Time to Write

Self-publish or go with an ebook publisher? (And an uncomfortable truth)

There are three models for publishing an ebook:

1. Traditional publisher, hard copy and ebook. You place your book with a traditional publisher who issues a hardover or paperback version as well as an ebook. Royalties on ebooks done this way vary but should be at least 25%. The advantage is that there's a chance your books will get into book stores--still important despite the diminishing number of book shops. However, don't expect a big marketing campaign for your book. You'll get good marketing support for a week to a month, after that you're usually pretty much on your own. Publishers are being more selective these days, so getting your manuscript accepted is not easy.

2. Ebook publisher, ebook only. The publisher does the editing, cover design, formatting, etc. and markets the book in a variety of ways and pays you a royalty. Again, the percentages of your royalty vary, I've seen from 20% to 50%. The advantage is that you get all the services mentioned, and distribution. Marketing? Same situation as above.

3. Self-publish an ebook, pay for services with a one-time fee. In this version you outsource editing, cover design, formatting, submission to the various sellers like Kindle, and keep the money you make from sales. The advantage is that if your book sells well you'll make more money than if you're getting just a royalty. However, you'll end up doing all the marketing yourself unless you outsource that, too--which can be expensive and there aren't many companies that have a proven track record in this new field.

4. Self-publish and do it all yourself. The advantage is that it's cheap and not beyond the abilities of most writers (you may still want to have an editor go through the book and get a graphic designer to do your cover--bad covers kill sales and are common among self-published ebooks). 

THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH

Here's a hard fact: publishing an ebook is the easy part. Selling it is the hard part.

Yours will be one of tens of thousands of ebooks out that week.

Sure, you can get it listed on Amazon, the Barnes and Noble site, and the rest, but what's going to make people look for your book?

How is it going to stand out?

Are you prepared to spend a lot of time using social media to spread the word?

I'm not trying to dissuade you from publishing your ebook, and i hope the summary above helps you decide which way you want to do it. But do be prepared for the fact that publishing the book is just the first step!

(Working on a book? Get friendly guidance from idea through to publication from my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

Your New Half-Year Agenda

Here we are, halfway through 2013. Do you know where your resolutions are? If not, don't worry, it's not too late, today is a new day. Here are some questions I invited you to consider a month into the year:

ARE YOU ON TRACK FOR YOUR WRITING OR OTHER GOALS? 

If you haven’t set any goals for your writing (for instance, writing a novel, getting an agent, or self-publishing your book) or other parts of your life, you might find it useful to do that now.

If you did set some goals for yourself, take a few minutes to ask yourself these questions now:

    Have you been moving toward your most important goals?            

    If not, what has stopped you or slowed you down? 

    What are the things you can do to get yourself back on track? (If you have trouble brainstorming ideas, see my book, ‘Creativity Now,” published by Pearson and available from Amazon).

    What’s the first step you can take today or tomorrow?

    As soon as you have taken the first step, select the next step and keep going until you find that you’re making progress.

If you can join me on July 27 for our New Half-Year's Resolution sessions please do--even if you can spare only a few hours, you'll be able to build momentum toward your most important goal. If you can't join me, choose a day soon when you'll be able to go over the questions above and renew your committment to moving in the direction of your dreams. For more info:www.MassiveActionDay.com

Should you emulate your favorite writer's style?

We all have favorite authors and the hope we might someday write as well as them. But is it a good idea to try to emulate somebody's style?

Yes and no.

I think it's worth analyzing exactly what it is about your favorite author's style that appeals to you so much. One good way to do that is to write a page or two in that style. However, these are not pages to publish or show anybody else. It's a fun exercise. Even better is to write the same paragraph or two in the style of several different authors. 

When you turn to writing your own material, forget about trying to copy anybody else's style. You'll find some echoes of your favorite author's style if you look for them but you won't come off as a poor imitation. 

Style or "voice" is a by-product, not a goal, and you may find it takes time for yours to emerge...and one day, when you've stopped worrying about it, it'll be there.

(Need some guidance? Get a copy of my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)

 

If you write fiction, this lawsuit is scary!

A lawsuit has been filed that should alarm all writers of fiction. 

Actress Scarlett Johansson is suing the French publisher of a novel for “breach and fraudulent use of personal rights.” She is also demanding a ban on “future transfer of rights and adaptations” of the book and seeks damages and compensation. 

Why? Because the book, a best-seller in France, features a character who is mistaken for Johansson.

The Hollywood Reporter writes, “In the novel The First Thing We Look At, a woman shows up at the door of a mechanic in the northern village of Somme seeking help. At first the mechanic believes she is ‘Scarlett Johansson,’ though sixty pages later it is revealed she is not the actress but simply a doppelganger named Jeanine Foucaprez.” 

