World, Writing, Wealth discussion
All Things Writing & Publishing
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What's your message to the world?
John wrote: "There's quite a few indie authors I know that make a steady income from their books to make them quit their jobs and write full time...."You have successful friends then. Maybe I've just seen too many threads like "Books not selling? Feeling confused?" in other groups -:). Hope most authors here will join the ranks of good-sellers and those who already are - those of best
Success as an indie seems to come from volume and consistency. Sure, there are people that sell 400 copies of their debut novel per month right off the bat, but that's still not enough money to live on. But multiply that by 5 or 6 and you're talking decent, if supplemental, income.
Ian wrote: My view is, press the publish button. You have done the work, and assuming you are reasonably pleased with the outcome, what is the point of not publishing? Until it is available for others to see, all you have done is make marks on paper, or even worse, no real marks on "not paper". My view has always been, "I have done as well as I can right now. Publish!" If others don't like it, so be it. "I was very grateful to receive this advice when I did. You can drag it out for months/years/never-publish-at-all if you get stuck on the small things.
My books deal with contrast and prejudice in social class, nationality, and religion as it was in 1915 America. My message to the world is that no matter where you fall in these categories, or how rich or poor you are, the human condition applies to us all. I may be stating the obvious by this, but to see it played out between characters in a historical setting can be both entertaining and thought-provoking.
Joe wrote: "Success as an indie seems to come from volume and consistency. Sure, there are people that sell 400 copies of their debut novel per month right off the bat, but that's still not enough money to liv..."the new midlist is self-publishing--as opposed to the ones that used to be w/the big 6. or maybe also the smaller, independent publishers?
Unless a writer has sold in millions, it is never enough to cope with the rising cost of living.
Nik wrote: "John wrote: "You have successful friends then. Maybe I've just seen too many threads like "Books not selling? Feeling confused?" in other groups -:). Hope most authors here will join the ranks of good-sellers and those who already are - those of best"Try going on the kboards forums, I regularly see helpful posts from bestselling authors like Wayne Stinnett and Mark Dawson in there. They started out as nobodies but through hard work and perseverance they made it.
John wrote: "Try going on the kboards forums"u mean kboards.com, right? good tip. a published novelist friend of mine recommended that too.
Nik wrote: "Wonder where a poverty line lies, whether, for example, a family with an annual income of 50K can afford decent living?..."Depends on where you live as cost of living varies wildly from state-to-state, never mind between cities and towns.
Had seen a comparison a few years ago where based solely on cost of living, someone living in poverty in Mississippi was better off than someone with a middle-class income living in Manhattan. Of course that ignores things like job opportunities, "quality" of life, and everything else that makes one location better than another, but the point was to show how drastically different costs can be in this country.
In case someone wanted to share his/her message, I thought I'd remind where it'd be best to pronounce it -:)
Things aren't always as they seem. Question everything. Racism comes from ignorance and ignorance is bad. Try to work through your limitations. Friends and family are important.
I do put messages to the world in my novels, but I suspect they are sufficiently well disguised that nobody notices them :-(On the other hand, there is little less effective in sending a message than writing a novel and suddenly inserting a sermon!
(My goodness - only just now discovered this thread...)My message is simple - Vampires Suck!
But on closer examination perhaps my story is a metaphor about how different elites secretly war to gain sufficient control of the "Great Game" to be able to set the rules (master the Metaframe), and establish new paradigms that fit their own agendas.
Perhaps the Vampire Dominion is a metaphor of crypto-feudalism that represents the top 1000 families/clans that have enough wealth and power to dictate policy in the world.
Perhaps a vampire drinking blood is a metaphor of the extraction of labor value from humans who are powerless to resist.
Perhaps the Order of Thoth are a metaphor of human exemplars who stand for the value of our common humanity against an implacable foe.
Perhaps Shadowstone and their operations are a metaphor for the co-option of the machinery of government and the press to the services of private elites.
It's been my experience so far that there are many interpretations of what I write and I truly believe that is a good thing.
Graeme, I agree that different interpretations are great, because at least readers are thinking about what you wrote. For me, the beauty of the novel as an art form is that the reader can form his own interpretation, and when a reader sees something I was hoping they would see, this makes me feel really good about things.
In my case my literary earnings are charity money for Medecine Sans Frontier. Any monies earned from Moirae or Snapshots go straight to them from the publisher. I don't see a cent. This is what I've asked my publisher to do.
Hi Mehreen, that is very generous of you. MSF do fine work under dangerous circumstances. They suffer casualties far too often.
