Are Authors Obsolete? Writing tips for the 21st Century

Are Authors Obsolete? Writing tips for the 21st Century

As a Author and publisher, I have, for a while now, been shouting from the rooftops that the publishing industry is NOTHING like most new writers imagine it. They are stuck in the romantic version. Stuck in the golden age of publishing. The era of Hemmingway, Steinbeck and Faulkner.

They view the book deal akin to winning the lottery. Once done, they will be whisked away to a life of parties, gala events and tropical paradises. No longer will they have to sweat rent, worry if the car’s mileage will exceed the lease agreement, or pray that they can go just one more month without health insurance.

Yes! That’s the good life they have been working so hard to achieve. The hours, days, weeks, months, years dedicated to their craft, believing with all their heart that their next book, their VERY NEXT BOOK will be the one that rockets them to that super-duper life they’ve always dreamed of.

You have a better chance of winning the lottery.

Amazingly you would not believe the vehement reactions I receive when I tell authors this. I present the facts, show the statistics, quote the agents and publishers themselves. They respond as if I was trying to convince them that the deity they worship and religion they belong to is a scam.

As a fellow author, I’m just trying to help, trying to remove those rose-colored glasses. And if you want a detailed explanation of the how, what, when, where and why, give a look at Ewan Morrison’s piece.

Here’s the link.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/aug/22/are-books-dead-ewan-morrison

As for me, do I believe that writing books as a profession is dead?

No, I don’t. And it’s not because I have some romanticized version of the industry. As a publisher myself. http://aripublishing.com I know exactly what it’s like, the obstacles new authors face and how the industry is changing.

Now here is where we separate the ACTUAL writers from the poor artistic souls clinging to a bygone era. If you are serious about becoming a full time novelist and having a career writing books, then it’s time to “Lose your religion” so to speak and learn what you need to know to get a book deal in this new publishing paradigm. (By the way, paradigm means model, I got so tired of seeing the word I had to look it up)

The best place to start is to get a copy of this book

Here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/Write-Publish-Market-Novel-Bestseller-ebook/dp/B00EHYIMCI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1398787574&sr=1-1&keywords=zackary+richards

It’s available as an e book, audio book and will have a paperback version available in the next few days. The e book version is under 5 bucks. The audio book under $7 and the paperback under $10. If you want to see how to make those publishing dreams come true, how to write a book agents and publishers want to read, and discover how to GREATLY increase your chances of getting a book deal, then GET A COPY AND TAKE ACTION!

If you’re drowning in rejection letters, don’t understand why that book you put your heart and soul into is being blown off, and can’t seem to get an agent or publisher to take your work seriously…

Maybe it’s because you’re not taking their work seriously.

Think of it this way. Imagine you own a business. You’ve worked very, very hard to make your business a success. The people who work for you have made lots of money and are very happy being in your employ. They carefully follow your directives, do everything possible to ensure every product released is top notch and actively promote your business to everyone they come into contact with.

Then a stranger shows up and says he’d like you to sell his product. He explains that he has put a lot of work into it and is sure it will sell because it’s so good.

Sounds interesting so you ask him why he thinks it will sell, how big is that product’s market, how long has he been creating these products, has he sold similar products he’s created, how quickly can another follow up product be produced, what is the extent of his knowledge of your business? And what experience, if any, does he have in public speaking, radio interviews, and being on television?

He again explains, speaking slowly and distinctly, as if you are somehow mentally challenged, that his product is very good and as a professional, that should be obvious and that he doesn’t know about that other stuff, like marketability, distribution, follow-ups, etc.

You explain that you are contacted by hundreds of people a day, all with products just as good. But the people you do business with are only the ones who convince you that they will work just as hard making your business a success as you will work to make theirs a success.

He explains, again slowly and distinctly, that he is the creative and artistic type and can’t be bothered learning the nuts and bolts of the day to day business.

At this point you cordially thank him for wasting your time and suggest he be careful and not let the door hit him in the ass on his way out.

One final note. You can always become a difficult, abusive, self-absorbed, arrogant, drug and drink addicted pain-in-the-ass AFTER you have sold millions of books, not before. So grab a copy of How to Write, Publish & Market Your Novel into a Best Seller stop dreaming of book publishing success and ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN. 

