions of choices, and it’s a retail market, and in retail, visibility is key. Which means constant promotion. Which most authors hate. But it’s reality, so get used to the idea. A companion to this aphorism is the next one…

2) Just write the next one. Sure, if you want to have two undiscovered gems instead of one. Look, writing the next one’s important, but not if it’s used to justify not promoting the last one, which is often the case. You have to both market the last one AND write the next one. Sorry. You do.

3) It’s all about luck. Well, perhaps some of it is. Maybe even much of it is. But so’s everything. You drive to the market, and 30 seconds after you pass the intersection some dumbass crashes into the car behind you. Luck. A hundred people start restaurants in town and two do well while the rest fail. Luck. A mugger attacks you after a movie. Luck. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. The book biz is no more or less random and chaotic than life, and yet some folks seem to consistently do better than others. I believe you need to work very hard, prepare, and be persistent, creating some of your own luck. As an example, it’s possible you always wear your seat belt and the other driver didn’t today. In that case, bad luck becomes disastrous due to a simple act of preparation. Or in the case of the restaurants, perhaps the ones that prospered had owners that worked 18 hour days and were talented chefs, and further, were savvy and inventive about getting people to try their cuisine. Preparation, persistence, hard work combine in that case to drag lady luck in their direction. With the mugger, maybe you have pepper spray or spent years on martial arts or have a concealed carry. Your preparation is the mugger’s bad luck.

Luck may be a factor, but in my experience it’s only one factor, and that perspective of it all being about luck breeds apathy.

4) Do everything right and you’ll make it. Huh. If that were so, every book put out by big pubs would do well. The vast majority don’t. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have to do everything right, unless you want to worsen your already slim odds rather than improving them.

5) The best you can do should suffice. Mmm, not so much. This is a popular refrain from those destined for obscurity. In a highly competitive business, you need every possible edge. Which means, in this one, your cover, your blurb, your concept, your writing, your formatting, and your marketing need to be top shelf, not as good as you can manage given all your issues. Nobody cares about why you can’t produce a product that’s great. Your job is to produce it. Cheap out or try to do it yourself (unless you’re one in a million and not only a brilliant author, but also a brilliant, experienced cover designer, editor, formatter, etc.)  and you just radically worsened your odds. Why would anyone buy something sub-par? Would you buy a sub-par car, or house, or phone, or anything, because the company producing it found it too hard or expensive to do it right? No. And neither will readers. At least not for long.

6) Do this and you’ll succeed. Whatever. No you won’t. Or rather, not necessarily. No more than practicing your basketball skills will get everyone into the NBA. Millions play every year, tens of thousands are good, many thousands are excellent, and yet only a handful make the cut. There’s no guaranteed formula, just ways to improve your odds. But don’t develop good work habits, don’t refine and improve your craft, don’t learn everything you can about the biz and put it to use, don’t turn out a polished product…well, your chances just got far worse.

7) The secret is X. Nope. There is no secret. The book business is, as are all businesses, a business of exceptions. Exceptions because most don’t succeed. So you need to figure out how to be one of the exceptions. That’s really tough. Almost impossible. It usually involves a ton of effort, sacrifice, and risk that’s commiserate with the reward. Beyond some general guidelines and common sense principles, nobody has the secret – and snake oil salesmen abound.

Nobody can tell you how to be an exception. You have to figure it out. Part of the job.

8) It’s all hopeless. Yes, it is. Or rather, it can seem that way. But every year some make it. Every week there are new names on the lists. It may seem hopeless at first blush, but the only truth is that every day someone beats the odds and has a win. That’s exciting as hell to me, just as it was when I first started at this 33 months ago. Put another way, it’s only hopeless when you give up hope.

There are far more of these destructive myths, and I’ll do another eight when I can. I had a fender bender the other day and due to a freak accident, my hand’s now in a cast for seven weeks (apparently if you wear a big watch, like nearly 50mm, if your hand hits the steering wheel just right, even going slow, the watch can transform into a blade and snap your metatarsals near your wrist, which my TW Steel did in two places – just put your hand up like you’re signalling stop, and imagine a disk the size of a silver dollar strapped tight to your wrist, and you’ll quickly get the idea).

If anyone wants a deal on a big watch, you know how to reach me…

Opening line for next meeting's writing

'She didn't need a looking-glass to know she looked a right mess ...'  1500 words

Looks to me like a marketing line for the 'Avon Lady'

Douglas

ps Calvin says OED looking-glass

Why Do You Write What You Do?

Thought this might be of some interest. Comments on the post please.

