Tag: authors

3 Reasons I am Not a Professional Author

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I strive to implement levels of professionalism in everything that I do whether it includes monetary compensation or not. In which case people who know me are already familiar with my level of organization and from that end, professionalism. However, I do not consider myself a professional author in the traditional sense of the word. Here’s why:

I’ve heard my share of advice from author blogs, books, tweets, Facebook, Twitter, articles, the list goes on and on (and on). I’ve taken valuable advice under my wing and even incorporated some into my day to day schedule and strategic writing techniques since it is, after all, wise to consider the advice of others. But the truth is that I will never be a professional author because my writing process is not the same as what is perpetuated in the mainstream.

The professional says:

  • Use the same business name across all accounts. This is the easiest way to brand yourself and to get people used to associating you with that name.

Makes sense, but I totally transgressed this rule! My blog, author website, and social media sites, for the most part, all have different names which I heard is bad. To balance this, I have taken to using one picture to represent every account. This photo you see associated with this blog will probably never change because it’s attached to all of my accounts: My personal Facebook Page, Twitter, Blog, IG, You Tube, LinkedIn, etc. I believe images are a strong form of communication and that many people have already become used to seeing this picture and associating it with Yecheilyah Ysrayl. I have also taken to using the same email address to represent these accounts across the board (with a few exceptions).

The professional says:

  • Plan out your book before you write it. Create an outline for your new masterpiece.

Umm, I think I’ll just go ahead and skip this step. I do not write outlines before each book. I just write and organize as I go along. Once I start to build on a story idea and start to write and develop some kind of form to the story, then I know what it is I need to research or the books I need to read for better clarity of this particular genre. It only makes sense to me that you write something down first and get an idea of how the story will develop, only then will you be able to clearly see what kind of information you will need for this story and can thus move on from there. For instance, its not until I start writing the story that I am able to create a Family Tree of my characters.

I know, I just said something else different didn’t I? Yes, a family tree. I found it easiest to organize my characters (after I’ve written about them) using a Family Tree. I’ll speak more about this in a separate post, but after I’ve written the characters into the story to some extent, I sit back and think about how to better develop them as real people. Not just by way of physical attributes (ethnicity, hair, eyes, relationships, persona, etc.), but also lineage. Where did this person come from? I do this by using a Family Tree, which can be created easily using Microsoft Word. The reason I choose this method is because the one rotating around blogs and professional websites is boring to me. (You know, that long list of questions you ask yourself about the people in your story: Hair:__________ Eyes:_________ Nose Shape________ …just kill me now). Not to mention I’m a visual learner. I have to see it to better understand it and laying out the family in this way helps me to accomplish this. Far as outlines go for the entire story, the first draft is the outline.

The professional says:

  • Stick to one specific genre.

I write in whatever genre the story that just popped into my head falls in. I heard this is a no no. According to the rules, in order to brand yourself it’s important to stay within a certain genre because it’s easy to become known for it. But in my opinion, brains don’t work like that. Well, at least mine doesn’t. What am I gonna say, “Sorry totally awesome story idea, I can’t use you right now because your Sci-Fi and I only write Romance”. That’s like telling me to write one kind of poem. Yea, that’s probably never going to happen. I mean sure, every idea is not meant to be built on. Some of them should just stay ideas until it is time for that idea to be brought forward. However, because the creative mind is not one dimensional, I find it hard to believe that I can force my thoughts to only create stories that appeal to one category.

The truth is that I will probably never do exactly as the professionals say do. If the world says this is how it is to be done, you can rest assured that chances are Yecheilyah’s over here doing something completely different…and maybe even a little weird. 🙂

Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Anais Nin

My Writer’s Quote Wednesday author of choice for today is Anais Nin, her words speak truth:

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I don’t have much to add here; the quote pretty much speaks for itself. What are words without a voice? Let who you are be the inspiration to put pen to paper. What is it that you want to say? If your an author it is not something that just sprung upon you, it is something that’s already inside of you. So let the inherent talent speak.

