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February 15, 2012 By 2 Comments

Sell books, don’t just write books!

Sell books? That’s far from the mind of many authors.

A panel of writers at a meeting I attended last night candidly shared their experiences in terms of making money with books.  Most of the authors have put in years and have spent, not including their time, more than they have earned. And all but one had no expectation of earning money–let alone making a living–from selling books. Several spoke passionately of the joy of writing, of making an impact, of  touching readers. And there was little disagreement from the audience, most of which consisted of experienced writers. The group is a local club of a statewide organization, and my guess is that the panel, and the audience’s responses, reflect a widely held point of view.

But not mine.

Conservative author and commentator William F....
Image via Wikipedia

I love to write.  (Although I strongly empathize with the late William F. Buckley, who, when someone said admiringly to him, “You must love to write!” responded, “Oh, no. I love to have written.”)  I do agree it is almost impossible to make money from writing books. To make money you must sell books.

I think the problem for many writers is simply that they do not see themselves as entrepreneurs. They do not view their book-writing endeavors as one aspect or phase of a business. They write because they want to, because they have to, because it allows them freedom of expression. They hope to finish their books, and they hope people will buy them and read them–and be moved by them, one way or another.  They don’t want to sell books. These hopes represent their wishes–and “if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” There are numerous authors making a good living (because they learned to sell books), and only a few are celebrities. These are people who are conscious that they are in business. To be in business, you must:

  • Find out what people want
  • Sell it to them
  • Do it again
So if you are a book writer, you must:
  • Find out what people want to read
  • Write and sell books that match that desire
  • Do it again
You need a rudimentary business plan. A marketing strategy. An idea of who your target audience is. You must learn Internet marketing.  You must have a social media strategy. To sell books, you must figure out what is involved, and do it. (A good place to start: John Kremer’s “1001 Ways to Market Your Books.”)
As a writer, you believe your job is to write books. But as an author-entrepreneur, your job is to sell books.
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Filed Under: book writing, marketing, sell books, write a book
February 3, 2012 By 1 Comment

The secret to a successful book

There are more books being published now than ever before. UNESCO (via Wikipedia) says:

  1. United States (2009) 288,355 (“new titles and editions”) [3]
  2. United Kingdom (2005) 206,000 [2]
  3. China (2007) 136,226 [4]
  4. Russian Federation (2008) 123,336 [5]
  5. Germany (2009) 93,124 (new titles) [6]
  6. Spain (2008) 86,300 [7]
  7. India (2004) 82,537 (21,370 in Hindi and 18,752 in English) [8][9]
  8. Japan (2009) 78,555 [10]
  9. France (2010) 67,278 [11] (63,690 new titles)
  10. Iran (2010) 65,000 [12][13]

How many of these sell more than 50 copies? I haven’t found exact figures, but my guess is that the percentage is below 10.

Why? And how can you get your book into the 10%?

“Why” is the secret: Most authors write from their own need or desire to do so. They have a vague idea about who will buy their book or want to read it. But they are focused on their message.

That is a mistake. A HUGE mistake.

If you want your book to be read by more than your mom and your close friends, you must view the book as a product, and its publication as a business. Even if you plan to give it away for free.

So the first question you must answer is: Who is the audience for my book? Who will want to read it? And you must study that audience and refine your understanding of who is in it, so that you can be sure that your book is something they will want.

(Notice that I said “want,” not “need.” People buy what they want, what they desire. Their desire may or may not stem from need.)

Does this sound backwards? Shouldn’t you focus first on your message? Not if you want to reach an audience.

You must first pick your audience. Define it narrowly, as narrowly as possible–age, gender, family situation, profession, and so on. If you address the wants of a highly targeted group of people, those who share some of their attributes will also be interested. But if you attempt to address everyone, your content will not attract anyone.