Douglas

http://selfpubauthors.com/2014/03/07/why-do-you-write-what-you-do/

Why Do You Write What You Do?

by Ruth Ann Nordin

There are different reasons people write.  Some write to educate, some to gain prestige, some to inspire, some to entertain, some to simply see their story in their own hands (or eReader), some to pay bills, and other reasons I hadn't thought of. 

There is no right or wrong reason to write.  We are all different.  Our needs and desires are not the same.  In other words, there is no one-size fits all way of doing any of this.  This is why you can't pinpoint a specific formula on what someone did and get the same results.  Everyone's results are going to vary.  Unlike the 2+2=4 equation, writing and the byproducts are writing are not fixed. 

The first thing you want to figure out is why you are writing. 

You can have more than one reason.  Often, we have a couple anyway.  I'll list some possible reasons. 

1.  The love of writing 

For some writers, they write because they love it.  If they didn't write, they'd go crazy.   They need to write.  It is an essential part of who they are.  But there are some writers who could leave it all behind.  If they never wrote another word in their lives, they'd be perfectly content.  This distinction right here is where all the other reasons for writing branch out into different categories. 

2.  Writing to inform, inspire, entertain, gain prestige, money, pleasure....and so on 

Nonfiction vs. fiction.  There can be some overlap in these areas.  A person writing fiction might take some experience in their lives or in someone else's life and weave that into a story.  A person wishing to inform people about a certain product might weave in a fictional example to help get their point across. 

An owner of a business might wrote a book teaching people about their product to help gain credibility as a business owner.  Or maybe that owner hopes to boost sales for the product or earn more money by selling the book.  A professor might write an article for a journal to gain some prestige.  A writer might write a book in hopes of becoming a household name.  Someone who is the sole breadwinner of the family has a greater need to provide a living through their writing than someone who has a spouse who earns the living.  Someone who wants to share their journey with others and help them through a rough time may not care at all about money at all. 

3.  Writing for yourself or others 

Some people write for themselves.  Some write for a niche group.  Some for a wide audience. 

I know there are some people who argue that if you write only for yourself, you have no business publishing a book, but I disagree with that.  Everyone has a right to publish a book, regardless of their reason for writing.  Not everyone writing is looking for money or has a plan to promote their book.  If you just want to have a copy of your book in your hands and on your eReading device, there's nothing wrong with that.  If you want to write for a small group of people, there's no reason why you can't do that.  One of the best things about self-publishing is that it's opened the door for a variety that wasn't there before. 

For people looking to write for a wider audience, narrow down your audience.  Even if you want the widest audience possible, your book will not appeal to every single person from 0-100 regardless of religious faith, cultural background, economic status, etc.  For example, a hardcore 40-year-old science fiction lover is probably not going to want to read a New Adult romance.  It's possible but not likely.  Knowing your audience will help you tailor your books to that group when you write them. 

You can write for yourself and a wider audience.  Usually, that seems to be the case with fiction writers.  Perhaps you love writing horror and happen to find an audience who shares your joy for horror.  That's having your cake and eating it, too. And there's nothing wrong with writing primarily for yourself and happening to build a fan base while you're at it.  Likewise, there are some authors who don't care for a certain genre but write it for their audience.  Again, it's fine to do it that way if that is what falls into the writer's goals.  Someone on a forum mentioned that they write what they do because that is what pays the bills.  But the stories this writer chooses is based solely off what the fans want, and I'm sure that affects the approach the writer uses when writing their books. 

The reasons are not limited to these things but hopefully this will help you think of your own reasons for writing. 

Next time I post, it'll be about using the reasons we write what we do and developing a strategy for what you write and a publishing schedule. 

Ruth Ann Nordin | March 7, 2014 at 8:28 am | Categories: Psychology of Writing & Publishing, The Writer & Author | URL: http://wp.me/pLEbI-1ym

Calvin's writing

Two interesting pieces by Calvin added to writing tab. More contributions welcome.

Douglas

Last and next meetings

The Inkplotters writing group met in Leamington Spa last Thursday evening 27 February. The group welcomed Julia as a new member. Pauline read out the first chapter of her new book ‘Affairs of God and Men’ which she is progressing with a publisher. The group found themselves hooked into the story keen to read more. Other members present then read out their pieces on the theme for the evening ‘A dark and foggy night’ extended to include a snowy night. Only one person died for sure, although others came close and might not survive to the following day in dreams, WW2 and broken down car stories. Comments and suggestions were exchanged in another enjoyable and useful evening. Next meeting Wednesday 2nd April or 3rd April 2014 at 7.00.

Douglas