The author is said to be “stunned” by the lawsuit, saying “I wrote a book of fiction. My character is not Scarlett Johansson, it is Jeanine Foucaprez!" The novel also mentions Ryan Gosling and Gene Hackman. So far, no word from their lawyers.

This lawsuit strikes me as bizarre and misguided at best. Let’s hope it gets the quick dismissal it deserves.

Want creative success? Crazy is the first step! (5th in a series)

In this series I'm sharing what I consider to be ten essential truths about creativity (taken from my Creativity Manifesto, published in the book, Creativity Now). Today: you've had an idea...it's crazy but it might just work!

5: CRAZY IS THE FIRST STEP

Every breakthrough is considered a crackpot idea at first.

Of course, some ARE crackpot ideas.

You can’t tell the difference until you transform the idea into something real. 

Just about every breakthrough idea seemed impractical or even crazy at first. Usually it was the perseverence of one person that brought the idea to life and, in some cases, changed the world.

Of course there is the possibility that your idea will indeed turn out to be unworkable. It may be ahead of its time. Or behind its time. Or something that will never have a time. That risk comes with being a creative person--or, rather, a creative person who takes action instead of just thinking.

Thinking without action is fun. It's called daydreaming. For most people, that's as far as they go. Then,when somebody else actualiy creates something similar, they enjoy telling their friends they had that same idea. Quite likely they did. What they didn't have is the drive and the willingness to take a risk and work hard to put that idea into action. That's why the person who did gets the attention, praise, and (sometimes) fortune, and they don't. 

If you believe your idea is worthwhile, don't let it be just a daydream. Make it happen. It might be crazy or it might be crazy good.

(My book, Creativity Now, helps you develop a mindset that favors creativity, shows you methods for generating more ideas, gives you tools for translating your ideas into action, and inspires you with case studies of how others have achieved their creative goals. It's published by Pearson and available from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)

 

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What if not everybody likes what you write? (They won't!) - 3rd in a series

In this series of posts I'm sharing what I consider ten truths about creativity. It's a common fear that a lot of people may not like what we create. Guess what? It doesn't matter if 99% of potential customers hate it, as long as 1% love it.

FEWER THAN 1% OF PEOPLE HAVE TO BUY WHAT YOU DO

Not everybody wants to profit financially from their creative activity, but if you do, one person out of a hundred buys what you offer you’ll have more than 3 million sales.

In Great Britain that would be about 600,000.

If you happen to live in China, you’re really in luck. 

The internet makes it easy for the haters to express their dislike of what you create. Fortunately it also makes it easy for those with more discerning tastes to find your product and buy it.

It's natural for creative people to focus on the negative. I've taught large classes and if I had 99 compliments and one complaint I'd focus on the latter. Now I consider any complaints, see whether I can learn something from them or remedy them, and then put them out of my mind. 

From now on, put your attention on finding that one percent, or half-percent or .01 percent who will love what you do. You'll make them happy and yourself happier as well.

(My book, Creativity Now, can help you develop a mindset that favors creativity, show you methods for generating more ideas, give you tools for translating your ideas into action, and inspire you with case studies of how others have achieved their creative goals. It's published by Pearson and available from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)

 

 

 

What has been given to you to write or create? (Here's Waldo...)

"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance"

(If you need some friendly guidance in writing what only you can write, get my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)

What are your novel's or screenplay's 3 magic words?

If you are writing a novel or screenplay, this is a simple way to make sure that it has the qualities that will attract readers and buyers. 

Lou Kunzler, who teaches the ‘writing for children’ workshop I attend, had this great suggestion: before you write anything, decide on three words that describe it in a way that will make people want to read it.

Put those words on a sticky note and put it where you can see it as you write, as a reminder that every chapter should fit that description.

For the novella I’m writing, I’d say something like “killer pursuit thriller”—it’s the story of a boy and his father on the run from people who want to kill the father.

That reminds me to make sure to keep up the pressure, to show how much is at stake, and to keep the action thrilling.

You could also choose three adjectives that don’t refer to the plot, just the writing itself, something like “funny, insightful, touching.”

If you are self-publishing you might also find the three words come in handy when you're coming up with the marketing materials for your ebook. However, when pitching or writing a query letter don't use too many adjectives but rather make sure the way you summarize or describe the project suggests those qualities. In other words, instead of writing in a letter to an agent that your book is "funny, insightful, and touching," make your description project those.

I think this strategy could extend to other kinds of goals as well. If you want to improve your health and fitness, what three words describe the result you’re after? Maybe energetic, flexible, strong, for example.

