John David's Blog: Life--Observed and Reported - Posts Tagged "writing"

This post is my response to the original thread of the same name, by the esteemed author Russell Blake, where he has graciously shared his experience and knowledge with other self publishers.

I agree with you regarding the "visibility" of a work being the key.

How to obtain that visibility is the question.

I read your posts with great interest. They are always cogent and persuasive. We share many of the same belief systems, but I would respect your opinion even if we did not.

There is no sure-fire methodology by which a writer magically transforms into a "successful" writer, and, like you, I believe there is as much luck in that metamorphosis as there is skill, or even marketing.

I have heard it said here that one should spend fours marketing for every one hour spent writing, and besides agreeing with that, I will add the following:

For newbie authors, contemplating the release of your first work. Calculate the number of hours you spent writing, proofing, editing, and polishing the work. Make sure that you are releasing the finished product, and not a draft.

Take that number and multiply it by four. This is the total number of hours that you should spend promoting your book BEFORE you push the "publish" button for the first time. This time would include preparing/formatting the book for paperback, Kindle, Nook, ePUB, and even audiobook as well, so that all versions can be released simultaneously.

The one author that I know and have worked with who went on to make the NYT list followed that strategy. She tied her work in very nicely to pop culture, and made sure that she had huge social network visibility, garnering over thirty reviews within ONE WEEK of release.

Contrast this with my first title, which now stands proudly with seven reviews (after the removal of several, of course).

My first work was my baby, and it still is, but I rushed into publishing it out of sheer exuberance and joy at the opportunity to do so. This was a mistake.

Two years later, at least four revisions later, for both Kindle/ePUB and print versions, the book is now where it should be, and should have been, two years ago, BEFORE I released it.

In my defense, it is a non-fiction work, extremely relevant to MILLIONS of Americans, and I thought it would soar like an eagle simply because of the information it contained.

It did not.

The bright light for me is that I was recently contacted by a reporter for the #5 fastest-growing media company in the US. She asked if she could interview me for a series of articles that will be released soon, probably around the New Year.

IF the articles are positive, my sales of this title could potentially hit 4 digits monthly, or more, even if only a fraction of the millions of readers convert to buyers.

My point is simply this:

Now that I am on the brink of "instant" success, (after two years of polishing and promoting) would I or my work have been ready for this two years ago?

NO. The work would have been met with a resounding "MEH" from all, and universally panned, despite the value of its content. It would have died, stillborn, and never had a chance to live. At least now, it MAY become what it was intended to be. Chance and fate have given me the opportunity that I almost lost through impatience and willfulness.

For that I am grateful.

I apologize for taking this lengthy path to bring you to my conclusion, which is simply this:

Avoid complacency at all costs. Take the VERY long view towards your career as a writer. It is very possible (and likely) that you will fail in the BUSINESS of writing, even if you have succeeded at the ART of it.

You will certainly fail if you do not respond immediately to market forces, if you do not evolve rapidly, if you do not produce work that is AT LEAST as good as those authors you seek to exceed and emulate.

To stand out in this business, your work must be BETTER than what the Trads release, better written, better edited, better promoted, because it WILL be scrutinized much more carefully. Every flaw will be magnified, every opportunity to criticize exploited, both by those within the industry, and by the very readers you seek to reach.

Never miss an opportunity to promote, to perfect, to proceed. Always network, contribute, review, share, be a part of the community.

Like the shark, we must swim . . .

or die.

Must everything we create be a series, a collection, merely a part of a body of work?

Can nothing simply stand proudly on its own?

A single, epic, awesome work, with a beginning, a middle, and most importantly, an END?

I definitely understand the need that the starving artist/author has to develop an audience, a body of believers, thirsty for every word they produce, like pilgrims three days lost in the desert.

But must this awful perspective corrupt and infect everything we do?

Believe me, I too have been both a victim and a perpetrator of this mindset, as I was sold on this idea as a methodology of achieving "success" as a writer.

But at what price?

No longer can we as artists simply do art, we must now build a legacy, constructing a house of cards with every work, offering our readers that first taste, but at the price of infecting them with the virus of repeatability.

There is no "formula" for art.

No "prescription" for success as a writer.

If you have talent, desire, skill, and a grand idea, you still will most likely fail to develop a great audience, at least while you yet live. History is littered with the bones of those "failed" writers who achieved "success" only years or decades after their "physical" death.

But this is the peculiar "gift" of our brand of art. It lives on, purposefully so, ages after we ourselves are not even memories.

So, I urge each and every one of you, readers and writers alike, to help us break these rusty chains that bind us to the "next" work in a series, the one that may never even be.

To focus only on that single work which is at hand, to craft it, carve it, even to bludgeon it into perfect existence if we must.

But please, please do not tell me that your work is "Book One" or "Part One" or any other fragment of a greater work. Make it the solo masterpiece that it deserves to be, that you are capable of, in and of itself, nothing more.

I and your audience will love you for it.