Here’s the link:

 http://www.amazon.com/Write-Publish-Market-Novel-Bestseller-ebook/dp/B00EHYIMCI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1398787574&sr=1-1&keywords=zackary+richards

Bob Dylan and the Creative Process

As a writer and songwriter I've spent a good part of my life knee deep in the Creative Process. On many occasions I've looked back on things I've written and was shocked by how good it was AND the fact that I had written it! Apparently this is common among the creative types. Bob Dylan talks about it in this interview. Have a look
If you're a busy professional and or aspiring novelist and need some information on having a book published stop by Ari Publishing and see what we have to offer.

How to Make Money Online

Ari Publishing just finished the book trailer for The Best Book on How to Make Money Online.
Have a look:

   

Pick up your copy at:

http://amzn.to/1f1Vdso

10 Things Traditional Publishers DON’T Want You to Know.

10 Things Traditional Publishers DON’T Want You to Know.

1)    Your FIRST Book Needs to be a Breakout Success: You’ve likely read stories from the big publishing houses stating that the publishing industry is as robust as ever.

It isn’t. Readership has consistently dropped over the last decade due to the increased competition for the entertainment dollar. Production costs have sky-rocketed, and Kindle, iPad, nook & others versions make whatever books that are being made, inexpensive and easy to access on line for considerably less. So your book needs to show some real legs sales wise early on, or there won’t be a second.

2)    Access is dwindling. There used to be a bookstore in every town and city. No More. Amazon and the big box stores are mostly responsible for that. Why buy a book at the suggested retail price at a bookstore when you can easily go online to Amazon, get it for nearly half the price and have it delivered to your door?

3)    You have better odds at winning the lottery: Sure you read stories about some unknown scoring a publishing contract but you’re only reading those stories because that event is so rare. In today’s publishing business contracts are generally only offered to those who already have a substantial readership or are celebrities or whose subject is at the opening gate of some new book trend. 

4)    You’re book’s fate will likely be decided by some college intern:

Because of the staggering amount of submissions, literary agents and publishers don’t have the time to read each title. So college kids looking to break into the industry are assigned that task. Since that are looking to impress possible future employers, they are particularly strict about spelling a proper grammar. Don’t know the difference between they’ve, their and there? Or that you only use the word BETWEEN when comparing TWO topics? If that’s the case expect a quick rejection letter.

5)    You’re book’s title will likely be rejected: Ignore that old saw “You can’t judge a book by its cover. That is EXACTLY how a book is chosen. That and by its title. The title is especially important because when a person is looking to buy a book, but doesn’t know exactly what he or she wants they go to both Google’s and Amazon’s search boxes and type in a word that reflects their interest. Take “spy books” for example. If you title your book something exotic like The Dark Letter Conundrum, your book won’t appear anywhere under a “spy books” search. However, John le Carre title Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy would have generated thousands of results based on the “spy book” keyword. So expect your book to be given a title that will result in the most Search ‘hits’.

6)     Advances are at an all-time low:   Again you’ve likely read a story about some new author being offered a six and sometimes a seven figure advance. Again the odds of that and winning the lottery are exactly the same. Most advances, if any, are usually in the low four figures. And should you receive any advance, plow it into advertising your book. Remember, Your writing career lives and dies by the amount of books sold. NOT by the number of 5 Star reviews!

7)    Advertising money is also at an all-time low. As mentioned the industry has been forced to tighten its belt. And so advertising dollars are funneled directly into the books that show the strongest likelihood of being a success. Got a book coming out and have been promised a substantial advertising budget? Just remember that if someone like Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie writes a book, and your publisher buys it, that advertising money you were promised will quickly be transferred over to their advertising budget.

8)    Royalties are not what you think. Keep in mind you don’t see a dime until the advance is covered and your agent gets his share. It is a fact that MOST authors receive the majority of their income from speaking engagements, not from royalties.

9)     Most successful novelists write 5 to 8 full length books before getting published. Of course there are exceptions BUT if you read the biographies of most of the top selling authors you will see that the majority had written 5 to 8 books before being offered a contract. And by writing all those books they showed the publishers that they could provide consistent and timely product.

10)The First 5 Pages of your book will decide whether will be published or not. Most professional agents and publishers can tell if you’re good enough to be published after reading the first five pages. And to get most book buyers to read past the first 5 pages your book had to have captured their undivided attention. So put the best part of your book on the first five. If the best part of your books starts on page 23, it will likely never be read.

