Month: August 2014

The average person thinks
a writer’s job is to write.
That’s actually a very small portion
of a professional writer’s job.
75% of my time or more
is spent marketing and selling my books.

The average person thinks
an entrepreneur is a business version
of a mad scientist,
working alone in her lab
coming up with the next big thing.
The reality is
an entrepreneur is often a master saleswoman,
selling her ‘next big thing’
to investors, employees, customers, the media.

The conflict is
when we enter a field,
not knowing what the TRUE job is.

I didn’t realize how much marketing
writers must do
and
how little time is spent writing.
Do I want to be a TRUE writer?
Is there a way to change the ratio?
These are questions I’m asking myself.

This ‘surprise’ would have been avoided
if I had asked a professional writer
a decade ago
how her time was allocated.

If you’re interested in a field,
ask a professional in that field
how she spends her time.

One of my most recent releases
is a serial.
Some readers love them.
Some readers hate them.

While promoting this serial,
I’ve been hosting quite a few contests.
The winners can choose
ANY book from my backlist,
serials, series books, standalone books.

What I’ve found is
many serial haters will choose
the first book in a serial.
They’ll then read the book
and post a terrible review,
spewing about how they hate the format.

They deliberately expose themselves
to a product
that won’t satisfy them
so they have a reason to complain.

If this happens with my products,
it also happens with your products.
You won’t ever make
some customers happy
because that’s not what they want.

Many people were shocked
that Robin Williams could be suffering
from extreme depression
and no one knew.
He was all smiles and happiness
for his fans and the camera.

Yesterday, one of my publishers
announced they were having financial difficulties.
Staff, including my editor, were laid off.
I have 16 stories with them
that I’ll likely never get back
and never be paid another cent for.

The sales for the second novella
in my 12 novella serial
also bombed.
That means the next 10 novellas
will have even worse sales.

Last night,
I went to an online party.
I joked.
I teased.
I made readers happy.

Because sad romance readers
don’t buy books.
They also won’t invest in a 12 novella serial
if they think the serial is in trouble.

I’m in a business.
Robin Williams was in a business.
You’re in a business.

Do our clients know the real us?
No, because they don’t WANT to know
the real us.
That’s one of the many reasons
we need family and friends
around us.

Yes, in public,
the show must go on.
In private,
get the help you need.

I was involved in a huge promo event
on Facebook.
A dozen writers were involved.
The organizers had a last minute problem
and the event was delayed by an hour,
throwing everyone’s schedules off.

The readers (attendees) didn’t care.
The writers were split into two groups

One group shrugged off the issue,
adjusted their schedules,
managed the situation.
Sh*t happens.
Often we can’t prevent
this sh*t from happening.

The other group threw a hissy fit,
adding drama to the situation,
yelling at the organizers
and refusing to even consider
a new time slot.

Before this issue,
I didn’t have much interaction
with the other writers.
During and after this issue,
I was grouped in with
the easy going, ‘professional’ writers.
Best selling writers considered me
one of them.
We’d bonded.

Disasters aren’t all bad.
They can be an opportunity to bond
with partners, customers, huge groups of people.
Try to maintain your professionalism.

Whenever I try anything new,
I get scared.
Whenever I reach out to a new contact,
I fear rejection.
Whenever I launch a new project,
I fear failure.

I face fear almost every day.
And that’s a good thing.
Fear is necessary.

As Erika Napoletano
shares

“What would happen
if we were all fearless?

Well, it’s possible
we’d all end up serial killers.
Not really the career path
I envisioned for my life.

If we really followed that adage
and chose to be fearless,
some unarguably dumb
and needless results
would come about:

– We’d make a slew of bad decisions
that could endanger our lives,
our families and our livelihoods.

– We’d unwittingly put those
who share the responsibility
for our success at risk
by not taking their needs
and the effects of
our decisions on them into account.

– We’d … die.”

For me,
the feeling of fear
signals that I’m trying something new,
I’m stretching my abilities,
I’m growing as a person.

Fear is a GOOD emotion.
Embrace it.