Jeff Goins's Blog, page 26
May 15, 2017
Why Pre-ordering a Book Helps Both the Author & Reader + How to Get My New Book Bonuses
Today is the when I finally tell you it’s time to pre-order my new book, Real Artists Don’t Starve. If you order it today, you’re going get some great bonuses. Here’s how it works.
I’m giving away over $200 in free bonuses to anyone who orders the book before it comes out. To get them all you have to do is:
Pre-order any version of the book at whatever retailer you prefer (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound).
Forward your receipt to rads@goinswriter.com.
Check your inbox for a link to instantly access your bonuses.
That’s it! Pretty easy, huh? You can pre-order your book right here, and once you submit your receipt, I’ll take care of the rest.
Why you should pre-order a book
But why should you pre-order a book in the first place? Maybe you’ve seen authors asking for this and don’t know why they do it. Well, here are a few reasons (in no particular order):
1. Pre-ordering a book helps the author
Maybe you don’t really care about this. But if you like this author and want this person to keep writing books, then supporting them during a book launch isn’t such a bad idea.
Preordering helps the author like this: When you preorder a book, it tells bookstores people want this book, which makes them typically stock more copies of the book, which of course means more people see it and buy it.
2. Pre-ordering guarantees the lowest price
Many book stores including Amazon offer a “preorder price guarantee” which means if you preorder a book and the price drops, you will get the best price. It’s like buying something at full price then seeing a discount the next week.
If you preorder, the book store will honor the lowest price. In the case of my book, it’s currently 34% off on Amazon right now.
3. Pre-ordering means you (sometimes) get bonuses
Authors will occasionally give away a special bonus with their new books. This can be something small like a bookmark or a sticker, or it can be something more valuable depending on the author.
In the case of my books, I always try to give away a ton of value as a way of saying “thanks” to all my early adopters. With Real Artists Don’t Starve, I am giving away an entire online video course absolutely for free, plus some other stuff.
So those are three reasons why you should preorder a book. Now. Deep breath. Here it is. Why you should pre-order my new book, Real Artists Don’t Starve.
How to get $200 in free book bonuses
If you pre-order the book before 11:59 PM PST June 6, 2017, you will receive three bonuses worth over $200
Bonus #1: Real Artists Don’t Starve online course ($100 value)
In this 12-part video course, I will share how you can make a living off your art, whatever it is, elaborating on the principles in the book and sharing my own knowledge and experience from working with thousands of writers and creatives over the years. It really is possible to make a living doing this stuff. I’ll show you how.
Bonus #2: Expert interview transcripts ($50 value)
Learn from the hundreds of experts and Thriving Artists I interviewed during the research of my book. These are people you’ve never heard of before who are killing it. Not just famous musicians and artists and authors, but everyday people just like you who are thriving in their creative work.
Bonus #3: Exclusive community access ($50 value)
Get special access to a private Facebook group where I will answer your questions regularly and you can connect with others reading the book. I do a group like this for each of my books, and they’re always a fun way to connect with each other around the ideas in the book and dig a little deeper. Think online book club where you get exclusive access to the author — at no extra cost.
Get your bonuses now!
Again, just a reminder on how to claim your bonuses, all you have to do is:
Go preorder the book now (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound).
Forward your receipt to rads@goinswriter.com.
Check your inbox for a link to collect your bonuses!
That’s it! I have waited years to write this book and can’t wait for you to get your hands on it. You don’t have to starve for your craft. You can do more than survive as an artist — you can thrive.
If you’ve benefited from my work over the years, I would appreciate your support in picking up a copy of the book and helping me get the word out. Thanks!
Note: These bonuses go away completely on June 6. Grab a copy of the book before then to not miss out.
What would your life look like as a Thriving Artist? Share in the comments.
Why Preordering a Book Helps Both the Author and Reader
Today is the day many of you have been waiting for, where I tell you it’s finally time to preorder my new book. If you order Real Artists Don’t Starve before midnight on June 6, you’re going get some great bonuses.
But first things first, why should you preorder a book in the first place? Maybe you’ve seen authors asking for this and don’t know why they do it. Well, here are a few reasons (in no particular order):
1. Pre-ordering a book helps the author
Maybe you don’t really care about this. But if you like this author and want this person to keep writing books, then supporting them during a book launch isn’t such a bad idea.
Preordering helps the author like this: When you preorder a book, it tells bookstores people want this book, which makes them typically stock more copies of the book, which of course means more people see it and buy it.
2. When you pre-order, you often get the lowest price
Many book stores including Amazon offer a “preorder price guarantee” which means if you preorder a book and the price drops, you will get the best price. It’s like buying something at full price then seeing a discount the next week.
If you preorder, the book store will honor the lowest price. In the case of my book, it’s currently 34% off on Amazon right now.
3. When you pre-order, you sometimes get bonuses
Authors will occasionally give away a special bonus with their new book. This can be something small like a bookmark or sticker, which is cool if you like sticky stuff.
But in the case of my books, I always try to give away a ton of value as a way of saying “thanks” to all the book’s early adopters. With Real Artists Don’t Starve, I am giving away an entire online video course absolutely for free, plus other cool stuff. It’s $200 worth of bonuses.
So those are three reasons why you should preorder a book. Now, here it is. If you pre-order my new book by 11:59 PM PST June 6, 2017, you will receive these bonuses:
Bonus #1: Real Artists Don’t Starve online course ($100 value)
In this 12-part video course, I will share how you can make a living off your art, whatever it is, elaborating on the principles in the book and sharing my own knowledge and experience from working with thousands of writers and creatives over the years.
It really is possible to make a living doing this stuff. I’ll show you how.
