Writing a Book

Best Young Adult Authors!

2012-04-30T07:36:00.000-07:00

Best Young Adult Authors

The greatest authors literature isn't always the same thing as the greatest readers literature and literature isn't something young people enjoy to read. Goodreads has a fairly good list for readers who are looking for young adult books that are popular. What I would like to see, is a list of best young adult authors who are selling their books for $0.99. Does anyone know of something like this?What I enjoy most, regarding popular young adult authors is that they rarely are authors writing to an author. What young adult authors seem keenly aware of is how to write books for their audience regardless of what other authors think.

The Best Price Point For New Authors!

I still think the best price point for authors looking to have their first novel published online is $0.99. A number of author’s want to start higher because they earn more money, but $0.99 is a fair price for readers who are looking to take a risk on an author with no publishing history. If the author proves successful they can price their second book for a higher price and earn the greater share at that point. I think this really provides a win-win for both parties involved.

Writing creative stories is something that comes easy for some people, but regardless of how easy the initial draft flows from a person’s mind the work that is involved in editing the manuscript should always take the bulk of one’s time. This is particularly true if the young adult author is new and unknown, in this case editing should be superbly done with a sharp eye. Authors that sell their first books at $0.99 should do so with the same amount of time spent on editing their work as authors who sell their books for $10.99. It’s about pride, it’s about craftsmanship, and more importantly, it’s about building a brand.

Should I write a book? Should I publish a book after I've written it? I find myself asking the later of these questions hundreds of times. I've written a great deal, the only thing that has stopped me from publishing is the thought of how much I've poured myself into it and how reluctant I am to let anyone else read it into those ideas. So, I've never been that keen on overexposing myself. How about you? Whether you desire to be one of the next big young adult authors, or a writer of some other genre, have you ever thought about being an author? If so, what have you done about it?

Finding Great Success as an Author Writing!

2012-04-26T07:04:00.000-07:00

Published authors like JR Konrath have proved that the traditional publishing route isn't always the best route for authors, even after they have received a publishing deal. Other than his blog and a short story or two, I haven’t read Konrath so I can’t personally attest to his skill as a writer. His sales, however, do a really good job at attesting to his skill as an internet marketer.

Literature writers aren’t the same as the eBook writing phenomena that we see today, self-marketing their way to top sales. Instead of worrying too much about content, successful writer’s today seem to worry a great deal more about marketing. However, it is impossible to box these writers into a single category because self-published authors have to be great business people, while also being decent writers (at the very least).

Authors of literature, who focus on getting published the traditional way, don’t require the same business acumen as serious authors today. Writers like Konrath, who openly rage out against the BIG 6 publishing houses on his blog, all the while touting his success in selling over 800,000 e-books while simultaneously boasting of personal earnings of more than $100,000 in three weeks.

Perhaps Konrath is one of those literature authors who are also great self-marketers, but I find it hard to believe that literature is selling as fast as pop culture. This isn’t a personal attack against Konrath. Konrath’s successes should be admired, regardless of whether a person finds his work subjectively gratifying. The man has done a fabulous job marketing his work on the internet and everyone would do themselves a favor by learning from him.

People who are looking to self-publish for the first time should find a few people who have successfully accomplished what they want to attain and model their efforts after them. Beyond attending writing workshops, authors should take classes and work just as hard trying to learn how to market their name as a brand as they work to turn their words into a great story.

What are the names of some of the authors that you know of who have mastered the art of marketing themselves online?

Writing Creative Fiction: What People Want!

2012-04-23T06:13:00.000-07:00

Writing Creative Fiction

If you’re a writer, you've probably asked yourself ‘how do I get a novel published,’ about a million times. Although getting published the traditional route is still highly difficult, the internet has made it a lot easier to publish yourself. Self-publishing is a great option for those having difficulty going the traditional route. The ease publishing, however, just makes the difficulty of self-marketing that much harder.

So ‘how do you get a novel published’ these days anyhow? Well, if you’re not opposed to the self-published route Amazon is probably the largest platform to sell your digital book to the masses. If you’re looking to self-publish Amazon does a great job explaining the process.

Write books, edit books, and publish books these are a writer’s goals. Getting to this destination, however, can be reached by a number of different routes, the best route is always whatever is the ‘best route for you.’ Bearing this in mind, self publishing will provide every writer with a greater deal of control than they otherwise would have if they published their books the more traditional route. However, self-publishing comes with the burden of having to develop a stronger personal marketing approach, and that can be tricky.

Becoming a Successful Author Online!

Moreover, if you are looking to be one of the next bestselling authors in literature, you might find publishing online to be a slow route to sales. It seems that most of the $0.99 books that are sold on Amazon are pop culture books, books that one would be hard pressed to define as literature.