Who is your audience? Dentists who have just opened a practice? Stay-home moms with 2-3 kids under 10? Harried executives in large corporations who have been at it for 10 to 12 years, and are thinking about entrepreneurship? Owners of Golden Retrievers? Once you define your audience, you can figure out what problem your book should address. You’ll know what title will capture their interest. And you’ll know where to find your readers, and how to help them find you.

What are your thoughts about audience? Please comment.

Filed Under: book love, book writing, publishing Tagged With: , ,
January 27, 2012 By 2 Comments

Seth Godin: The single biggest change in book publishing

Seth Godin is amazing, and you should follow his Domino Project. In this brief article, he summarizes a key point about publishing books that is overlooked by most authors and many publishers. Go there and read the whole thing.

The single biggest change in book publishing is this:

The industry was built around finding readers for its writers.
And new technologies and business models now mean that the most successful publishers and authors find writers for their readers instead.

Go here to read the whole short piece.

 

Filed Under: book love, marketing, publishing Tagged With: , , , ,
January 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Why can’t I see you?

Could it be because you are simply not showing up? I think it was Woody Allen who said, “80% of success is in showing up.” Whether concretely or metaphorically, your presence is required in your writing.

Other people can research and record the same facts. Other people might even share many of your opinions. But when I am drawn to a source of writing, it is usually because I am drawn to the writer. How are they like me? How are they different? What are their characteristic ways of expressing themselves?

I love to read the Dear Sugar column at TheRumpus.net. (Warning: Language is often strong.)  Sugar writes anonymously for now, and has reflected several times on this anonymity. Is she “showing up”? Oh, yes–often virtually naked in her openness and vulnerability.  Even though I don’t know her name, I feel I have a profound sense of who she is.

Journalists are taught to write without injecting their personality into their reporting. Some are more successful than others, but by and large, I don’t read news articles because of the byline. If I do read  them, it’s for the facts I hope they contain. Does this suit your writing purpose? If so, you can get lots of free education and tips at Poynter. You may want to start with Roy Peter Clarke’s 50 Writing Tools (the link is to a summary version; the whole list is well-worth reading and re-reading).

Malcolm Gladwell is another favorite of mine. In one sense, he is a consummate reporter, sharing his  research and insights  uncolored by the language of emotion. Yet in his choices oof what to research, what to report, which experts to interview, and how to report their stories, he shows up so clearly I have the sense I can identify his pieces without seeing who wrote them.

How can you show up?

  • Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.
  • Be consistent; think about integrity, “being of one piece,” and hold yourself to it
  • Be reliable. If you are blogging, and commit to one post a week, don’t let your readers down. If you are writing a book, and promise a result in its title, make sure that a way to achieve the result is given to the reader by the last chapter.
  • Avoid “cute.”
  • Write English (or whatever language you are writing), not SMS/text-speak. (LOL!)
  • Care about your reader, and let it show.

Your thoughts? Please comment.

Filed Under: book writing, inspiration, people & ideas, write a book Tagged With: , , , ,
January 23, 2012 By 8 Comments

Can this new publishing model work?

Unglue.it is not even in beta yet, but it is raising a lot of eyebrows: Can you use a pledge campaign to raise money to induce a copyright owner to put their publication into the public domain? The owner gives up future royalties in exchange for a one-time payment, raised from a crowd of interested people in small amounts. (Compare Kickstarter.com)  It’s an intriguing thought, and I will be very interested to see if it flies. Here’s a brief video in which Unglue.it founder Eric Hellman is interviewed by my friend David Weinberger.

Filed Under: book love, marketing, people & ideas, publishing Tagged With: , ,
January 17, 2012 By 1 Comment

Get rid of “writer’s block” once and for all!

“Writer’s block” refers to a “stuck” state, in which the writer just can’t think of anything to write. Is it real? Is it a mental affliction requiring professional treatment? Depends who you ask.

overcoming writer's block - crumpled paper on ...If you think you are experiencing writer’s block, you are. Whether the condition is “real” or not, whatever that means, is irrelevant: you want to write, and you can’t. Here are some ways for you to get past the block; the writing is up to you.