Bonus #2: Expert interview transcripts ($50 value)
Learn from the hundreds of experts and Thriving Artists I interviewed during the research of my book. These are people you’ve never heard of before who are killing it!
Not just famous musicians and artists and authors, but everyday people just like you who are thriving in their creative work.
Bonus #3: Exclusive community access ($50 value)
Get special access to a private Facebook group where I will answer your questions regularly and you can connect with others reading the book.
I do a group like this for each of my books, and they’re always a fun way to connect with each other around the ideas in the book and dig a little deeper. Think online book club where you get exclusive access to the author — at no extra cost.
To claim these bonuses, all you have to do is:
Go preorder the book (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound)
Forward your receipt to rads@goinswriter.com
Check your inbox for a link to collect your bonuses!
That’s it!
I have waited years to write this book and can’t wait for you to get your hands on it. You don’t have to starve for your craft. You can do more than survive as an artist, you can thrive!
These bonuses go away completely on June 6. Go to DontStarve.com before then to not miss out.
What is your craft? What would your life look like as a Thriving Artist? Share in the comments.
May 12, 2017
5 Tips from Hemingway that Will Make You a Better Writer
In the spring of 1934, an aspiring writer named Arnold Samuelson hitchhiked from Minnesota to Florida to see if he could land a meeting with his favorite author. Feeling discouraged over his writing, Samuelson believed he needed a mentor to help him improve his craft.
The writer he had picked to be his mentor? Ernest Hemingway.
Samuelson showed up at Hemingway’s front door and begged the famous author for just a few minutes of conversation. Much to Samuelson’s delight, Hemingway agreed to talk with him and read some of his work. Although Hemingway wasn’t particularly impressed by Samuelson’s writing, he was impressed by the 22-year-old’s seriousness and dedication.
Unfortunately, Hemingway had planned to leave Florida soon on his boat Pilar. But luckily for Samuelson, Hemingway invited him to join the crew. While at sea, Samuelson had the rare opportunity to pick Hemingway’s brains about writing.
In a 1935 article for Esquire magazine, Hemingway shared some of the advice he had given Samuelson. Read on for five of Hemingway’s tips that we can use to improve our own writing:
1. Always stop when you’re going good
Samuelson wanted to be sure he was devoting enough time to writing. He asked Hemingway, “How much should you write in a day?”
Instead of giving Samuelson an arbitrary word-count goal or a number of hours to shoot for, Hemingway answered,
The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day when you are writing a novel you will never be stuck. That is the most valuable thing I can tell you so try to remember it.
Essentially, Hemingway was warning us writers not to worry so much about reaching a word count goal that it depletes our creative energy.
Instead, end your writing sessions mid-paragraph while you still have a clear idea of what you want to write next. That way you’ll maintain your momentum and avoid showing up to a blank page the next day with no idea how to move forward.
“Don’t worry about a word count goal because it depletes your creative energy.Nicole BianchiTweet thisTweet
2. Block out negative thoughts
For those of you who are novelists or are considering writing a novel, Hemingway had one very important tip.
Samuelson apparently had doubts about whether he could finish a book-length project. This prompted Hemingway to discuss how writers can stop themselves from worrying about whether they can maintain the creative process day to day.
Here’s what he told Samuelson:
Once you are into the novel it is as cowardly to worry about whether you can go on to the next day as to worry about having to go into inevitable action. You have to go on. So there is no sense to worry… As soon as you start to think about it stop it. Think about something else. You have to learn that to write a novel. The hard part about a novel is to finish it.
Hemingway compared writing a novel to a war. When a battle is about to take place, a brave soldier casts all negative thoughts of the battle aside. As a soldier, it’s his duty to enter the battle and see it through.
Hemingway believed that writing a novel requires that kind of courage, especially once the process has begun. There will be days when it seems like you can’t go on. Maybe you’ve run into a problem with your plot or you don’t know how to write a certain scene or you feel like you’re running out of ideas.
Writing a novel is hard. But you’ve entered the battle, and now you need to win it.
Although Hemingway was talking specifically about writing a novel, his advice can apply to any kind of creative writing, whether it’s blogging, short story writing, or even poetry. Whenever you come to a place where you feel like quitting because you’re stuck, banish those thoughts.
Those negative thoughts are a distraction from getting your words down on paper. Fill your head with positive thoughts instead and keep moving forward. (And to avoid the danger of getting stuck, see tip #1.)
When I begin to worry over my writing, I like to remember a quote from Hemingway’s book The Old Man and the Sea. The protagonist Santiago muses, “Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman… But that was the thing that I was born for.”
Just as Santiago had to struggle to bring in his catch each day, writers have to write and see their projects through to the end because we were born to write.
“Writers have to write… because we were born to write.Nicole BianchiTweet thisTweet
3. Study the greats
Hemingway gave Samuelson a long list of books to read (all classic novels) and told him,
[A writer] should have read everything so that he knows what he has to beat… The only people for a serious writer to compete with are the dead that he knows are good. It is like a miler running against the clock rather than simply trying to beat whoever is in the race with him. Unless he runs against time he will never know what he is capable of attaining.
By studying the work of the greatest writers, you’ll have a standard to judge your own work against. Is your plot too simple or does it have intriguing twists and turns like a Dickens novel? Is your dialogue too stiff or do your characters have unique voices like a Mark Twain novel? Can you tackle complex themes in your work, provoking your readers to consider their own deeply held beliefs, like a Dostoevsky novel?
Don’t just try to be better than average. Push yourself to keep improving your craft. If you’re not sure where to start with reading the classics, you could try reading through the books of Nobel Prize winners or pick books from a list like The 100 Greatest Novels compiled by The Guardian.