Getting your novel published is a very important step, but in the self-publishing arena it’s just as important for you to MARKET your book, and this can prove to be a daunting feat. Attempting to market and advertise online is like trying to get a discount at the DMV, it’s nearly impossible.

If you’re a first time author and you’re looking to sell your work, instead of writing for writers you need to be writing for readers. This means you need to decide early on who the audience is that you are reaching out to. Instead of trying to write America’s next greatest novel you need to do your research and find out what type of books are selling in the market you are trying to enter. Unfortunately, when you do this you’ll probably have to lower the quality of your writing to be noticed but you'll still have to spend a great deal of time editing. If you're a first time author, what are some of the biggest hurdles you've had to face?

Online Writing Tips: Over 1Million E-books Sold!

2012-04-19T06:07:00.000-07:00

Online Writing Tips

I was at Walgreens a while back and I saw JohnLocke’s ‘Wish List’ for sale. I had read a little about Locke online, and how he had sold over a million eBooks in 5 months. Astounding record! I figured I’d give his book a try.

Usually I’m into urban fantasy book series, and not so much into pop culture books with ridiculous plotlines, but I read Locke’s book anyway. I spent $4.99 on it, so I immediately had buyer’s remorse knowing that I could have only spent $0.99 on the book at Amazon, and that got me thinking.

The Internet Publishing Approach

Internet publishing really has changed things. I didn’t particularly like Locke’s book, but it wasn’t because the editing was poor, it was just because it wasn’t my kind of book. I was able to read through quickly, at 215 pages I read in just a few hours. I really did enjoy the pace of it. When I finished reading it, however, instead of thinking about the book’s content I was thinking about the $0.99 book phenomenon.

Regardless whether someone is looking to publish their own book or be a ghostwriter for someone else, the $0.99 pricing model is a great way for readers to discover new authors they might not otherwise try. Of course this brings up a number of concerns for readers.

Unlike ghostwriting, where another person will likely edit the book before publishing it, people looking to quickly write a book to publish it online may not put a lot of effort in the editing stages, especially if they plan to sell it for $0.99. This is unfortunate for everyone involved.

Great Novels Require Great Editing!

Instead of simply write publish, one must always write, EDIT, and then publish. Even if a person plans to sell their book for $0.99, authors must understand that their name and their writings compose the brand they are developing. When a reader purchases a $0.99 novel and it turns out to be an unedited piece of garbage, this reader is highly deterred from ever going this route again. All this does is work to deteriorate a market.

When authors write to publish in this fashion they hurt the market for the unknown talented authors looking to get noticed. What I would like to see is a list of $0.99 authors that are extremely talented, as well as a list of $0.99 authors who aren’t. If anyone knows of a list like this, please let me know.

I would also like to see any publications on ‘how to write and publish’ specifically for the internet. There seems to be a number of options for digital publishing novelists, and I would be curious to know the success for people, comparatively, regarding all the multiple platforms that exist for people.

Talented creative writing fiction authors, who haven’t yet been discovered, should have an opportunity to provide readers with their work for a low cost to readers, without giving it away for free. This brings up another interesting point. Do authors who provide their novels for free find success in increasing their readership compared to those who sell their novels for $0.99? If you have any information regarding this I’d really like to know.

Creative Writing: What's the Standard of Quality for the $0.99 Novel

2012-04-16T04:51:00.001-07:00

Creative Writing

Every creative writing project is a laborious act and in my experience the novel is the most laborious of them all. To make the process easier, I've worked on honing my process. I’m not exactly sure how other writers do it, but I imagine other writers have a process as well. My writer’s process is fairly thorough but, as rigorous as some aspects of it are, there is still a big part of it that I've left improvisational so that I don’t feel boxed in by a robotic routine.

I've been writing for quite some time but, I've always written for myself. Initially, I never intended my work to be read, I poured so much of myself into my novels that the very thought of people reading my work frightened me. The fear had more to do with allowing someone to access a part of my mind that I've only lived in before, than it had to do with what they'd actually find. In the last few weeks, however, I've decided to start publishing my creative writing.

The Self-Publishing Process

In the last few weeks I've spent a lot of time researching the self-publishing process. Lately I've read quite a bit on the topic, including a number of blogs written by a variety of writers. Hands down every writer recommends aspiring writers to read as much as they can. This is essential for me as well, not just to optimize my writing but to optimize my life.

One of the first things that finally motivated me to publish my novels were the stories of the outliers. Who wouldn't find Amanda Hockings' tale and John Locke’s journey motivating? Sure, they're the exception to the rule. I know they're not the norm, but in doesn't stop them from being inspiring. I am adopting Amanda Hockings pricing model once I start publishing at the end of this month. Her model appears intelligent to me, and I've recognized a number of other people have adopted it as well.