  1. Copy. Pick a piece of any kind, whether or not it relates to what you are trying to write, and copy it. Keyboard, pen, or pencil, it doesn’t matter. By the time you are less than a page into it, you will have things to say.
  2. Freewrite. The classical creative writing exercise. Pick a word or a topic, and write for a prescribed period of time–say, 10 minutes. If you have nothing to say, say, “I have nothing to say!” Write gibberish. But do not stop until the 10 minutes have elapsed. If that didn’t break you through, drink a glass of water, and do another 10 minutes.
  3. As if. Get into a relaxed state, and ask yourself: “What would I write if I were not blocked?” Then write that. Or: “What would I say if I didn’t care?” Or: “What would I write if nobody knew it was me?”
  4. Force a template. In “Writing with Power,” Peter Elbow suggests picking any framework–say, a barnyard; a battlefield; your body; a factory; a meal–and assigning roles to the parts of what you’re trying to write: “Let’s say the cow is my main protagonist. The cow wants to get milked. What’s the role of the chicken? The goat? The tractor?” And so on. Assign roles, then write with the roles in mind.
  5. Model a writer you admire. Or one that you hate. How would Charles Dickens write what I’m trying to write? Jane Austen? Arianna Huffington? Rush Limbaugh?
  6. Read and take notes. This one is more of a tip for warding off writer’s block than for dealing with an attack, but it can work for either. Give yourself some time to read, and take notes about what you read. Keep the notes brief. When you go back to them, they will have the “juice” of your interest.
  7. Outline. “If I were able to write, what would come first? What would be my conclusion? How would I bring the reader from here to there?” Then outline each heading: “If this is the introduction, what should I say first? What’s the end of the introduction” Two levels should get you to where you can fill in the blanks.
Your thoughts? Please comment.
Filed Under: book writing, inspiration, steps to write a book Tagged With: , ,
January 12, 2012 By 1 Comment

The 5 Elements Every Story Must Have

I think it was E. M. Forster who said, “‘The king died; the queen died’ is story. ‘The king died; the queen died of grief” is plot.” (Thanks, daughter Shir.) Events (real or imagined) recounted in chronological order are story; linking them in cause-and-effect relationships is plot.

Story has been called “the way we explain the world to ourselves” and “the way we explain ourselves to ourselves” (Anitra.net).

Deutsch: Porträt E. M. Forster von Dora Carrin...

People seem to be wired to appreciate stories. If you, as a writer (or speaker), want to grab and hold someone’s attention, you would do well to master the art of story.

What, then, is a story? What distinguishes a story from other bunches of words? Here are what I believe are the essentials of story:

  1. Cause and Effect. One thing must lead to another. A list of facts, events, descriptions, people, and so on, is not a story; a chain of events might be. You might call this, “plot.”
  2. Characters. The cause-and-effect chain must tie back to a character; it is the character with which we identify, and that is a crucial element of story.
  3. Transformation. A story is an account of transformation (usually of the protagonist), and may itself be transformational to the reader. If the reader identifies with the protagonist, they may undergo unanticipated changes.
  4. Setting. Where is it all happening? Time, location?
  5. Conflict and resolution. This is probably related to transformation, but not necessarily. There must be a conflict presented, and it must somehow be resolved by the end of the story.

OK, that’s my “stake in the ground.” What do you think is critical to story? I maintain that this is true for both fiction and non-fiction, and if any of these elements is missing, the reader will be unsatisfied. Please comment!

Filed Under: book writing
January 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Help! I am baffled! Why did you come here?

For a couple of years my blog here has toddled along with a slowly growing audience, until recently averaging about 50 visits per day. Suddenly, last week, I had 5,000, then 12,000 visits.

They were all coming from StumbleUpon. No spam, just real visitors. Needless to say, I was thrilled!