“Don’t just try to be better than average. Push yourself to keep improving your craft.Nicole BianchiTweet thisTweet
4. Sharpen your observational skills
You’ve probably heard the old adage “show, don’t tell” countless times. But often it can be difficult to apply this advice to our writing. Hemingway gave Samuelson this exercise for honing his descriptive skills,
Watch what happens today. If we get into a fish see exact it is that everyone does. If you get a kick out of it while he is jumping remember back until you see exactly what the action was that gave you that emotion. Whether it was the rising of the line from the water and the way it tightened like a fiddle string until drops started from it, or the way he smashed and threw water when he jumped.
…Then write it down making it clear so the reader will see it too and have the same feeling you had. Thatʼs a five finger exercise.
Hemingway’s exercise forces you to avoid vague generalities in your writing. Don’t just tell us catching a fish is exciting. Be specific. Show us why. Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, descriptive storytelling draws your readers into the story and allows them to connect with your writing on a more intimate level.
For example, Hemingway’s experiences as a deep sea fisherman were the inspiration for The Old Man and The Sea. By using vivid description, Hemingway transports us to Santiago’s boat. He makes us feel the salt spray, the sun on Santiago’s face, and Santiago’s strength and then exhaustion as he desperately tries to reel in a marlin. After reading the book, we know a lot more about what it means to be a fisherman.
Writing more descriptively can be learned. Hemingway told Samuelson that, “There are a thousand ways to practice.” Go into a room and try to describe it. Observe people getting in and out of cars.
Hemingway told Samuelson to pay special attention to the small details and the way things made him feel. It’s these things that can make all the difference in your writing.
“Descriptive storytelling draws your readers into the story.Nicole BianchiTweet thisTweet
5. Practice empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand and be sensitive to the feelings of others, to be able to see the world through another person’s eyes. Hemingway told Samuelson that it was vital for a writer to develop a sense of empathy,
Then get in somebody elseʼs head for a change. If I bawl you out try to figure out what Iʼm thinking about as well as how you feel about it. If Carlos curses Juan think what both their sides of it are. Donʼt just think who is right…As a man you know who is right and who is wrong… As a writer you should not judge. You should understand…Listen now. When people talk listen completely. Donʼt be thinking what youʼre going to say. Most people never listen.
Practicing empathy forces you to consider the motivations of others.
If you write fiction, it helps you to create well-developed characters instead of caricatures. To use The Old Man and the Sea as an example again, Hemingway describes Santiago so well that the character feels like an old friend by the time we finish the story. Hemingway lets us get into Santiago’s mind and see his dreams and passions, his courage and his loneliness.
If you write nonfiction, you can use empathy to think more deeply about the subjects you are writing. Why would others have a different opinion to yours? How can you respond to that opinion in your writing?
Above all, practicing empathy encourages you to think about your readers. How can your writing engage and entertain your readers? How can you weave universal themes into your writing that they can relate to and be inspired by?
“Practicing empathy encourages you to think about your readers.Nicole BianchiTweet thisTweet
The Takeaway
Samuelson didn’t end up pursuing a writing career (the memoir he wrote about the year he spent at sea wasn’t published until after his death). But we owe him a debt of gratitude for getting Hemingway to share these insights about writing.
Most of us will never have an opportunity like Samuelson’s to receive personal feedback on our writing from our favorite author. If you’re like me, many of your favorite authors might be long dead, in which case you’d have to find a way to time travel like Gil Pender in the movie Midnight in Paris.
But we can study the great writers who went before us. They have a lot to teach us. If we wish to become better writers and inspire more people with our words, there is always more we can learn, always more time to spend practicing.
As Hemingway once observed, “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
Who is an author you’d like to have as a personal mentor? What is the best writing wisdom someone has bestowed on you? Share in the comments.
May 11, 2017
151: Leveraging the Power of SEO to Sell Your Books on Amazon: Interview with Dave Chesson
A few years ago, I was speaking a conference and a woman came up to me afterwards asking for advice about a book she wanted to publish. Not being familiar with her genre, I asked if there were any other books on the subject. Her answer scared me.
“None,” she said. “There are no books out there like this. This is a completely original idea.”
Why would this scare me?
Because this isn’t how you successfully launch a book. If you release your work into a vacuum there is no one there to buy it.
This week on The Portfolio Life, Dave Chesson and I talk about how to research your book before you write it and nearly guarantee it’s success.
As a top authority on self-publishing through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), and founder of Kindlepreneur, Dave shares his insights into the parallels between building profitable niche websites and writing relevant books that create a continuous income stream for the author.
Listen in as we talk about riding elephants, keyword research, how to use your ideal reader’s words to build your book, and quick tips for aspiring authors and new writers.
Listen to the podcast
To listen to the show, click the player below (If you’re reading this via email, please click here).
Show highlights
In this episode, Dave and I discuss:
Why a strategy that for Malcolm Gladwell won’t necessarily work for you
The impact of the Amazon “honeymoon” period
How to avoid book sales feeling like blowing air into a deflated balloon with a hole in it
Our wives being right at least 80% of the time
Assessing your definition of success and determining if you’re on the right path
How building a business or writing books can fit into the margins of your day job
The process for writing and self-publishing your book
Creating content that centers around a topic people like and is better than the competition
The similarities between Google and Amazon search
How to reverse engineer Amazon’s algorithm
Using Google to determine the degree of competition for an idea
Takeaways
Find the words your target market is using.
Do research to determine if anyone is looking for and buying the kind of book you want to write.
Creating a book that people are actively searching for on Amazon can create a continuous stream of income.
If you try to rank for a term that’s too popular, every second a new book will come out on Amazon targeting that market.
Don’t write into a competitive market where no one is making any money.
The most important number Amazon can give any writer is the Amazon “best seller” rank.