You could also apply it to the process you employ in pursuit of the goal. For you to stick to an exercise regime, for instance, what three words describe what it should be like? Maybe enjoyable, non-competitive, efficient (that is, gets results in minimum time)?

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Big writing (or other) project? Here's how to build momentum!

If you have a big writing (or other) project, one great way to build momentum is to spend a full day working on it with support from your peers.

IT'S GOOD TO GO MAD

That's what we do on my monthly MADs--Massive Action Days. It's all online. You sign in to our exclusive website, declare your goal for the day there, and get to work. Every hour I do a brief live video broadcast to answer questions and offer tips. You update us on your progress and everybody supports each other.

The people already doing the MADs find it incredibly productive and it's inexpensive--only £5 each when you sign up for ten. You can find our more at www.MassiveActionDay.com. 

What else can you do to build momentum? Let's start with the basics:

The formula is Velocity x Mass = Momentum

The more you apply effort, the more momentum you get, unless you encounter another important aspect of momentum, Resistance. Resistance can increase the mass of a molehill to that of a mountain.

FOUR POINTS OF RESISTANCE

In writing there are four points at which you tend to have resistance:

1: Getting started. The best solution is chunking down the goal into manageable chunks, scheduling regular time to work, and getting support.

2: The middle. You’ve done a lot but there’s a lot yet to do and the initial excitement has worn off. The best tools are: knowing this is normal, using a variety of brainstorming techniques (like the ones in my writing books) to get a fresh perspective, and making sure your Inner Critic doesn’t talk you into quitting.

3: After the first draft. The first step when you're ready to critique your first draft is to use methods for getting a more objective view of your own writing (wait a week, change location and posture, print it out on different colour paper and/or a different typeface, read once for general reactions and don’t try to fix it as you go—note the necessary changes, then go back into creative mode, at your usual writing location).

When it’s as good as you can make it, show to someone you trust to be constructive. Tell them you want them to jot down any problems they discern—where it’s boring, where it’s confusing, where they think what’s happening isn’t plausible, etc. Tell them you don’t want them to suggest solutions, only problems.

Fix the problems and repeat, but stop rewriting when the new version isn’t getting better, just different.

4: When you send it out into the world.  Put on your business hat, not your sensitive artist hat, and make a plan. Let your sensitive artist get busy on a new creative project so it doesn’t hang around getting tense.

>> In the next post we'll see how you can also build momentum for every working session.

(Want to get more things done, more easily? Using creative methods rather than more hard work? You'll find the ansswers in my book, "Focus: use the power of targeted thinking to get more done." It's published by Pearson and you can get it from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A part of rewriting your book or script you won't like (but it'll help)

Are you on track for your writing or other goal? (Reminder 3 of 12)

How writers can be more objective about their own work (good for rewriting)

A member of my Raindance workshop emailed me to ask whether I could recommend any ways to get over being too close to one’s own work to see its faults.

The most useful approach is to treat the draft as though it had been written by someone else and they’d asked you for constructive criticism. The ways you can get that distance include:

• Print the draft in a different font and/or on different color paper (pale yellow is good—easy on the eyes);

• Read the draft in a different room (or a different place altogether) than the one in which you created it;
  
  
• Sit back as you read the draft—this is the critical posture, whereas leaning forward tends to be the creative posture (which is why most of us writers have terrible posture);
  
  
• Note the problems you see with it, but resist the temptation to come up with solutions at this point. That will be part of the creative process.
  
  
• Experiment with the time of day that seems to work best for you in terms of making constructive criticism. I find in the first hour or so after waking up, my creative juices aren’t flowing but my critical faculties are. The opposite may be true for you—experiment to determine this for yourself.

(Did you know that Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, and many other great authors left behind excellent advice for aspiring writers? I've collected it and suggested how you can apply it to your own writing--all in the book, Your Creative Writing Masterclass. You can get it from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)

If you write anything, someone will not like you

When former Spice Girl singer Gerry Halliwell heard that Margaret Thatcher had died, she Tweeted to the effect that Mrs T had been an advocate of Girl Power (the Spice Girls' motto).

It didn’t take long for a huge outpouring of “Oh no she wasn’t!” comments to flow in—most of them stated a lot less politely than that.

Halliwell removed her tweet and apologized. 

I’m wondering whether she took her Tweet down because she realized she’d been wrong or because she didn’t like getting negative messages from fans.

My guess is it’s the latter.

Very few people like it when somebody, much less loads of others, disagree with us or call us names. As you know, the anonymity of the internet can bring out the worst in people. Reading the comments on newspaper sites or blog posts on which anonymous comments are allowed makes you despair for the human race.

