Wednesday 28 January 2015

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.

Friday 9 January 2015

HARD CHOICES ARE BETTER MADE WHEN PERSONAL RISK TOLERANCES ARE ADEQUATELY EVALUATED.

“Just taking risks for risk's sake, that doesn't do it for me. I'm willing to take risks that I think are worth it, and I've worked so hard to make sure that I survive”.  Chris Hadfield   ̴  Astronaut.


Life Changing decisions are never easy. I would define ‘life-changing’ to be any change of circumstance that affects your present health, wealth, social, geographical, political, religious, cultural style of living—any change that alters your good-standing or socio-economic equilibrium in the community.  Your definition of ‘life-change’ may not embrace all of the above, or it may include several more—but it should include all the things that bring you happiness, joy and peace, the aspects of living that we all seek to improve or maintain. Sometimes our choices will alter these dynamics.
A search for quotes on risk-taking will render a host of sayings that glorify risk taking as a way of life. I could not agree more. Life is all about taking risks—the secret to greater success lies not in the risk itself, but rather in the execution. Risk can never be eliminated but it can be limited.
The definitive action behind decision-making is opting for a choice that offers you the greatest peace of mind. The gut-feel is perhaps the most widely indulged influence that characterizes many decisions we make.  Often time and repetition proves our gut-feel to be a helpful instrument, but there is also a cost when it fails. My prognosis of gut-feel is that it is an intuitive sensing of failure or success that can be influenced by romantic notion, unbridled enthusiasm or cautious conservatism, depending on your character type. The positive side of gut-feel is that it can be guided by the five points of good decision making mentioned in  my previous post.
Risk is an unavoidable feature of life. If you want to get somewhere by improving your lot, then risk-assessment and risk-taking will be par for the course.  The foundation, supporting every choice you make, will contain the shifting sands of probability that range against the few absolutes you may find.

“Know thy self and to thine self be true”.  William Shakespeare.

We should all be armed with the knowledge of the risk that underlies any life-changing decision we are about to make.  All too often I have heard the lament, “I should have been more diligent!” It has happened several times in my own life.
Everyone has a certain innate Tolerance for taking risks. We are all different.  The high-stakes gambler has a very high risk tolerance factor—sometimes it’s an all or nothing attitude and the adrenaline rush is the over-riding influence. Win or lose is just a means of getting the high. Most of us are not like that. We are more cautious with our lives, assets and treasured possessions, but it is always a good thing to know what your risk tolerance is. What becomes obvious is the measurement of potential loss against potential gain. Gain is always the positive factor and loss is its negative twin brother.
The Investment Industry has several tests and calculators for financial risk tolerance but there is no real effective gauge for the wider issues in life-typical investments.
Remember that the decisions you make will not only affect your life but also the lives of those close to you.

Gut-feel guides that should be investigated:

·        Others have succeeded here, surely I will too.
·        Everyone’s doing it!
·        The potential is too great to turn this down!
·        Success is assured because of….
·        This is too good to be true. (You know the sequel to this statement—if it’s too good to be true then it probably isn’t true).


“I talk a lot about taking risks, and then I follow that up very quickly by saying, 'Take prudent risks’”.
Irene Rosenfeld

YOUR DECISION DETERMINES YOUR REALITY.