Write a blog post or article to test your book idea.
Every new book is an experiment. If the idea doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.
“Even if you have the big book launch, it will not sustain your career or living as a writer.Tweet thisTweet
Resources
Keyword Finder
Google Keyword Planner
Amazon Sales Rank Calculator
102: How to Know if You Have a Good Idea for a Book
KDP Rocket
Podcast sponsor: ConvertKit
Transcript: coming soon
What book are you trying to write? Who is the audience you’re trying to reach? Are they searching for your topic? Share your results in the comments
May 8, 2017
Why the Story of the Starving Artist Needs to Die
“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” —Michelangelo Buonarotti
In 1995, an American professor made an unusual discovery. At Syracuse University in Florence, Rab Hatfield was trying to match the scenes of the Sistine Chapel to the dates Michelangelo had painted each of them.
Since the artist had received commissions in various installments, the professor thought there might be a paper trail, so he went to the city archives. Surprised at how easy it was to locate five-hundred-year-old bank records, he began reconstructing a more accurate timeline for how the most famous ceiling in the world came to be.
That’s when he saw it.
“I was really looking for something else!” the professor yelled into the phone from his office in Italy, decades later. “Every time I run across something, it’s because I was looking for something else, which I consider real discovery. It’s when you don’t expect it that you really discover something.”
With a PhD from Harvard, Professor Hatfield had begun his career at Yale in 1966 before moving to Syracuse University in 1971, and in all that time of teaching art history, he had never encountered anything like this.
What he found in those records was not what you would expect to find digging around in the bank account of an artist, even one whose fame would grow with each passing century.
“I don’t know how much you know about Michelangelo,” he told me, “but usually they taught us that he kind of struggled like Vincent van Gogh.”
For centuries, this is what historians believed about the great Renaissance master. He was just another Starving Artist, struggling to make ends meet. Michelangelo himself embraced this image, living frugally and often complaining about money. He once wrote in a poem that his art had left him “poor, old and working as a servant of others.”
But it turns out he wasn’t telling the truth.
When Rab Hatfield dug into those old bank records, the truth about the Renaissance’s most famous artist was finally revealed. He was not struggling at all. He was not poor, and he was not starving for his art—a fact we have been getting wrong ever since.
Michelangelo was, in fact, very rich. One record Professor Hatfield found showed a balance of hundreds of thousands of dollars, which was a rare sum of money for an artist at the time. When he saw those figures, the professor forgot all about the Sistine Chapel.
With his curiosity piqued, he went to see if there were more bank records, and there were more—many more. In the end, he uncovered a fortune worth roughly $47 million today, making Michelangelo the richest artist of the Renaissance.
And to this day, this is a story that surprises us.
Why?
We are accustomed to a certain narrative about artists, one that indicates they are barely getting by. But Michelangelo did not suffer or starve for his work. He was a multimillionaire and successful entrepreneur, a “pivotal figure in the transition of creative geniuses from people regarded, and paid, as craftsmen to people accorded a different level of treatment and compensation,” in the words of journalist Frank Bruni.
In other words, the master sculptor and painter wasn’t just some art school dropout struggling for his art. He was a rainmaker.
When I asked Professor Hatfield what Michelangelo’s millions mean for us today, he said, “I don’t think it means a whole lot.” But I disagree. I think this changes everything.
Myth of the Starving Artist
Two hundred years after Michelangelo died, Henri Murger was born the son of a tailor and concierge in France. Living in Paris, he was surrounded by creative geniuses and dreamed of joining them, but he grew frustrated with his failure to find financial security.
In 1847, Murger published Scènes de la vie de bohème, a collection of stories that playfully romanticized poverty. The result was some literary acclaim, persistent struggle, and an untimely end to a penniless life.
The book limped along after the author’s death, being adapted first as the opera La Bohème and later as a film, eventually achieving widespread acclaim with spinoffs including Rent and Moulin Rouge.
Murger’s Scènes launched the concept of the Starving Artist into the public’s understanding as the model for a creative life. To this day, it endures as the model for what we imagine we think of the word artist.
The story of the Starving Artist overshadows the quiet, relatively unknown tale of Michelangelo’s success and has become our most popular understanding of what’s possible for creative people—which is to say, not much.
Today, we find the remnants of this story nearly everywhere we
look. It is the advice we give a friend who dreams of painting for a living, what we tell a coworker who wants to write a novel, or even the cautionary tale we tell our children when they head out into the real world. Be careful, we say ominously. Don’t be too creative. You just might starve.
But what we forget is that the story of the Starving Artist is a myth. And like all myths, it may be a powerful story, one we can orient our entire lives around, but in the end, it is still just a story.
Thanks to the power of this myth, many of us take the safe route in life. We become lawyers instead of actresses, bankers instead of poets, and doctors instead of painters. We hedge our bets and hide from our true calling, choosing less risky careers, because it seems easier. Nobody wants to struggle, after all, so we keep our passion a hobby and follow a predictable path toward mediocrity.
But what if you could make a living as an artist, and you didn’t have to starve to do it? What would that change about the way we approach our work and how we consider creativity’s importance in our world today? What would that mean for the careers we choose and the paths we encourage our kids to follow?
In the early Renaissance, artists did not have reputations for being diligent workers. They were considered manual laborers, receiving meager commissions for their work. Michelangelo, however, changed all that.
After him, every artist began to see a “new pattern, a new way of doing things,” in the words of Bill Wallace, professor of art history at Washington University in St. Louis. Michelangelo “established the idea that an artist could become a new figure in society and have a higher social standing, and also that they could become financially successful.”
Michelangelo did not need to starve for his creations, and neither do you. When the painter of the Sistine Chapel amassed an incredible fortune and secured his legacy as one of history’s masters, he broke the glass ceiling for future generations.