This is relevant here because when you write something—a book, a blog, an article, a short story—it will bring out the haters. With luck it’ll also bring out some people who like what you do, but they’re less likely to express themselves. Anger and frustration are stronger drivers than appreciation.

This is an aspect of writing that I’m having to get used to myself. I don’t like being disliked—and negative comments on the internet seldom make the distinction between an opinion or a creative project and the person who created it.

If you’re going to put something out into the world you’ll have to get used to it, too. 

A useful method: Think sympathetically about how much bile the person who makes these kinds of comments must have in their system for it to overflow so easily.

PS: I just spotted this article on Reuters: "Rudeness and throwing insults are cutting online friendships short, with a survey on Wednesday showing people are getting ruder on social media and two in five users have ended contact after a virtual altercation."

The article quotes Joseph Grenny, co-chairman of the company that conducted the survey: "...manners haven't caught up with technology.What is really so surprising is that so many people disapprove of this behavior but people are still doing it. Why would you name-call online but never to that person's face?"

How to solve the problem? The article says Grenny suggested "three rules that could improve conversations online were to avoid monologues, replace lazy, judgmental words, and cut personal attacks particularly when emotions were high."

 

Why some people shouldn't self-publish

I really liked what Guy Kawasaki said recently about good reasons and not-so-good reasons to self-publish a book. He pointed to the trend for people to write non-fiction books as a means to an end—typically to get more speaking engagements, more consulting clients, etc…rather than because you have something to say.

I’m on a lot of mailing lists (note to self: cut down!) and lately there has been a glut of people offering courses in “how to write a best-seller in a weekend” and similar topics.

They don’t dedicate much attention to whether or not you’re going to add anything valuable to the discussion.

If you’ve been wondering what their secret method is, I can save you a lot of money:

1. Pick a topic.
2. Look at the tables of content of similar books to get your chapter headings.
3. Reword what you’ve read, add a dash of Wikipedia, mix at high speed.
4. Bang out your rehash.
5. Get somebody at Fiverr.com to make you a cover for five dollars.
6. Create the e-book and list it on Amazon.
7. Get as many people as possible to all order it on the same day. You may have to bribe them with something they get when they send you the Amazon receipt as proof they bought it on the right day.
8. If enough people have done number 7, achieve number one ranking in your niche or sub-niche for several hours
9. Tell everybody you’re the author of a “number one best-seller”

The more people that do that, the more cluttered things get and the harder it is to find the books that do actually have something new to say or at the very least a fresher approach to what’s been said before.

(If you do want to write a book, you'll find friendly guidance from my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite books seller.)

 

A phrase I often use in my writing workshops is, “Write what only you can write.” This trend is based on “Write what anybody could write if they have a free weekend.” I hope more people will adopt the former.

 

By the way, this kind of thing isn’t so typical in fiction, but recently I encountered a clever internet marketer who is coming up with plots for horror books and outsourcing the writing. He’s even using Fiverr, paying people five dollars to write a chapter. I’m not optimistic that this is a great way to get a well-written book, and I can’t imagine that it brings any creative satisfaction. I could be wrong…but I doubt it.

The Amazing Kickstarter result for this writer

Ryan North set a goal of $20,000 on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter for an illustrated “select your own adventure” book, To Be or Not to Be (yes, based on Hamlet).

It took him only six days to get to over $120,000, at which point there was an article in The Guardian about it. By the end he raised…wait for it….$580,905! That’s about £381,000. 

Why was it so successful?

1)   He is already well known for his work on Dinosaur Comics, the Adventure Time comic series, and for co-editing the best-selling short story anthology, Machine of Death.

2)   He recruited a stellar line-up of illustrators, each of whom has their own followers, to do the pictures.

3) The article in a national newspaper couldn't have hurt

4)   People liked the project.

Of course there are many projects that don’t reach their goal in the time the creators set for raising the money, in which case no money is turned over to the artist or writer at all.

For instance at the time of this writing Momma Love: How the Mother Half Lives, a proposed hardcover book with “portraits and 40 mothers’ moving personal stories (that) provide an honest look at the highs and lows of the motherhood experience”, has raised only 66% of its desired $35,000 goal with six days to go.

The Barefoot Diaries, by Verity and Stu McLellan, described as “A journal of roots, rhythm, reverence and relationship", still has 19 days to go but has raised only $37 (1% of the goal) so I’d say things are not looking good.

Even though it really helps to arrive with a following, there are writers who worked very hard to push their Kickstarter project and reached their goal.

What about you? Any projects kicking around that you might like to try to finance this way?