The $0.99 eBook!

I will admit, however, that I lacked confidence in the online publishing model for some time. I feared that an eBook priced at$0.99 would likely be of low quality discouraging people from purchasing it. Writing a novel is such a labor of love, that I found it hard to believe that people would sell their quality novels for $0.99. This assumption I've made curbed me from purchasing a $0.99 eBook from Amazon for awhile. Nonetheless I grew curious. A few weeks ago I was in Walgreens and I noticed John Locke's book, Wish List for sale. Normally I wouldn't have purchased this novel, but I spent the $4.99 on it anyhow.

Before I traded cash at the register for the 215 page paper back, I logged on my iPhone and read the reviews for Wish List. The reviews were overwhelmingly positive so I took a chance. When I got home I opened up the book and breathed in the new book, a smell I love so much.

I finished Wish List in a little over three hours. Unfortunately, I was happy to be finished with it.

The book had a quick tempo that I appreciated but the book was weak in a number of ways. I'll write a formal review of this book in the near future. Unfortunately, I found the story to be a thin stream of drivel and less creative than a corpse. Thankfully, it was a quick read.

It is apparent that a number of people enjoy Locke's style, it's just a different style of creative writing than I am accustomed to. I'm disappointed that I took a chance with it for $4.99, however. It would have been a nice easy read for $0.99, but $4.99 was just too expensive for a book that belongs in the dollar store in my opinion.

Normally, laziness is the corrupter of quality, but Locke is more of an enterprising hack than lazy. He's a book mill. He pushes quantity without concern to quality. He’s not looking to make an impact, change a person's life, or point out something profound, he’s writing books for a pay check.

There is a part of me that sees Locke as no more than a writer flipping novels like burgers in a fast food joint, and another part of me that just admires his steely entrepreneurial ambition.

I don't recommend purchasing any of Locke's books for more than $0.99 (especially not for $4.99), but I have no doubt that Locke will continue to do just fine selling his novels for $0.99 . The silver lining for me is in knowing that when I publish my novel and price it at $0.99, the quality will be a great deal higher (What? Why would I be bias?) :)

Have any of you read any of John Locke’s books? Do you like them? Was Wish List just a fluke? What are your favorite $0.99 novels?

How to be Creative in Writing: In a Low Quality Market

2012-04-12T00:02:00.001-07:00

WRITING A NOVEL TAKES TIME, but writing a pleasurable novel to read also requires a person talented enough to know how to be creative in writing while continuing to maintain the other essential elements required for a book to be successful. Writing a novel isn’t easy, but it’s just the beginning for an author wishing to be purchased and read by the masses.

How to Be Creative in Writing: In the Digital Publishing Age

Digital publishing has changed the publishing game forever. Traditional publishers still hold a strong hand, but for authors who never felt they stood a chance at being read by others, Digital Publishing is their chance to change that. Nevertheless, the digital publishing era hasn’t ushered in bright lights along the parting seas without letting a little darkness through. Digital Publishing also cast giant shadows all along the industry, making the future of publishing more ambiguous than it’s ever been.

Readers of the world welcome creative authors into the fold. Some of these digital publishers are indeed, true masters at their art form and their digital novels prove it. Their ability to string letters into words, words into sentences and sentences into brilliant dialogues that embed deep into your mind make me feel very fortunate to live in this age. Due to the ability of these authors they are both revered not only by their patrons (consumers), but by their fellow authors (both traditional and digitally published) as well. These authors are people who would be compelled to write every day despite any monetary value they may or may not receive.

How to Be Creative in Writing: With Rampant EHs'

Besides the prolific authors that emerged anew in this new age of digital online publishing, another class of writers emerged as well. Less intellectually and compassionately gifted than their cousins, this new group of writer has arisen from obscurity to quickly piece together its product, in order to sell it to market. These writers are a new breed, a breed colloquially referred to as EHs.’ EH is a pejorative acronym, and it stands for ‘Enterprising Hack.” ‘EH’ is also a double entendre as it refers to the invariant question tag ‘Eh’ that denotes a state of ignorance, or lack of understanding. It also adopts its pronunciation from the later example.

The EHs don’t care about the craft of writing, nor do they care for its art form or for the deep reflection it can bring. Instead, an EH sits at a table and quickly writes up a thin story that they can wrap in a racy cover with the hope that consumers purchase the book without a great deal of concern for quality.

When the traditional publishers monopolized the industry, one positive that existed was that they served as a filter against EHs attempt to shovel crap into a wood stove. Now, however, the dam the publishing companies broke is flooding the market, to the point of saturation, with the introduction of all the low quality books.

What do you think? Is the influx of lackluster authors going to affect the balance in the eBook market? Or is this just an example of capitalism at work, a system that works and is self-correcting?'