Today, however, his contribution has been all but forgotten. We have bought into the Myth of the Starving Artist, thinking of artists as unfortunate Bohemians who struggle at the lowest end of society. This myth is hurting creative work everywhere, and it must be put to rest.
Rarely do we think of creatives as wealthy or successful, even cracking jokes about the wastefulness of art degrees and theater classes. We have heard how pursuing creativity is not a safe career bet, whether that means chasing an interest in literature, music, or some other artistic endeavor. All my life, I heard it from well-meaning teachers, friends, and relatives. The advice was always the same: Get a good degree, have something to fall back on, and don’t quit your day job.
The truth, though, is quite different.
Creativity, though a nice outlet for self-expression, is not something we think a person should go “all in” on for a career. Because, odds are, you’ll starve. Right?
Sometimes, though, an artist does succeed: a singer releases a platinum record, an author hits a bestseller list, a filmmaker launches a blockbuster. We tend to dismiss these moments as rare instances of an artist getting lucky or selling out. But what if that isn’t the whole picture?
When we look at many of history’s most famous artists, we see something curious. It’s the same thing we observe in the lives of countless creatives who are making a living off their art today. When we hear the cautionary tales and warnings about what it means to be an artist, there’s an important truth we must learn to embrace: You don’t have to starve.
A New Kind of Artist
In this book, I want to offer a very simple but challenging argument: Real artists don’t starve.
Making a living off your creative talent has never been easier, and to show you it’s possible I will share historical examples of well-known artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs who did not have to suffer to create their best work. And I will also introduce you to a contemporary group of professionals who are experiencing surprising amounts of success in their creative work and how you can join them.
Finally, I will try to convince you that the idea of the Starving Artist is a useless myth that holds you back more than it helps you produce your best work.
Today, with more opportunity than ever to share our work with the world, we need a different model for creative work. The Myth of the Starving Artist has long since overstayed its welcome, and what we need now is a New Renaissance, a return to a model for art and business that doesn’t require creative workers to suffer and starve.
We all have creative gifts to share, and in that respect, we are all artists. The world needs your work—whether that’s an idea for a book, a vision for a startup, or a dream for your neighborhood— and you shouldn’t have to struggle to create it.
What does it mean to be a “real artist”? It means you are spending your time doing the things that matter most to you. It means you don’t need someone else’s permission to create. It means you aren’t doing your work in secret, hoping someone may discover it someday. It means the world is taking your work seriously.
Do you have to become a millionaire like Michelangelo? Not at all. This is not a book about how to get rich selling art. It is a description of the path many professional artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs have walked and one you would be wise to follow, if you want to join them.
The goal here is not to get rich, but to build a life that makes creating your best work not only possible but practically inevitable. And so, I think we should exchange this idea of being a Starving Artist with a new term: Thriving Artist. If you don’t want your best work to die with you, you must train yourself to think and live differently than the ways you’ve been told artists behave. You must not starve; you have to thrive.
Inspired by the Michelangelo story, I was curious to see if there were other artists out there who were succeeding. What I discovered was that a New Renaissance was not only possible, it was already happening. In my research I encountered creatives in nearly every field who weren’t starving at all.
The more stories I found, the more common threads began to emerge. These artists may not have known of Michelangelo’s riches, but they embodied his approach to creative work and all followed a similar set of strategies I’ve now captured and distilled in this book.
Here they are, the principles every Thriving Artist lives by—the Rules of the New Renaissance:
The Starving Artist believes you must be born an artist. The Thriving Artist knows you become one.
The Starving Artist strives to be original. The Thriving Artist steals from his influences.
The Starving Artist believes he has enough talent. The Thriving Artist apprentices under a master.
The Starving Artist is stubborn about everything. The Thriving Artist is stubborn on vision but flexible on details.
The Starving Artist waits to be noticed. The Thriving Artist cultivates patrons.
The Starving Artist needs no one. The Thriving Artist finds a scene.
The Starving Artist always works alone. The Thriving Artist collaborates with others.
The Starving Artist does his work in private. The Thriving Artist practices in public.
The Starving Artist works for free. The Thriving Artist always works for something.
The Starving Artist sells out too soon. The Thriving Artist owns as much of his work as possible.
The Starving Artist does one thing. The Thriving Artist does many things.
The Starving Artist despises the need for money. The Thriving Artist makes money to make more art.
For the rest of this book, we will explore these rules in the con- text of three major themes: mind-set, market, and money.
In each part, we will be taking a significant step that will us shift from Starving Artists to Thriving Artists.
First, we master our mind-set, tackling the internal challenges and conflicts we will face to break out of the Starving Artist paradigm. We can’t change our lives until we change our minds.
Then, we master the market, exploring the importance of relationships in creative work and how to usher our art into the world.
Finally, we master money, looking at what it means to not only make a living off our work but put money to work for us so that we can use it as a means to do better work.
Each chapter is based on one of the twelve rules mentioned above, along with stories from history and original case studies from the hundreds of interviews I conducted with contemporary creatives, artists, and entrepreneurs. The rules are not hard and fast as much as they are principles, proven strategies to help you succeed. The more of these you follow, the more likely your success will be, and vice versa.
This book is a manual designed to help you create work that matters. As you encounter the stories and lessons it contains, I hope you are challenged to follow in the footsteps of those who have come before you. I hope you realize that being a Starving Artist is a choice, not a necessary condition of doing creative work, and whether or not you starve is up to you.
And I hope you are emboldened to join the ranks of the New Renaissance, embracing Michelangelo’s belief that you can live both a creative life and a prosperous one, declaring to yourself and the world that real artists don’t starve—at least, they don’t have to.