About The Author:

Mirages: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1939–1947

Anaïs Nin was an author born to Cuban parents in France, where she was also raised. She spent some time in Spain and Cuba but lived most of her life in the United States where she became an established author.

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And that’s it for this week’s episode of Writer’s Quote Wednesday. Don’t forget to check it out, you know what to do ; )

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Being of Service

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I’m no expert, but I do know that writing is a unique career. It’s the same as other businesses, and yet it is not the same. It requires the same level of dedication, professionalism, and hard work. However, it is also a lot different than lets say, selling your neighbor a bar of soap.

Reading takes a lot of time. It is on a level that is a lot more personal. Readers actually get very sensitive when it comes to buying a book that sucked than buying a bar of soap that also sucks. People are also easily bored these days, so as authors we have to constantly keep our ears to the ground, discovering what’s trending and what’s throwback. It is for this reason that readers tend to find an author they love and stick to him or her. If you’re that author, great, but the story does not always end this way. As I thought about this, I started to really think, not about selling books, but being of service. As I babysat these thoughts, I ran across some great advice from one of my subscription blogs:

“Don’t SELL to your readers, SERVE them. With the changing dynamic between readers and writers, authors need to listen, gather knowledge about readers, foster communications, collaborate, and build long-term relationships.”

We have to be realistic. Authors are constantly told not to sell. But full time authors, those who don’t hold secondary positions elsewhere or receive money from additional sources, have bills to pay, food to put on the table, and needs that require monetary investment. So we can’t just tell writers that they should not sell their books no more than we can tell bloggers not to get excited over new readers. Despite how we gloss it up, the reality is that an author’s end goal is to sell you this book. But here is where being of service comes in:

For me personally, anything that I bring into my space should teach me something. This just means it should advance me in some way. Will it make me laugh? Cry? Think? Discover? Will it inform me? Teach me? Show me? What does this book, more than any other book, do for me? This is the same way that I look at Blogging. I am more than likely to bond with blogs that have something to offer.

Now, back to soap:

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When you’re selling soap, I want to know that it’s because the benefits of this particular soap outweigh Irish Springs; not just because you’re trying to make a quick buck. If you can convince me that your product is of some significance to my life and you can back this up, then I will be more than happy to become a dedicated supporter. I have enough sense to know that you have bills to pay, but I also see that your purpose is bigger than dead presidents on paper.  Why does this matter to authors?

Because people want to matter.

I believe this is true in everything that we do, and not just writing. But specifically, the first clue to readers that they matter, is the amount of hard work we put into the end product. Our professionalism, or lack thereof, speaks volumes far before these books hit the shelves. So I just want to encourage my writers out there to do the best you can, because it doesn’t get any better than your best. And I believe this is the difference between selling a product and being of service to the people. Readers (and bloggers) want to know that they are getting something out of the process. So I wouldn’t say don’t sell to your readers, instead I would just say to be of service to them.

Writer’s Quote Wednesday – George Orwell

For today’s segment of Writer’s Quote Wednesday, I take inspiration from George Orwell:

 

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“When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, ‘I am going to produce a work of art.’ I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention (to)….” —George Orwell

I think this is a great way to sit down and write a book or article or poem. If you think more about your purpose for this particular piece, or you engage and have fun with the writing process in general, then I think you will unintentionally create something unique. Because you’ve put your all into it, you have the potential to create something really beautiful and powerful for readers. I do not believe the best songs were built under the notion that they will become hits, they were just written from the heart and that’s what makes them great. Anyone can write a book, poem, or sing a song, but when you can feel the passion, really feel it, and you know that it’s truly coming from the heart, that’s what makes it art.

About The Author:

I was first introduced to Orwell about seven or eight years ago when I read his book, 1984. I wouldn’t say he’s my favorite author but I did enjoy the book. At a time where I was just coming into a proper understanding of both myself and the world around me, it was an enlightening read.

