NULLE DIES SINE LINEA
While outside of the scope of this book this is one of the most useful terms I know. NO DAY WITHOUT A LINE. A Latin Renaissance term for artists, it is as useful to today’s writers as it was for Benvenuto Cellini and Miguelangelo Bunnarotti. Write every day. Graham Green wrote 500 words then stopped. Steven King writes 2,000 a day no matter what. One author said it simply, “write a page a day and you’ll have a book at the end of a year.” Hemingway counseled count your daily word progress. I aim for a thousand words a day. What ever you decide set a goal and keep to it. You’ll be amazed at your progress.
FYI: People want to read your book. They just don’t know about it yet.
Most important try and have fun. Remember it is only a book. With luck this book will be followed by many other books. You only have one life and one family. Don not ignore either. Stay healthy and stay happy.
Now the question is how to get your book into the hands of the public. The answer is you have to tell them about it, either through advertising or publicity.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
PROLOGUE Post # 3
NOTHING SELLS ITSELF.
This old mantra is true if not more so in the publishing world. Type up in bold large letters -- NOTHING SELLS ITSELF -- and tape it to your wall in front of your desk, kitchen table or where ever you work. Promotion equates to sales in any business. However, as I have said, unless you are very lucky, you as a first time author will receive little help from your publisher. Experience has shown them for the most part overinvesting in a new author is a waste of money. Why do they even publish new authors? The hope is out there lurks a new Steven King, John Gresham or Jackie Suzanne waiting to break into that 15% level. The chance of a wildcat well striking oil is better than the possibility of finding a new best selling author. One glance at the New York Times Bestsellers list show the same authors making it year after year. They are sure bets. New authors are not. Still if you push and promote wisely and sell enough books to get noticed attitudes will change. If your book suddenly shows promise then the publisher will take notice. They will jump on your band wagon and help. Otherwise for the most part, you are on your own. Think of a publisher as a fisherman on a lake with scores of fishing lines in the water waiting for the big hit. When it does they reel it in and take the appropriate credit. For the other books, they are just drowning worms.
“Publishing houses will take ten books by new authors and throw them against the wall hoping three will stick,” political satire author D.V. Date said at a recent Writing Conference.
One bright light is that even with the plethora of tried and true repeat authors that rule the best seller lists, a surprising number of first time novelist did make the top 15 Publisher Weekly’s best sellers list. Sometimes all it does take is good writing, a good story and good luck along with promotion.
For the rest of us without a rabbit’s foot in our pockets if we want our books to succeed we have to do most of the publicity. Remember no one knows your book like you do. So push it yourself.
This is a good time to remind you of the most important word in the writers’ echelon:
PERSEVERANCE
PERSEVERANCE
PERSEVERANCE
Another reminder sign for your walls.
You have already done it. You have persevered. You have written your book. Now redirect that perseverance into promotion. Be optimistic, enthusiastic. Believe in your book. Promote as if your book is on the New York Times Bestsellers list and you want to keep it there for 12 weeks. To get on the New York Times list you’ll probably have to sell more books in a week than your publisher has printed. But don’t let that stop you. Think second massive printing.
The first printing is based on advance sales. This is the only point during the publishing schedule that you have a chance to exert any influence, except of course, your second (and more) editions. So start to promote early and persevere. To influence advance sales we’ll talk about the all importance ‘sell-in’ which we’ll get into later.
No matter what you decide to do remember persevere. Like the Nike man says, “Just Do It.”
This old mantra is true if not more so in the publishing world. Type up in bold large letters -- NOTHING SELLS ITSELF -- and tape it to your wall in front of your desk, kitchen table or where ever you work. Promotion equates to sales in any business. However, as I have said, unless you are very lucky, you as a first time author will receive little help from your publisher. Experience has shown them for the most part overinvesting in a new author is a waste of money. Why do they even publish new authors? The hope is out there lurks a new Steven King, John Gresham or Jackie Suzanne waiting to break into that 15% level. The chance of a wildcat well striking oil is better than the possibility of finding a new best selling author. One glance at the New York Times Bestsellers list show the same authors making it year after year. They are sure bets. New authors are not. Still if you push and promote wisely and sell enough books to get noticed attitudes will change. If your book suddenly shows promise then the publisher will take notice. They will jump on your band wagon and help. Otherwise for the most part, you are on your own. Think of a publisher as a fisherman on a lake with scores of fishing lines in the water waiting for the big hit. When it does they reel it in and take the appropriate credit. For the other books, they are just drowning worms.
“Publishing houses will take ten books by new authors and throw them against the wall hoping three will stick,” political satire author D.V. Date said at a recent Writing Conference.
One bright light is that even with the plethora of tried and true repeat authors that rule the best seller lists, a surprising number of first time novelist did make the top 15 Publisher Weekly’s best sellers list. Sometimes all it does take is good writing, a good story and good luck along with promotion.
For the rest of us without a rabbit’s foot in our pockets if we want our books to succeed we have to do most of the publicity. Remember no one knows your book like you do. So push it yourself.
This is a good time to remind you of the most important word in the writers’ echelon:
PERSEVERANCE
PERSEVERANCE
PERSEVERANCE
Another reminder sign for your walls.
You have already done it. You have persevered. You have written your book. Now redirect that perseverance into promotion. Be optimistic, enthusiastic. Believe in your book. Promote as if your book is on the New York Times Bestsellers list and you want to keep it there for 12 weeks. To get on the New York Times list you’ll probably have to sell more books in a week than your publisher has printed. But don’t let that stop you. Think second massive printing.
The first printing is based on advance sales. This is the only point during the publishing schedule that you have a chance to exert any influence, except of course, your second (and more) editions. So start to promote early and persevere. To influence advance sales we’ll talk about the all importance ‘sell-in’ which we’ll get into later.
No matter what you decide to do remember persevere. Like the Nike man says, “Just Do It.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