Click here to download your free copy of the Introduction of Real Artists Don’t Starve.
How does rejecting the myth of the starving artist impact you? What will change about how you approach your craft? Share in the comments.
May 3, 2017
What Successful Writers Do That Unsuccessful Writers Don’t
Over the past six years, I’ve been working hard to answer one big, very important question: “How do you make a living as a writer?”
At first, it was something I just wanted to answer for myself. But when I figured out how to support myself with a writing career, I began to wonder if it was possible for others. And what I discovered surprised me.
It turns out that most successful writers do some of the same things. And it also turns out that these are the very same things most unsuccessful writers DON’T do. So what are they?
Successful writers clarify their message. Unsuccessful writers don’t.
Successful writers build a platform. Unsuccessful writers keep waiting to be “discovered.”
Successful writers serve their audiences. Unsuccessful writers serve themselves.
Successful writers aren’t afraid to make money to support their art. Unsuccessful writers are.
What does it take to do these things? To make a living off your words, you need more than talent. You can’t be just a great writer. Sure, that’s important. But it’s not enough.
You need more than passion, too. Passion is not enough to sustain you during those long hours of practice. Passion will not insulate you from the barbs of critics and the sting of failure.
You need something more than just good intentions and a little skill to make it as a writer today.
What you need is a roadmap — a proven process that the greats who have walked before you have followed.
You need to know what to do when and why it ultimately matters.
That’s why I developed Tribe Writers. It helps you accomplish what seems so elusive for so many writers who dream of going pro. We show you how to make a living off your words by clarifying your message, building a platform, and serving your audience.
This is everything I’ve learned from working with thousands of authors, plus my own career of publishing five books, hitting multiple bestsellers lists, and reaching millions of readers with my writing.
Over 6,000 people have gone through this program, and I’m confident it will help you, too.
Learn more about Tribe Writers right here.
If you’re still not sure, here are answers to some of the biggest questions I’ve received:
Question 1: Is Tribe Writers for beginners or advanced students?
Tribe Writers is a course for aspiring writers or people who have published a book but haven’t yet reached the kind of success they dream of.
In the course, I teach you via 5–15 minute video lessons how to start a blog, build an email list of 1000 subscribers, and get your audience to buy your work, allowing you to make at least $1000 per month with your writing.
You can go at your own pace, but if you watch one video a day for five days a week, you’ll be done in 60 days.
Question 2: Why do I need this?
Maybe you don’t.
If you’re already publishing books and selling thousands of copies…
If you already have thousands of readers of your blog…
If you’re already making thousands of dollars a month off your writing…
Then you probably don’t need Tribe Writers. But…
If you’re frustrated and just don’t quite know what to do…
If you keep trying things but nothing seems to work…
If you can’t figure out what the plan for writing success looks like…
Then you probably need Tribe Writers.
Question 3: Why do I need to join now?
Good question. Tribe Writers is open for registration only two times a year. The next time will be October at the earliest. And often, the price goes up between launches, so now is the best time to get the best deal.
Question 4: Does this work for fiction?
Definitely. There are some different approaches to building a fiction platform, but the principles still work. In Tribe Writers, there are thousands of novelists and fiction writers. If you write fiction, you’ll be in good company!
In fact, a student recently blogged about the impact Tribe Writers had on her fiction career right here.
Question 5: Does this really work?
Well, ask a student yourself…
“I’m a writer who dreamed of publishing a book.Tribe Writers transformed that dream into a reality. I’ve taken writing courses before, but Tribe Writers is beyond compare. Instead of the typical information download many courses provide, Tribe Writers gives you a blueprint of intentional steps to get you there. From finding your voice to going pro, the course lays out an action plan designed to help you reach your goals. The support is unmatched and the community phenomenal. I’m a fan for life.” — Doris Swift
You’ll find many more testimonials on the registration page.
I hope that helps answer some of your questions. Now, I’ve got one for you:
What’re you waiting for?
It’s time to take your writing seriously. If you join Tribe Writers today, you get hundreds of dollars in bonuses, plus a LIFETIME money back guarantee. Which means you can sign up today, go through the course for and if you don’t see results, ask for your money back!
You take absolutely no risk… unless you do nothing at all.
The clock is ticking on the deadline to join Tribe Writers. Don’t miss it! Registration closes in just a few days. You won’t be able to join again until the late fall. Join Tribe Writers now.
May 1, 2017
How a Fiction Writer Made $100,000 by Building a Career Around Her Craft
In late 2011 I did something that I’d dreamed of all my life. Something that every fiction writer dreams of (even if they want to be self-published, I promise every fiction writer has dreamed about this at one time or the other.)
I signed with a literary agent.
She sold my work in early 2012 in a two-book deal to an imprint of Penguin. I was given a $15,000 advance for both books and for a few years, I was living the actual dream. My first book, Viral Nation, was published in summer of 2013 and my second, Rebel nation, was published in summer of 2014.
Take a look at those dates again.
My novels sold to Penguin in early 2012. They were published in mid-2013. That’s nearly eighteen months.
Here’s what I believed: that having an agent and a big publisher was all I needed. I thought that my book would sell just by virtue of being published and on bookstore shelves.
Here’s what really happened:
For various reasons (including being a young adult science fiction book published by a romance imprint), my books got good reviews but not great sales. Barnes and Nobel didn’t pick up my second book. The publisher, consequently, didn’t pick up my third book. My entire career came down to two thirds of a trilogy that ended on a cliffhanger and that no other publisher would ever pick up.
There were eighteen months between when my books sold and when the first one came out. What I should have done with those months is exactly what Jeff teaches in Tribe Writers. I should have focused on building an audience.
