In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* About that second quote (griping about marketing)
* Alison Naomi Holt and Kickstarter
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“An author who gives a manager or publisher any rights in his work except those immediately and specifically required for its publication or performance is for business purposes an imbecile.” George Bernard Shaw (Thanks to The Passive Voice for the quote)
I would add that any writer/author who gives any manager (agent) or publisher all rights needs to work on his or her self-esteem.
“There’s nothing like low sales to shake an author’s confidence. But rather than letting it send you into a negative shame spiral, see it for what it is: a symptom. Your job is to uncover a symptom of what?” Erika Liodice at Writer Unboxed
I admit, that second quote got to me a little.
I’m a very compartmentalized guy. And one small subcompartment of my current “depression” (too strong a word) revolves around wanting to know more about marketing. And then actually being interested in marketing what I write. ‘Cause I have to admit, at the moment I know very little to nothing about marketing, and as a bonus, I pretty much don’t care. Even the word “marketing” puts me to sleep.
But I’ll be looking into it more anyway, albeit grudgingly. Hence the link in “Of Interest” a day or two ago for Garry Rodgers’ post about what works for him re Amazon.
But at the same time, I’m also striving to remember not to let marketing (and fretting about sales) into my writing. That is, I’m striving to remain unattached from Outcome. That’s always been easy for me before, but lately not so much.
In my experience, being unattached from Outcome is the only way to live a passably worry-free life, or at least to worry only about things that really matter.
My mother-in-law used to say “If you wouldn’t notice it from a galloping horse, it probably doesn’t matter.” I think she was onto something there. But I digress.
I learned long ago that I can control only my own actions and reactions. In writing, for example, that means I can control what I write, but not how many readers buy what I write. Or how I used to say it to various writing groups, “You can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket.”
To again translate that to writing, I can’t sell what I don’t write or publish. I mean, yes, there are some things I can do to improve my CHANCE of sales, like
* continually improve my craft through practice (which means putting new words on the page),
* create attractive, genre-specific covers,
* create strong sales copy, etc.
But beyond that, it’s really out of my control.
Can I write and market? Maybe. But if I can’t, I want to come out the other side as a storyteller. Even with a large boatload of IP already in my inventory, I don’t want to go stagnant. If I end up having to choose between being a storyteller and a salesperson, I’ll stick with being a storyteller and let my heirs rake in the bucks. (grin)
A longtime friend and outstanding fiction writer, Alison Naomi Holt, is running a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to put the first book of her truly excellent Detective Alex Wolfe series (Credo’s Hope) into audio.
If you enjoy detective/PI fiction (and/or wry humor), and if you haven’t read her Alex Wolfe series yet, trust me, you’re missing a sure bet on some great entertainment.
The actual Kickstarter funded in the first 26 hours. (Congrats to Alison!) Still, please take a look and see whether this project might interest you. She put up some great stretch goals. We should all support each other, or at least that’s my take on it.
So see “Audio Edition of Credo’s Hope” at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alisonnaomiholt/audio-edition-of-credos-hope. And please, tell your friends.
Oh, PS: Alison even offers a glimpse of the finished product. Click https://www.alisonholtbooks.com/chapter-one-audio-of-credos-hope/ to hear Chapter One of the forthcoming audio book. And just so you know, the link to the fairly derisive post by DWS in “Of Interest” appears in this issue strictly by coincidence.
Talk with you again when I can.
Of Interest
See “Rights Reversion…” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/rights-reversion-how-to-give-an-out-of-print-book-new-life-with-self-publishing/. Especially see PG’s take.
See “I Shrug At Audio Books” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/i-shrug-at-audio-books/.
See “The Cujo Method” at https://killzoneblog.com/2020/09/the-cujo-method.html. Interesting about the novel Cujo and the technique Master Writer Stephen King used in it. Otherwise I posted this because it made me shudder. Conscious-mind writing, anyone?
See “Carl Sagan’s Bullshit Detection Kit” at http://dyingwords.net/carl-sagans-bullshit-detection-kit/. Be prepared to Think.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 750 words
Writing of Blackwell Ops 8 (novel)
Day 1…… 1653 words. Total words to date…… 1653
Day 2…… 1043 words. Total words to date…… 2696
Day 3…… 1711 words. Total words to date…… 4407
Day 4…… 1221 words. Total words to date…… 5628
Total fiction words for the month……… 0
Total fiction words for the year………… 315283
Total nonfiction words for the month… 2270
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 139840
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 455123
Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 5
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 12
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 50
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 208
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31