Graeme wrote: "Hi Mehreen, that is very generous of you. MSF do fine work under dangerous circumstances. They suffer casualties far too often."Yes, I have great respect for them.
Mehreen wrote: "Graeme wrote: "Hi Mehreen, that is very generous of you. MSF do fine work under dangerous circumstances. They suffer casualties far too often."Yes, I have great respect for them."
that is a noble cause.
Alex G wrote: "Mehreen wrote: "Graeme wrote: "Hi Mehreen, that is very generous of you. MSF do fine work under dangerous circumstances. They suffer casualties far too often."Yes, I have great respect for them."..."
Thank you Alex. God knows there are people out there that need help.
My message is about equality. I hate inequality. I found it throughout my life in all of its forms. I would say this is my ever-present message I write about. I understand the situation. It's all about joining the club. But, within the Club, you have rank. It doesn't mean the person is less or greater or has seniority, it means power. Who has the most power. Who has the most pull. Often times it means money.
I'm not agains these rankings. But, what I'm against is a good idea, a qualified person, a just situation is often ignored for the condition it faces.
I could go on and on all day long about this. I've seen a lot in my 80 years. What it comes down to, life is made up of the Peter Principle: A person succeeds to level of his/hers ineptness.
Graeme wrote: "(My goodness - only just now discovered this thread...)My message is simple - Vampires Suck!..."
It's because it was dormant far down and I just woke it up -:)
Cool message and allegories ...
Mehreen wrote: "In my case my literary earnings are charity money for Medecine Sans Frontier. Any monies earned from Moirae or Snapshots go straight to them from the publisher. I don't see a cent. This is what I'v..."That's quite a noble message in itself
GR wrote: "My message is about equality. I hate inequality. ...What it comes down to, life is made up of the Peter Principle: A person succeeds to level of his/hers ineptness."
Equality is a very nice word unfortunately - for something ephemeral and non-existent at least in economic sense in most parts of the world.
Peter's principle seems pretty accurate in climbing payroll career ladder. Not sure, it applies well into biz, art and self-employed niche..
Nik wrote: "It's because it was dormant far down and I just woke it up -:) Cool message and allegories..."Thanks Nik.
Graeme wrote: "(My goodness - only just now discovered this thread...)"Me too.
I wrote to get the words out of my head and keep my fingers busy. Rambling, sometimes repetitive and huge volume. Out of curiosity I tried a beta reader and she slaughtered it, rightly. Since I'd nothing better to do I thought I'd try and make some of it readable, more as an exercise in keeping myself occupied (medically retired and relatively immobile). When I thought I'd got it right, I tried again.
Right style, wrong subject. In sheer annoyance I wrote a book from scratch, (back story to another) and the betas liked it.
I still had no intention of publishing, ever. When Entrada asked me if they could publish, I dithered. As my daughter pointed out, you may as well say yes, so I chose a pen name. One year later and next week the 6th book goes to them for publication.
I'm not after the money (though I wouldn't say no :-) and I've no message, except that there may be one. After all, all those words came from someplace.
I write and then ask if Entrada want it, I don't write with publishing in mind. If they ever say no, the book will simply stay on my computer.
As far as profit is concerned, I pay to have books beta read several times, and full edited more than once. That takes care of any income. If folk are gonna see it, I'd rather get it right.
Looking back at this, I should be some rich dilettante. Seem to have missed the rich bit :-) After all the reasons for writing, maybe mine is like the mountain climbing quote. Because the opportunity is there.
I don't know what my message to the world is going to be in my books yet. I want to have some messages, because I want my books to inspire my readers just like the Harry Potter series did. But I don't know what the messages will be yet.
I'm of the kind that feel compelled to write. So, I started writing my tips to help others like myself kick bad spending habits. Then I researched how to make good investments and felt stupid for having fallen into a few traps so I wrote How to Control Your Financial Destiny. Even in my marketing book, I am trying to help others understand and manage their money better and not fall into the traps of letting others do it all for them.Coming back now to my original struggle with the relationship and emotions around money, I published in print / Kindle, 'Create your New Life of Abundance'. (Giveaway). I would love a few reviews to judge the feedback of my books, as it is tough to know how people have learned from them.
While there is still time, avoid procrastination!
Nice and practical messages - Jennifer and Priti!
Any more messages here for humankind to digest?
Mine is the same as I was taught by the great Bill and Ted: "Be excellent to each other." --Jen from Quebec :0)
Share society's surplus, which is the worth of Earth. Redirect our spending for land and resources from the 1% into the pockets of all Earthlings. Sort of like Alaska's oil dividend or Singapore's Citizen's Dividend.