But then I was perplexed. It coincided with me publishing the post, Do you make these 3 disastrous book-writing mistakes? It is a good post, but not dramatically better, or even different from, all my many other posts.

Also, only about 10 of these visitors have left comments (all interesting ones). Only a couple have signed up to receive the blog posts by email. And only a couple have bought my $9.97 ebook on writing a book.

StumbleUpon

So here are my questions: What is it you are seeking here? What can I provide to you that will make you want to visit again? Please respond by commenting on this post, and I promise to give you more of what you want!

Thank you!

 

Filed Under: book writing Tagged With:
January 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

How to lose your reader’s attention–quickly

Whether it’s a blog post, an article, or a book you’re writing, your challenge is get the reader’s attention and hold it until you’ve delivered your message. It’s not always easy, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. Just:

  • Know your audience
  • Understand their pain
  • Address their pain with real help

They will stick with you all the way through, to get what they want: Relief. Stick to those simple rules and your following will grow quickly, and remain loyal

Losing your reader’s attention is much easier. And to lose it quickly, you can:

  • Address everyone.  When I read, “All of you are aware…,” I’m moving on. “All of you”? Hey, it’s just me here, reading! There’s no crowd with me; it’s just me and you, the writer, and you just lost me. Better: “You are probably aware…”
  • Be disrespectful. “You and every other poor jerk…” Is that supposed to be cute? I didn’t come here to be put down. Or to be grouped with all the “poor jerks.” Better: “You may have wondered, as have others…”
  • Make false assumptions. “We both know you can’t resist temptation.” Really? Maybe you know that about you, but you certainly don’t know that about me. You must be talking to someone else. Bye. Better: “Many people find it difficult to resist…” Let me decide if I am one of the many.
  • Be obviously insincere. “When I heard the news, I immediately thought of you.” Yeah? Is that why you addressed me as “Dear {firstname}”? Listen, I know you are writing to a list–probably a large one. Stuff like this just lets me know you think I’m an idiot. Better: “When I heard the news, I immediately thought: ‘Everyone on my list needs to know this!’”

Can you add to the list? Please comment.

Filed Under: book writing Tagged With: , ,
December 30, 2011 By 23 Comments

Do you make these 3 disastrous book-writing mistakes?

I’ll say it again: Most people think that writing a book is incredibly difficult, time-consuming, and of questionable value. But actually, if you just follow my program, it can be doable (if not easy), quick, and a really good use of your time. I’ll save the value part for another blog post; what I want to focus on here is what makes book-writing difficult and time-consuming for most people.

  1. Jumping in without a complete plan. If you want to build a house, you don’t begin driving a truck to the Home Depot and filling it with 2×4′s, dry-wall panels, and other materials. Obviously you don’t know how much to buy, of what materials. Instead, you hire an architect, and work out detailed plans. Only when these are complete, down to each door, window, strip of molding, and electrical outlet, do you find a builder who will shop for materials and turn them into a house for you. Produce your title, your subtitle, and your table of contents down to the sub-chapter level. Now you can begin to write.
    English: Overview of Home Depot store
  2. Researching as you go. Thanks to Wikipedia, Google, and other resources, research can quickly become a fascinating journey without an end. DO NOT research while writing. When you come across a “blank spot,” something you need to find out, just mark it with “%%%” or some other sign your word processor can easily find. Then, when your book is complete, go back and look up only what you need to replace the “%%%.” If you follow this guideline, you will save many, many hours.
  3. Writing for the broadest possible audience. If you try to write for everybody, you wind up writing for nobody. Instead, picture your ideal reader, the person for whom your book will be a welcome and blessed gift, exactly what they needed and wanted. Write a detailed description of this person–gender, age, family situation, work, physical qualities. Give them a name. Cut out a magazine picture that looks like them and post it where you can see it. This is your audience. Speak to this person as you write.

Have you discovered any mis-steps that slow your book-writing or get you off track? Share them in the comments!

Filed Under: book love, book writing, editing Tagged With: , ,
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