Getting
Involved in the On-line Writing Business.
Could
you be an Aspirant Indie-Author?
Everyone
has a story to tell—is yours worthy of publishing?
It would seem everyone is
in the business of telling stories these days. The diversity is great, ranging
from bedtime tales and memoirs to theatre plays, films and novels. The dawn of
the new technological age in the nineties, ushered in a trend toward increased
professionalism by amateur story-tellers whose conceptual creations would have
otherwise remained wishful thinking.
The major spark that has
caused this rising tide of authorship is the on-line industry of Amazon.com who
has driven the vision for self-publishing through the Kindle revolution. No
longer are books the subjects of bookrooms and libraries. They are now
available to anyone immediately through quick download facilities at affordable
prices. Paperback book publishing, initially provided by printing businesses
and traditional publishing houses has also been revolutionized by
print-on-demand publishing, available through businesses like Amazon’s Create
Space facility.
It is now much easier for
aspiring writers to self-publish their works. This, however, does not in any
way ensure success. The competition has risen dramatically and the marketing of
individual works has become the Achilles Heel of the majority. The terrain is
constantly changing, making many aspirant authors wonder if the time spent on
their work’s-of-art is really worth the effort. The group of writers surfing on
the wave of this new revolution are known as Indie-Authors; meaning ‘individual,
self-published author.’ From the outside, the industry appears to be a
lucrative business that will suit the avid writer—any aspirant author who does
not want to bother with the journey through traditional publishing. This
perception is largely deceptive.
It is at this point, I would
like to offer my experience, having two self-published books on the Amazon
Kindle list. There are hundreds of sites giving good advice on the Indie-business
and I certainly am not an expert in the field but my experience might lend its
weight to decisions readers will make in starting up their own venture.
Following in the wake of my blogs on ‘making a good decision’ the first aspect,
of this type of authoring, is deciding to get involved with the online culture
in a way that will probably take you out of your comfort zone. I hope to, over
the next few blogs, break down the steps of involvement as I have personally
experienced them in my journey so far. The blogs should account for the
following:
·
Deciding to break into the self-publishing
business.
·
Starting that first draft.
·
Do I need an editor?
·
What are the dynamics of dealing with a
self-publishing, online company?
·
Who markets my new book?
Deciding
to break into the self-publishing business.
This decision is entirely your own. I
would say that if you love to write or tell stories the decision is almost a foregone
conclusion. One thing you should consider is a plan of action and involvement.
How much time do you have to spare for your writing gig? An hour a day, 5 hours
a week or perhaps full-time? To help you place things into perspective, on an
average, I spend about 6 hours a day on
all aspects of my writing. I do this for
at least 6 days a week. I tend to fit my schedule in with my wife’s working
hours so that we have adequate communication. I do, however, write every day,
if possible. My goal for this year is to write three novels and one non-fiction
book, perhaps a total of 300,000 words. This has to include time for my
personal editing and research.
According to statistics you need to be
prolific with your writing if you want to be successful in catching the minds
of readers.
Write on things you are passionate about.
Whatever genre you read will more than likely be the genre your own writing
will follow. Believe you can do it and you will!
Next week: Starting that first draft.