A lot of message and some questions there. The main question seems to be, 'Why do we write?' I hinted at this in my inaugural blog on my website (www.penpowerwriting.com) when I equated it to the cave drawings of Cro Magnon, twenty thousand years ago. Then I believe drawing was another way of communicating what we observe. Perhaps, if they then had language the artists might have written instead of drawing. I think writing is not much different from talking; we can't help it. It's who we are. Messages? I suspect the worst advice one could give to someone who is trying to write is that 'messages' is the biggest turn off to the reader.
But if I have a message to the world it must be; Stop it, I want to get off
Maybe not "the reader", P.K., but American readers or modern readers. Used to be, "and the moral of the story is" was quite popular. Stories weren't solely titillation, but had some meat on their bones. Some of us still enjoy insights. Has to be well-written. But that holds true for all stories.
P.K., would you like to help each other in any way? Like put our books on each other's shelves? Review each other's books? (I'm not here at GR and still feeling my way around.) Best,
Sure, Jeffery. That would be good. I'm as raw as you are regarding GR but together we might conquer it all. I'll use your Contact link Regards
Writing is the most silent and most far-reaching form of communication which allows us to introspect before putting up our ideas in front of the world and sharing our feelings with the outside world. It can be cathartic for some writers, commercial for some others, confessional for some others, fictional and fantasy-indulging for some others, thrillers for some others, etc. But the common thing about writing is to prove that mind (from which writing originates) has maximum power which can dominate our bodies and spirits easily. And one day we will find that only writing can take human experience on earth to an extremely civilized, divine and highly technological level in which we will be sharing our thoughts simultaneously with millions of others with far more advanced minds of human beings working like parallel computers and digesting hundreds of words from hundreds of sources in a jiffy. Writing is a big and the most civilized kind of human achievement.
Jeffery wrote: "Share society's surplus..."Like this one!
PARESH wrote: "Writing is the most silent and most far-reaching form of communication which allows us to introspect before putting up our ideas in front of the world and sharing our feelings with the outside world...."Well said, Paresh, although the outside world often pretends to be deaf.. -:)
There are multiple messages in my stories, one of the key ones is that only great sacrifice will overcome great evil.
Paresh, Messaging in writing is not the same as some influence that might be taken onboard by the reader from the events or characterisation of the piece. Writing to get a message across is really just the force of someone's ego. The world has seen a lot of evil (and still does) from people trying to force their prejudices on others. Take some passages from the Koran for instance, or Mein Kampf. There is nothing civilizing or civilised about them.And, at best, writing can only reflect human experience, not invent it. If you or anyone else want to 'get a message across to the world' get into politics or preach on the streets where people can consider your ideas and either agree or shoot them down.
There have been many great writers or scribes in the last three thousand years but the world is still in a mess and getting worse.
Nik, why are you up and awake at (?) 3am? Is it that whiskey again?
P.K. wrote: "Nik, why are you up and awake at (?) 3am? Is it that whiskey again?"Just beer from yesterday, however it 10 am here, as I'm at GMT + 3 time zone -:)
Well, Pk. I told you that writing is the most silent form of communication which allows us time to introspect. In such a case, ego is kept at a minimum level because readers have equal time to introspect and reciprocate. Whereas politicians and other such leaders rely on weapons and machines which are slowly taking away freedom and desires of human civilization. Writing can be the only thought provoking and harmless form of weapon to express one's feelings in a democratic manner. Regarding ego and bad writers, it is the duty of readers to reject them. You see no system in the world is perfect. God likes things that way.
Nik, I thought you were in NY?Paresh, writing might be introspective but its effect can be anything but introspective and readers might get to kicking their cat or dogs while reading. Politicians' first weapon is words before the words get to firing machines. The point is, words can have lasting effects (see my post; www.penpowerwriting.com - power to the people. I try to demonstrate it there) Therefore, words are sometimes not harmless and if someone uses them to do harm they are damaging.
Good writers too have ego's and infact, use them to better effect than bad writers. If God has anything to do with it we wouldn't be writing or reading at all; we'd be leading the sort of life that the Islamist Fundamentalists want everyone to lead.
Don't know why I hadn't chipped into this thread before.I have several messages to the world varying in mood
Go away...
Please read my stuff better still please buy my stuff
I'm brilliant - why can't you see that
What world?
There is a saying that a soldier who doesn't dream of becoming a general is a bad..."
Every writer wants a bestseller, but my expectations are more realistic than that- if it happens then thats great, if not then as long as I make a small income then thats fine too. There's quite a few indie authors I know that make a steady income from their books to make them quit their jobs and write full time.