Fast forward to late 2015. My publisher dropped me. My agent didn’t like my next book or any other ideas I had for next books, so I fired her. I’d signed with a second agent, who liked my next book, but couldn’t sell it. Then she decided she wasn’t going to represent children’s book anymore and she fired me.
I hadn’t written a word of fiction, not a single word, in a full year.
I was working as a teacher’s assistant making less than my son earns at Wal-Mart, under a teacher who hated me and was (believe it or not) even more miserable in her job than I was in mine. Something had to give. My best idea for getting out of my situation was to write another book so that I could get another advance.
By now, I’d come to realize that building an audience was A) super important and B) my responsibility no matter how big my publisher was. So, I started there.
I’m going to fast forward to the punchline here: In 2016 I earned nearly $100,000. That’s more than four times my annual income from the Washoe County School District. It’s more than six times my advance from Penguin. Even after taxes and expenses, it is a good living.
And I did it writing.
Here’s how:
Evaluate your choices and resources
I already had a blog. It’s now defunct, but I’d been writing a lifestyle blog for about eighteen months. It wasn’t making much money, but it had good, solid traffic.
I’d run a six-month series there about how to write a novel. Those posts were popular enough to make me think that starting a second blog might bring in a little more money.
I’m a hard worker and I was willing to put a lot of the one resource I did have into this: energy.
I had experience as a writer and a teacher.
I’m passionate about stories and I love helping other people tell their stories.
Build a community and an email list
My goal, from the start, was bigger than selling books.
I wanted to build a community and I wanted to find my own audience. That meant building an email list.
I found two resources that really helped me. One was Bryan Harris’s Rapid List Builder program. The other was Tribe Writers.
I started my new blog, What is a Plot, on February 1, 2015. My goal was to have 50 people on my list by March 1. I ended up with 800.
One thing I did to get there was figure out Facebook ads. I came up with a little system that let me run ads without being out of pocket by offering an inexpensive product for sale after someone joined my list.
Decide to teach what you know
I’d had an idea brewing for a long time about turning that six-month blog series about how to write a novel into a course. I opened an account at Gumroad, made a little sales page, and emailed it out to my list. Then I went to a movie with my husband.
I decided almost immediately that I was going to take it back. My whole enterprise was only six weeks old. I didn’t know what I was doing. When I got out of the movie, though, two people had bought my course.
By the time the doors closed on that first (very long) launch, I’d made $40,000 in sales and my whole life changed.
I quit my job when the school year finished in June.
I ran a very limited launch in June and made another $10,000 when it sold it. And I launched one more time I October. That launch, despite competing with Nanowrimo, earned another $40,000.
My Teachable school, which has free classes in story development and plotting, has 2775 students now. Every time I think of that, it just blows me away.
Start a membership site
It was very obvious from the beginning that the most valuable thing about Ninja Writers was the community. I also knew that I wanted to offer my course to writers who maybe couldn’t afford the upfront cost.
After my October launch, I decided to try something a little different. I started the Ninja Writers Club. For $25 a month, writers could have instant access to A Novel Idea, plus other courses I had available (including a course in how to plot a novel.) Club members gained access to a small, very active, private Facebook community.
The membership idea evolved. I started a Patreon page in January 2016. I added a second phase of membership, this one only costs $10 a month and is centered around the idea of an Alt MFA program.
I also put together my first print zine—a venue for Ninja Writers to not only submit their work for possible publishing, but also for community members to support each other. The contributors to the zine are paid based on the number of active patrons.
Begin writing on Medium
In March 2017, I decided to embark on an experiment. I’d blog everyday for 30 days on Medium.
The result was so startlingly positive that I’ve increased the experiment to 90 days.
I doubled my pageviews, from 18,000 a month on my blog to 36,000 on Medium in that first month. I was asked to write for a paying market. I increased my email list.
You can read more about the results of my experiment here.
Your art won’t be responsible for supporting your life anymore
Pretty much every fiction writer’s dream is to be paid enough for their stories to support themselves.
What I’ve learned in the last year (and really, the last five years) is that it’s entirely possible to build a career around your art that encompasses it and supports it and makes the art possible.
I write a short story every week, as part of the 1000 Day MFA program that dozens of people pay $10 a month each to participate in.
I’m writing novels right alongside my students in the A Novel Idea program.
Teaching happens to be my thing. It’s not everyone’s.
I have a friend who writes young adult fiction. She’s also a pilot and has an idea for a business that will teach women how to course correct their lives the way she course-corrects an airplane.
I have a friend who writes women’s fiction. She’s also a former Ringling Brother’s circus clown and a theater mom. She’s working on building a business that will help other theater moms—and also build her audience for her novels.
I hear all the time about how the information out there for bloggers or non-fiction writers (like Tribe Writers or Rapid List Builder) isn’t a perfect fit for fiction writers. The truth is, we need to know this stuff. We need to think about our work like it’s a business. A start-up, even.
Discover the steps Shaunta Grimes took to build a career around her art with Tribe Writers. Learn how you can follow her example and make a living writing.
How would your life change if you were able to replace (or even double) your income through your writing? What questions are standing in your way? Share in the comments.
April 26, 2017
Yes, You Can Make a Living Writing
There are three questions people ask me all the time.
What’s your guacamole recipe?
Are you related to Conan O’Brien?
How do I make a living writing?
The answer to the first one is in my book, The Art of Work, and the answer to the second is, “I don’t think so.”
However, helping people answer the last question for themselves is what gets me out of bed every day.
A proven method for success
For years, I’ve taught tens of thousands of writers the steps it takes to go from floundering in obscurity to turning their writing into a viable vocation.
This past week, I shared with you a series of resources that walked you through the first three of those steps.
