Written by Zackary Richards
for Ari Communications
I hate writers.
Being one
myself, I know that they are, for the most part, delusional, egocentric maniacs
with a bizarre sense of entitlement. They think that just because they
wrote a book, it must be a masterpiece of word and phrase and that
people will buy it.
Just try
telling them it needs editing and watch their dismissive response.
They can’t be bothered by the business of publishing, or the marketing, or developing a list of faithful readers.
They can’t be bothered by the business of publishing, or the marketing, or developing a list of faithful readers.
No! They believe
the publishing industry is like it was back in the days of Hemingway, Steinbeck
and Faulkner.
They need only write the book and the peons in editing, marketing
and distribution can deal with the details of selling it.
They,
instead, need to refresh their muse. To travel to Paris
so they can mingle with
other novelists, painters, and composers, with whom they can exercise their
witty banter and drink to all hours of the morning.
If you tell
them it doesn’t work like that anymore, they will turn on you like a cornered
rat.
Like I said, delusional, egocentric maniacs.
It’s not
until they discover that nobody is buying their book
or the few who have, write a review giving it two stars. That’s when
they start
telling anyone who will listen that it’s not the book’s fault. It’s that
those
who read it are too stupid to appreciate its brilliance. I tell you it’s
absolutely hilarious to watch them go from haughty aristocrat to
pathetic sad sack when the ice water of reality points out
their need of some
professional seasoning.
How do I
know this? It is because I was that
delusional, egocentric maniac with a
bizarre sense of entitlement. And it wasn’t until I collected a
considerable number of rejection letters
that I began to wonder if perhaps I
might need to learn something about writing for today's
publishing industry. So I joined a writers group, met one of the best editors
in today’s publishing industry (he was just starting out then too) and learned,
through considerable trial and error, what I needed to do to get a book published.
Shortly afterward
I won an award for a young adult novel I wrote and used it to garner an agent
and publisher. Two years later after a successful run and with my follow-up
about to be published, the Great Recession hit, the release was delayed and eventually
my publisher went out of business and my agent was let go.
So I opened
my own publishing business and discovered its harsh realities. Then came the
writer’s strike and thousands of professional writers took that time to write
novels and saturated the market with them. It took years before I was able to
live on my royalties again.
Another
problem with writers is they expect a free education.
I know of no other
profession where those looking to enter into its ranks expect to succeed using
only the tools they learned in grammar school.
I’ll give
you an example. I wrote a book that explains exactly what you need to know and
do in order to increase your odds of getting a publishing contract. It is 176
pages of pertinent information received from successful professional novelists.
The kindle version sells for 5 dollars. If you are interested you can read the
first chapter for free by just clicking on the cover HERE
The book
received great reviews so when I joined one particular social media group that
focused on writers and publishing, I wrote an article explaining how the
industry worked, the services my company offered and a link to the book.
The response
was startling and vicious! I was ridiculed, called a hack, and likened to a
used car salesman.
Yet when I googled my detractors, not one of them had a book
published. In fact, they had no social platform at all.
Yet they
still cling to the insane notion that a publisher will sign them to a lucrative
contract without any proof whatsoever that readers would be interested in their
book or writing style. Unfortunately, they have developed a belief system that
you need only write a book and if you submit it enough times a publisher will
sign you. And ANYTIME you challenge a person’s belief system, they are going to
attack you. That’s human nature.
As for the
next part, if you don’t have any money or are unwilling to invest any to learn how to improve your odds of getting a publishing
deal, stop reading and go back to writing and submitting because as we
all know, doing the same thing over and over will get you different results
every time.
Or so you believe.
Next, go to
my website and see what my
company offers regarding self-publishing. There is no hard sell but it details
what book marketing is and what you need to do in order to get readers.
And lastly, there is the book sales page. I can’t begin
to explain how necessary this is when it comes to selling books.
What all
professional authors NEED TO KNOW it that your novel is a product and it needs
to be sold as one. The sales page makes that possible as well as creating a
list of constant readers who anxiously await the release of every novel.
Here’s how a
sales page works.
You create a
Facebook ad (for about 5 dollars a day for a couple of days) and when they
click on the ad they are taken to your sales page.
The Sales
Page starts with an immediately engaging paragraph. Something that will hook
the reader's interest enough to read down
to where you present your Book cover. Then you add more content, to further
engage the reader.
Okay, you
have them interested but it’s unlikely they will buy a book from an author when
they are unfamiliar with his writing style.
You know this yourself. There are
some writers who’s style you enjoy, and
others you find boring.
You solve
this issue by offering what is called a Lead Magnet. A Lead Magnet is a free sample
you give to them in exchange for their email address. Here’s an example that
was created for one of my company’s authors
As you can
see, it gets right to the point and promotes the novel in an exciting fashion
as well as giving away a free short story to pique their interest and to get
their email address for future sales.
If you want us to create a sales page for your
novel, with the same structure as the one you just viewed, we will need you to
provide a jpeg image of the cover for your book and for the short story. If you
want to provide copy for the sales page that’s
fine, if you want us to do it, that’s fine too.
If you already have an autoresponder, email us the HTML raw code to
insert into the sign-up box to collect email addresses. If you don’t,
we’ll set one up for you but understand that it comes with a monthly charge of
19.95 from the autoresponder company, not us.
The cost of a Sales Page is $247 dollars.
Email the information requested and how you want
it to read. If you have questions or need additional services like a book cover,
you can email us at ariservicedesk@gmail.com
or call 518-636-6046.
Please note
that we have enough steady business and can only take on a few new customers at
this time. If you email us or call, we will not try to sell you something or
badger you with offers.
If you are interested, act now. We hate turning people
away but we can only fill so many orders at a time. That email again is ariservicedesk@gmail.com