Orwell was born June 25, 1903 in Bengal, India. His birth name was Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, and he was a novelist, essayist and critic who went on to become best known for his novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Speaking of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the title sounds like a throwback to us, like something old but for Orwell it was the future. He wrote 1984 back in 1949. In short, it is a look into the future of the world which is divided into three nations. In the story, Orwell gives us a look into what would happen if the Government controlled every aspect of a person’s life, all the way down to his private thoughts. It was the first time, before Minority Report (the movie), that I had ever heard of something called thought crime.

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And that’s it for my portion of Writer’s Quote Wednesday. As always, don’t forget to check out the links or the pic to see how you can join the fun. Don’t forget to also Like or Comment on the post of other participants. You get support by giving it :).

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5 Horrible Mistakes Self Published Authors Make

Saw this on twitter, thought I’d share. These are some good points:

The Following is by Laurence O’Bryan:

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Self publishing is a golden opportunity. For the first time in history authors can reach readers without going through the traditional publishing system.

But many self published authors are making horrible, beginner-type-mistakes, which will cripple their book sales. Here’s my take on these mistakes:

1. Not getting outside help. Writers can’t generally be editors, cover designers and marketing experts, as well as being writers. Not if they want to do these jobs well. And asking a relative or close friend to do these jobs for you is probably worse than doing it yourself. Your judgement typically goes out the window when someone close to you does something for you. If you won’t spend money on getting experts your sales will be poor. I know there are occasional exceptions to this, but they only prove the rule.

2. Having unrealistic expectations. Most books, up to ten years ago, sold hundreds of copies. Only 1 in 300 traditionally published books, which got good editing, covers and marketing support, became bestsellers in the past. Publishing became a giant game of throw-it-up and see-what-sticks. With printed books it became ever growing and almost criminally wasteful, when you consider the dirty secret that most of the books you see in book stores are destined to be pulped. Now that game is in decline. If you do get editing, covers and marketing right, you might expect reasonable sales, but publishing is always a gamble, so never risk more than you can afford to lose. Great books don’t always sell well. And Print on Demand is way better than ordering books to store in a front room and then a back room – forever.

3. Not building an email list of people who might be willing to read and review your book on Amazon. This is one of the main reasons traditional publishers take so long to publish a book. They often send review copies out to a large group of their reviewers three months in advance of publication. This policy ensures that positive reviews will be posted day one after the book goes up on Amazon. Self-published authors should consider the day a book goes live on Amazon as a soft launch. The day you have five reviews is the day your book gets launched. The day you have ten is when it can hold its head up. The day it has fifty is the day you can expect Amazon’s algorithms to start presenting it to readers near the top of a list of books someone searched for. Congratulations!

4. Not focusing on what makes your book different. Whatever you write, you need to find something unique about your book. That you’ve written a good me-too book, like many others in its genre, is simply not good enough, unless you are happy with poor sales. Sensational writing, words that jump from a page, a heart-stopping plot, and real recipes from your grandmother in a village in Sardinia, where many people live to be 100, are all potentially unique aspects of a book, which will help you find readers.

5. Not believing in yourself. Self-belief is critical to long-term success as a writer, as in many walks of life.  Writing is a profession where those who believe they can and who don’t give up, succeed. Perseverance and a willingness to learn, to edit the whole book again, for the twenty-seventh time, are necessary characteristics for a writer who is determined to become a success. Adopt these characteristics and your path will open up. In the past, it took most writers about ten years to find a publisher, from starting to write. Each year was spent improving, honing, learning. Be prepared for a long journey. If you love being creative with words, don’t give up because the road is hard. Use the journey to prepare for what lies ahead.

Finally, when you have done all of the above, you will know that you can move on. To the next book. And then the one after. Most books lead to another. One of the joys of writing is discovering what else lies inside us, waiting to be born.