And now, this week, I’m hosting a live training where I’ll teach you the WHOLE process — everything I’ve learned from coaching thousands of struggling writers, helping them succeed — and how you can follow in their footsteps.
I won’t hold anything back, and I’ll answer as many questions as I can.
Click here to register for The 3 Most Profitable Ways to Make a Living Writing Today.
You can finally build a powerful audience around your writing. You can start writing confidently in your own voice. You can begin monetizing your tribe.
Is this training for you?
Absolutely.
Are you a writer who wants to get traditionally published? This training is for you.
Are you a blogger who wants to self-publish? This training is for you.
Are you a fiction author who wants to sell more novels? This training is for you.
Are you an “aspiring writer” who is struggling to find your voice? This training is for you.
Are you an established writer who wants to grow your platform? This training is for you.
The truth of the matter is that every successful writer, author, and blogger out there has done what I’m going to share with you.
It’s what I did (and continue to do) to quit my day job, become a full-time writer, publish 4 books, and make over $2,000,000 from my writing.
Join me by clicking here and select from 1 of 6 live trainings that best fits your schedule. I’ll show you in 90 minutes what takes some people years to learn on their own.
See you there!
Do you know where you are on The Writer’s Roadmap? What questions do you have about making a living writing? Share in the comments.
April 24, 2017
3 Steps You Can Take Today to Start Making a Living Writing
Since the last Tribe Writers class I taught in October, I’ve been busy. In the months since, I’ve spoken with hundreds of writers, asking them where they are getting stuck and how to work through those challenges.
I’ve been coaching, teaching, and learning a lot — all with the intent of better helping you, my dear reader and fellow writer.
I’ve been studying the methods of successful writers from all genres, and what I’ve developed is a 12-step roadmap that will help just about any struggling writer break through to the next level.
The best part? The first few steps are easy.
So, today, my goal is simple. I want to help you achieve your first three steps right now. Here they are:
Step 1: Clarify your writing voice with a worldview. It’s not just what you write, but how you write it that matters. I’ve got an exercise on how to do this. If you need help, go watch this video and follow the “worldview exercise”.
Step 2: Figure out what kind of platform you’re going to have. The way you do this is by defining your platform personality. If you need help with this, go watch my video on how to decide what platform personality best fits you.
Step 3: Launch a blog and begin sharing your work with the world. If you need help with this, go watch this 8-minute tutorial on how to set up a self-hosted blog on WordPress. This is what most of the pros do. I recommend it.
Now, what do you do after that?
How do you take a blog and turn it into thousands of readers?
How do you turn that audience into a writing career, one in which you actually make enough money to live on?
Well, that’s what we’ll cover in this live training happening this week:
The 3 Most Profitable Ways to Make a Living Writing Today
In 90 minutes, I’ll teach you my WHOLE process, everything I’ve learned from coaching thousands of struggling writers, helping them succeed — and how you can follow in their footsteps. I won’t hold anything back, and I’ll answer as many questions as I can.
Real writers do the work
So, here’s your assignment today:
Complete steps 1-3 in the 12-step writer’s roadmap (see list above). If you get stuck, I’d be happy to chat about it on the webinar. Just leave a comment below and tell me where you’re struggling.
Sign up for the live training where we’ll go through this in more details. Click here to reserve your seat.
Too many writers have faded into obscurity for all time because they neglected these simple steps. The roadmap isn’t easy, or everyone would do it, but it is a proven method you can use to make a living writing.
Click here to reserve your seat for The 3 Most Profitable Ways to Make a Living Writing Today. I can’t wait to see you there.
Why do you think you aren’t a full-time writer yet? What do you feel is standing in your way? Share in the comments.
April 22, 2017
How One Writer Landed a $220,000 Book Contract Without Being Famous
I am consistently amazed by what many writers think is not possible. For instance, the other day I was talking to someone who wanted to get a book published and start making money writing. But at some point someone told her she couldn’t.
“You won’t make more than a few bucks off your first book,” one author told her.
“That’s not true,” I said.
And then I told her the story of Benjamin Hardy…
The true tale of a blogger gone pro
Recently, I sat down with Ben to capture his story of how, in just 12 short months, he grew his email list to 100,000 readers and was able to land a $220,000 book contract with one of the largest publishers in the world.
Click here to watch the video.
Who was Ben Hardy before he started this journey?
Nobody special (his words, not mine). What he did was nothing new. It’s what every writer who wants to “make it” has to do:
Start a blog
Build an email list
Took themselves seriously
However, what Ben did that was exceptional was the work. So many of us are looking for a quick fix or easy solution. There is none. You have to do the work. This process works if you do.
As you watch the video, pay attention to how Ben executed each step in the 12-step roadmap that I teach in Tribe Writers (Ben and I break down what he did and how you do the same). This really is a proven process.
This week, I’m sharing a few things I don’t want you to miss:
Thing 1 (in case you missed it) was the free guide: 12 Steps to Make a Living Writing. Click here to download your copy.
Thing 2 (in case you aren’t a big reader) was the video version of the 12-step roadmap. Click here to watch as I walk you through it.
Thing 3 is today’s video of how Ben Hardy grew an email list of 100,000 people in 12 months and then got a $220,000 book contract. Click here to watch the case study.
Why am I doing this?
I’m sharing all these resources with you to make one very important point:
It’s possible for you to make a living writing.
You just have to do the work. I can’t motivate you. I can’t make you sit down and write. But I can show you the way to success and hope you take the next step.
If you follow Ben’s example, I am quite certain you’ll see similar results.
Don’t miss Ben Hardy’s amazing story of success. Click here to watch our interview right now.
What is your biggest struggle when it comes to writing? How do your writing efforts match up with your goals? Share in the comments.
