I have 34 past posts tagged “writing advice” and I encourage you to use the Top Tags widget in the left side-bar for all things Reading, Writing, and Publishing…
And, “writing advice” needs those quotes around it these days—such a slew of “experts” out there—so much B.S.
And, along with all the “advice” about the act of writing, there’s a bigger slew of “experts” yelling about how to make your book sell, sell, sell…
One particular previous post that any aspiring self-published author could benefit from is, What About All The Authors Whose Books Don’t Sell Very Many Copies?
Here are a two quotes from that post:
“An extremely small percentage of writers sell more than 500 copies of a book…”
“Perhaps, no matter what an author does (or, a publishing company), most books will still sell not so many copies?”
So…
Someone is a writer and writes a book—no, wait—wants to write a book.
That someone looks at the publishing landscape and realizes the intended years of effort to create the book could be followed by many more years of the book not selling, even if they self-publish, even if they spend every waking hour doing social media, even if they can afford to pay a publicist, even if they find a magician who specializes in spells woven ’round readers hearts…
Perhaps, to salvage the self-esteem of aspiring writers, there need to be other options than sales and money to keep their artistic boat afloat?
There used to be an article on the site Electronic Bindery—Not About The Money: 10 OTHER Indie Author Motivations—but; it seems to have disappeared… Good thing I saved its bullet points—I’ll just add my own comments :-)
1. It’s classless and egalitarian
Many writers shun class-consciousnesss and desire equality in their relations. Many more writers, these days, are working together on projects, not letting themselves fall into the AuthorWars that sometimes rage…
2. Indie authors enjoy creative freedom
Naturally, creative freedom to produce your own unique work is a necessity—including the freedom to not care about money ( My books used to be available for purchase; but, now, I persist in giving them away… ).
3. You’ve got an authority problem
I surely do! And, gatekeepers for authors is so medieval.
4. You want a dog
Or, any other high maintenance pet that needs your attention and doesn’t want you to spend all day promoting some damn book.
5. You think you may think like an entrepreneur
I probably could be considered in that group but I prefer the term maverick—less accountability for generating cash.
5.5 You think you may NOT think like an entrepreneur
Authors as business people is all the rage these days—raging authors—creative types concerned with their bottom-line—really??
6. You like making stuff
Yep. Far too many folks don’t realize the joy of playing around with fonts and typefaces and cover art—crafting a book to your own idiosyncratic specifications.
7. You’re a control freak
Much better to be a control freak about books than attempting to control other people…
8. You’re an introvert
I’m one—glad of it—wouldn’t ever want to live the life that demands I use the available world-scene as what I should consider the spur for my intentions and actions.
9. You don’t look good in a suit
Well, I kinda do look good in a suit but why the bother?
10. You stopped buying stuff
Stuff needs attention. Stuff needs caring for. Stuff costs money. Stuff accumulates. Stuff can cause one to stuff their sensitivity to stuff that goes way beyond mere stuff…
O.K., my brazen opinions :-)
Do check out the explanations in the electronic bindery article.
And, do leave a comment with your ideas about all this…
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