If you’re serious about becoming a published author and want to know more, pick up a copy or download How the Write, Publish and Market Your Novel into a Best Seller   Here’s the link: http://amzn.to/1hBQpJH 

(originally posted at http://aripublishing.com )

The BEST Book on How to Make Money Online: A step by step guide

The Best Book on How to Make Money Online: A step by step guide

Like many people I was downsized during the financial meltdown of 2008-2009 However, my first novel “Frostie the Deadman was doing well, and the follow up was nearly completed so I wasn’t too concerned

I should have been.

But I had years of experience at my profession and a good rep in the industry so I figured I wouldn’t have too hard a time landing another job.

I assume a lot of people in my position felt the same way. But as the following weeks turned into months it became all too clear that more people were being laid off than were being hired and those being hired were asking for a lot less money in salary than I was.

Then my publisher ran into financial trouble and was unable to publish my follow up. And without a follow up, the royalties on my first book began to dry up.

I was in trouble.

I decided to form my own publishing company and together with a few other authors I created Ari Publishing. I figured that as published authors we wouldn’t have much trouble building readership, but then a writers strike hit and the market was suddenly flooded with books, many being marketed for free on Amazon’s KDP program.

These events did not bode well for our hero.

Ari Publishing’s books http://aripublishing.com did get positive reviews but the competition was simply too high and we began to flounder. However, I was determined to succeed. So I immersed myself into the publishing business and learned everything I could about it. Then wrote a book so other independent writers and publishers wouldn’t have to go through the same hell. Here’s the link: http://amzn.to/1hTVD35

But the economy was still down and the old school book marketing methods wasn’t working so I needed to find a new way to get my books in front of the public.

I discovered affiliate marketing through sheer luck. I read a blog that described the process and it was pretty simple (that’s what I thought at first, I would soon learn that wasn’t the case.) It broke down to this: You went online to a big retail store like Amazon, Wal-Mart or Target, scrolled to the bottom of their home page, clicked on the Affiliate link and joined.

Simple enough.

You chose the products you wanted to promote online, the company gave you an affiliate link and you wrote a review of the product in an article or blog post and include the affiliate link in it. When someone clicked on it and bought the product or ANY product they featured, you would get a commission check.

As a writer, I figured this would be a piece of cake. Easy money AND a great way to market www.aripublishing.com books.

It would be a year before the affiliate route provided any real money. Why? Because affiliate marketing is a business. A business I knew nothing about. I spent months hawking books on a blog that had no readers and I didn’t know how to change that. 

Plus, at the time people were new to internet purchasing and were VERY wary about putting their credit card info online.

I now had a pretty good handle on book publishing but then discovered that writing and publishing a book was a walk in the park when compared to marketing those books!

Here’s the problem. Writer have ENORMOUS egos. We think that once we write a book, the masses will hungrily devour it and beg for more.

Here’s what really happens. You write a book, publish it and wait for Hollywood to call. That doesn’t happen. What DOES happen is Life stops by, says hello then punches you in the face then says. “Listen up. A book is no different than any other product. You’ve seen those guys on street corners relentlessly hawking their wares, hoping to make enough to open a store of their own. Well, you’re one of them now. You want to make an honest buck? Then get out on the internet and learn how to sell it!”   

Word to the wise: Don’t say stuff like, “But I am an Artiste, a Scribe! Not some petty door-to-door salesman!” Because if you do Life will punch you in the face again… and again, just to make sure he got his point across.

So in addition to learning the publishing business I had to learn how to market online. 

Which was another uphill battle because you don’t know what you NEED to know to succeed. So you stagger from one pointless venture to the next, selling little and learning the hard way with each step.

BUT I DID LEARN. And am making good money and more each month. It is a full time job but I love what I do so the hours fly by.

But I didn’t forget how hard and how disappointing those early days were. And how much time I could have saved if I only knew then what I know now.

So take a tip from a guy who’s been there and done that. It doesn’t matter what affiliate product you have or service you provide, you need to learn how to market it over the internet. And my latest book: The BEST Book on How to Make Money Online: A step-by-step guide http://amzn.to/1h8ovoB shows you exactly how to do just that. And you actually can do it with No money, No Experience and No product of your own.

It’s will show you how to make money online WITHOUT SPINNING YOUR WHEELS, and considering how shaky the economy and how bleak the employment figures are, having several additional income streams coming in each month can keep you afloat when so many others are going under.

It costs only $4.99 and will save you months if not years of trying this and that and making no money whatsoever. My methods actually work, (I know because I use them) So download it here http://amzn.to/1h8ovoB and give it a read. It might very well change your life.