Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 174
June 2, 2013
The One Eyed Writer
Hi Folks who regularly read Alex’s excellent blog. This particular blog is not actually being written by Alex but by another writer friend, Jane Watson. Alex’s blog, as written by him, will be on a short break – my contribution here is to keep you informed of what is happening at the moment, with Alex […]
May 30, 2013
What About All The Authors Whose Books Don’t Sell Very Many Copies?
An extremely small percentage of writers sell more than 500 copies of a book… One source I checked said this: “…in 2004, 950,000 titles out of the 1.2 million tracked by Nielsen Bookscan sold fewer than 99 copies. Another 200,000 sold fewer than 1,000 copies. Only 25,000 sold more than 5,000 copies. “The average book […]
May 28, 2013
Cleaning Out The Closet ~ Six Little Jewels for Writers
In order to blog every Monday through Friday, which I’ve done now for 2 years 5 months, I need available material. I could have chosen to write only my own thoughts here but, early on, I decided I wanted to be a “reporter”, too. So, I scan the news every day, pay attention to my […]
Helping Authors Sell More E-Books
Do you know about Smashwords? Here are a few things they say about themselves: * World’s largest indie ebook distributor * 200,000+ titles published by 55,000+ authors and publishers * 85% net back to the author/publisher/agent * Distribution to Apple iBookstore (51 countries), Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Baker & Taylor, Diesel, Page Foundry and […]
May 27, 2013
Music Therapy for Writers
Back in January of 2012, I published a post called Must Writers Suffer Melancholy, Anguish, andDepression? In that post, I said: “Being a creative writer seems to me to be one of the weirdest professions on the planet. “Catering to imaginary characters who may seem more real than the folks next door can bring certain […]
May 23, 2013
“Oh, my… Amazing! But, what comes next?!?”
A new kind of Behind The Scenes post today—some writing that isn’t in the published edition of Notes from An Alien. There will be many more of these “revelation” posts in the future… If you’re the kind of reader who likes to have a full context before reading new, additional scenes, grab a free copy […]
May 22, 2013
“How can I know what I think till I see what I say?”
The quote in the title of this post is from E. M. Forster—English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. Many people know of him “due to the…film adaptations of his work. Titles by Forster that are immortalized not only on the page but also on film include A Passage to India (1984), A Room […]
May 21, 2013
Writers, The Pain of Existence, and Self-Publishing
Two videos today—angst and publishing—the issues of life are barbs to consciousness… Part One Part Two ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-) For Private Comments, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com * Google Author Page Tagged: Angst, Cat Videos, fiction, Pain of Existence, self-published, self-publisher, Self-Publsihing, Writers Dilemma
The Most Helpful Book I’ve Ever Read About Self-Publishing . . .
It sure can seem like a lot of the info on self-publishing is generated primarily to make money, not to help folks really learn what they need to know. In fact, many sources of “expertise” are misleading and aimed right at our bank accounts. This is my 85th post on Self-Publishing—many about my own experience […]
May 20, 2013
Dear Writer: Lots of Words or Few, Which Is Right?
I’ll cheat and answer the question before you read the post—neither is “right”, it “Depends” :-) Certainly, certain writers use too many words and others scrimp but Simple or Ornate is a decision that the Writing Itself decides. The Writing decides? It’s all about being in the “Zone” or “Flow” or following the Muse’s guidance… […]