(If you want to discover 100 creative, low-cost ways that people have used to market themselves or their product--and that you can adapt for your marketing--see my book Do Something Different. It's published by Virgin Books and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

If you worry about what people will think if you fail at writing

Some people never dare to write because they worry that people will think less of them if they fail to sell their novel or screenplay.

Here's both the good news and the bad news: nobody cares.

People spend far less time thinking about you then you think they do.

Let’s face it, we’re all concerned mostly with one person: ourselves.

Next, we think about our immediate family and our inner circle of friends.

After that…not so much. We may briefly consider why a particular acquaintance makes such bad choices of romantic partners, or why another one seems to be drinking more these days, or why the woman who lives next door doesn’t get a wig to cover that bald spot. A few seconds later we realize we’re hungry or we see a headline that intrigues us and those other thoughts are gone.

Frankly, whether you have success or not as a writer will occupy nobody’s thoughts for very long.

If you succeed they’ll be happy for you (or jealous of you) for a few minutes, then their thoughts and lives will move on. If you fail, the nice ones will think "too bad, maybe the next one will do better." If they're not nice, they may feel relieved that you didn't have success that could overshadow them.

The ones who do care may or may not understand what writing means to you. You can try to educate them. Sometimes that works, sometimes not.

If not, you can at least get them to stop being critical—most of the time.

If that doesn’t work, minimize the amount of time you spend with them if they are friends.

If they are family members you can’t escape, cut them some slack and maybe try to get them more interested in something of their own.

The people who will care are the people who read your book or see the film you wrote and are moved by it. Probably you'll never hear of it, but you will have changed their lives for the better in some small way. Maybe even in some not-so-small way--for instance, many lawyers who worked on behalf of civil rights said they were inspired by reading To Kill A Mockingbird or seeing the film version.

 Before you have a success like that you may produce a number of projects that don't see the light of day. When you look back on those from a position of success you'll know the sacrifices were well worth it...and you'll be glad that you didn't let a fear of other people's opinions stop you.

(If you'd like some inspiration as well as practical tips on writing, get a copy of Your Creative Writing Masterclass. It features writing advice from the great authors, including Dickens, Twain, and Austen as well as more modern masters like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Vonnegut. Their down to earth advice and the example they set will inspire you. You can get the book from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

 

 

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Are you on track for your writing or other goal? (Reminder 3 of 12)

Many writers make resolutions or set goals for themselves at the start of the year. Very few are still working on them even one month later.

Often it’s not that they have consciously decided to stop; usually they just sort of forget about the goals because too many other urgent things come up.

That’s why I decided to remind you to remember your goals at the start of every month (which is also a good way of reminding myself of mine, of course). I hope it’ll help both of us stay on track so that at the start of the next year we’re not back to square one.

This post appears on April 1, three months after most people set their resolutions or goals for the year. Of course you may be reading it on some other date. That’s fine—it’s always a good time to check whether you’re moving toward your goals and to take corrective action if you’re not.

If you haven’t set any goals for your writing (for instance, writing a novel, getting an agent, or self-publishing your book) or other parts of your life, you might find it useful to take a look at the posts below in order; even if you have worked through them already, it’s useful to go back to them for a quick review.

 Don’t wait until you’re on your deathbed, the time for action is now!

Take one look back, then it’ll be time to move forward 

Design your writing (and other) goals with zero-based planning

How to think big about your writing and the other parts of your life

Why “unrealistic” writing and other goals are easier to achieve

The seven steps to reaching your goals

 

If you did set goals for yourself, take a few minutes to answer these questions now:

• In the past month, have you been moving toward your most important goals?
   
• If not, what has stopped you or slowed you down? You might find it useful to take a look at thistrouble-shooting guide.
   
• What can you do to get yourself back on track? Don't just do the same things that didn't work last time. Come up with alternatives and keep going until you find what works for you. (If you have trouble brainstorming ideas, see my book, ‘Creativity Now,” published by Pearson and available from Amazon).
   
• What’s the first step you can take today or tomorrow? Commit to it now.

As soon as you have taken the first step select the next step and keep going until you’re making progress.

Once in a while you may find that a goal you thought was important doesn’t turn out to be as meaningful after all. If you’re sure the goal isn’t going to give you what you thought it would, let it go and set a different one. However, the road to every goal is full of challenges, so don’t give up one goal just because you think maybe another one might be easier to accomplish.

If you subscribe to this blog today, in 30 days I’ll be reminding you again. If you have any questions, let me know at jurgenwolff (at) gmail.com. You may also find it useful to read my book, “Focus: use the power of targeted thinking to get more done,” published by Pearson and available from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.

Good luck and don't forget to enjoy the journey!