Kern Carter's Blog, page 165
October 14, 2019
The holidays can be rough for freelancers
Image by Nathan AndersonIn my experience, the holidays can be a rough time for freelancers. I’ve never had much success pitching new clients once December hits. My suggestion would be to get your money now. Go hard at securing clients over the next month. More importantly, make sure you get those invoices out ASAP.
Most big companies have already reached their fiscal year-end. That means the next little while will be a bit of a limbo period while they manage their budgets. You don’t want to get stuck waiting for more than thirty days for an invoice to be filled. So if you want to make sure you get paid before the holidays are over, get moving.
CRY
PREVIOUS LETTERSNew trend alert — Ghostwriters are moving to fiction
Wattpad has started launching books
MORE FROM CRYHave you read BEAUTY SCARS? Only .99 cents for the ebook and $9.99 for the paperback.
The holidays can be rough for freelancers was originally published in C.R.Y on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
October 11, 2019
1,000 followers for CRY Mag!
Now we’re rolling! We really started taking this publication seriously at the beginning of this year, now we’re over 1,000 followers and counting. It took us this long to figure out what we’re doing, but now we know so watch out. We’re about to turn it all the way up.
A big THANK YOU to all of you who’ve jumped on this ride. CRY will continue to fulfil its vision of inspiring and educating creatives. The emotional is just as important as the technical when it comes to creating anything, so we express both sides of the journey at CRY.
Small token of appreciation: Kern has discounted his novel BEAUTY SCARS. Only .99 cents for the ebook and $9.99 for the softcover.
Thank you one more time :) Even better content to come.
CRY
PREVIOUS LETTERS
Writers — Is Instagram your hope of making it big?Start with a chapbook — suggestions for first-time authorsPOSTS
What I’ve learned self-publishing two booksTo make money writing, you have to make concessions
1,000 followers for CRY Mag! was originally published in C.R.Y on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
October 10, 2019
A photography book isn’t reserved for Rihanna
There are so many creative ways to put out a book. In one of our earlier letters, we talk about chapbooks being a cool way to tell your story. Photography books are another creative means for expressing yourself through books.
Rihanna recently put out her own photography book, but you don’t need to be a celebrity for people to care. Approach it like any other project — quality images, a narrative that connects with readers' emotions, and some unique perspective that makes your story stand out.
CRY
PREVIOUS LETTERS
Will the Nobel prize for literature redeem itself?New trend alert — Ghostwriters are moving to fictionRead BEAUTY SCARS by Kern Carter.
A photography book isn’t reserved for Rihanna was originally published in C.R.Y on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
October 9, 2019
October 7, 2019
Will the Nobel prize for literature redeem itself
The Nobel prize for literature was cancelled last year for the first time in 70 years. That’s mainly because of the sexual assault allegations and the eventual two-year rape sentence of Jean Claude Arnolt. That doesn’t even take into consideration that the Swedish Academy, who is responsible for picking the literary winner for the Nobel prize, has historically been less than open-minded when it comes to diversifying the selections (basically very male and very white).
All that could change this year. The announcing of the literary prize happens this Thursday, October 10 (The other announcements begin Monday, October 7). There’ll be two winners to make up for last year. Writers believed to be in the running include Margaret Atwood, Olga Tokarczuk, Maryse Conde and Haruki Murakami.
Let’s see what happens.
CRY
PREVIOUS LETTERS
New trend alert — Ghostwriters are moving to fictionWhy are libraries and publishers beefing?BLOG POSTS
What I’ve learned self-publishing two booksDownplaying — on gaining more confidenceRead my novel BEAUTY SCARS
Will the Nobel prize for literature redeem itself was originally published in C.R.Y on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
October 3, 2019
New trend alert — Ghostwriters are moving to fiction
I’ve done my share of ghostwriting books and all of them have been non-fiction or memoirs. That’s where the money is and that’s where it’s been long before I got in the game.
But now there’s a trend of people coming to ghostwriters hoping to pump out a fiction book. It’s another opportunity for freelance writers to express their creativity and earn an income.
Here’s an article that details the movement towards fiction.
CRY
PREVIOUS LETTERS
Why are libraries and publishers beefing?Writers — is Instagram your hope of making it big?BLOG POSTS
What I’ve learned self-publishing two booksWrite through your tearsRead my novel BEAUTY SCARS
New trend alert — Ghostwriters are moving to fiction was originally published in C.R.Y on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
October 2, 2019
September 30, 2019
Why are libraries and publishers beefing?
This is a bit disturbing. Some libraries are at odds with publishers for what I imagine they see as a mistreatment of their readers. Macmillan Publishers are the latest target of the libraries. Macmillan is restricting libraries to purchasing one ebook and one audiobook for the first eight weeks after a new release.
While this specific action is exclusive to Macmillan, other publishers have taken steps to protect their bottom line. Hachette now requires that libraries renew orders on ebook and audiobook purchases every two years. Simon and Schuster did the same but only for audiobooks. Previously, libraries only had to make an initial purchase that would be good for life.
I’m always going to side with writers, but I feel like publishers and libraries need to work this out. At the end of the day, both of these institutions have an obligation to the reader, which is the one variable we can all agree on.
Let’s hope this ends before someone gets a papercut.
CRY
Read my novel BEAUTY SCARS
PREVIOUS LETTERS
Get your facts rightWattpad has started launching booksBLOG POSTS
DownplayingMy writing life vs my real life
Why are libraries and publishers beefing? was originally published in C.R.Y on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
September 25, 2019
Get your facts right!
Writers, let’s be leaders in this area. With all the fake news stuff happening, there’s an opportunity for us to bring some truth to these conversations. But that means we need to be harder on ourselves. We need to do the work to find the facts of a situation BEFORE we make our opinion public.
My feeling is that more and more people are taking what they read with a grain of salt. If we can produce content that is based on a foundation of research and not simply emotion, we can establish ourselves as reliable sources of valid information.
Obviously, I’m not referring to any fictional writing or poetry. Imagine your heart away when you’re creating those stories. But we have these wonderful platforms to share our thoughts. Let’s use them responsibly.
CRY
Get your facts right! was originally published in C.R.Y on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
