Writing Wrongs: How to Become a Famous Writer

Writings Wrongs: How to Become a Famous Writer

Because this is a blog about writing I’m often asked why I write so many posts about business and marketing. There is a good reason although it does separate my readers into two camps.

Those who believe in the integrity of the art form and those who write simply to make a buck.

You can do both. In fact it is essential that you do both and I’m going to explain why.

Those who only write for artistic reasons aren’t really writers, they are hobbyists. They have allowed their massive ego to co-opt reason to insulate themselves from the massive rejection they feel they must endure to “Pay their dues” or “Suffer for their art.” They warm themselves with the belief their work will eventually be discovered (likely after they’re dead, if at all) and their body of work will be celebrated as genius. 

This belief comforts that massive ego and shores up their “See, I told you so!” psychosis.

These people need to be smacked in the head.  As John Wayne once said “Life is hard. It’s even harder if you’re stupid.” I assume these people get some comfort in the thought of looking down from the heavens and feeling vindicated.

Seriously!!??

And the ironic part of all this is that for a long time I was one of those people!

That changed however when I met the people who write simply to make a buck and discovered that these people, who have no writing talent whatsoever are making thousands every month in royalties.

WHAT A FRICKIN EYE OPENER THAT WAS!

Here is the first thing I learned from them. You will ONLY get a book deal if they (publishers and agents) believe that the book you have written will appeal to a large book buying audience. Do not, I repeat, do not attempt to prove me wrong by pointing out some novel about Elbonian folk dancing that became a national best seller. That was a fluke! That would like countering my statement that you will never win the lottery, by pointing out the few people that have.

Ask yourself this question. Who is more likely to become rich? The person who saves money, makes business contacts, researches what businesses are most likely to succeed and then learns everything they can about that business and then opens that business in an area that has a lot of traffic, or the person who maxes out their credit cards and savings to open a business selling something that interests them in the empty store down the block?

Want to set a fire under your ass? Want to put a gun to the head of that insane ego of yours? Stipulate in your will that any of your work that is unpublished at the time of your death be destroyed.

As that great American philosopher Groucho Marx once said: “Posterity? What do I care about Posterity? What has posterity ever done for me?”

The second thing I learned from them is that publishers aren’t interested in writers who don’t have a strong following. If they sign you and publish your book they have to invest a considerable amount of money to publicize and promote it. They need to make money with that investment and if you don’t have a following they aren’t going to take a chance regardless of how great the book is or how enthusiastic you are.

Here’s what I did. I created a strong following through this blog and others (This blog has had over thirty thousand readers) I discovered that fiction books outsell non-fiction books but fiction requires a great deal of advertising and promotion to build a buzz and generate sales. And that costs a lot of money!

To sell non-fiction books however, all you have to do is find a topic people want to know more about and write a book on that topic. For example: Once I learned all the ins and outs of writing a book that sells and creates a loyal following, I wrote The Best Book on How to Write, Publish and Market Your Novel into a Best seller to help fellow writers who aren’t having any luck getting published, by explaining to them exactly what they need to do to turn things around. It is selling very well on all three platforms, as an e book, paperback and audiobook. You can get a copy by clicking on the picture on the right. The e book is under 5 dollars. The paperback under ten.

Seeing I was onto something, I started thinking about writing another non-fiction book. Then realized that, like me, millions were downsized during the 2009-2010 recession and as a result were floundering emotionally, physically and financially. So I wrote The Best book on How to Start Over: Rebuild your Mind, Body and Finances. And BINGO another hit on all three platforms. Again you can click on the image on the right to read a sample or buy the book.

Now here’s the thing, when writing the financial section of that book I realized that I would need to write an entire other book to properly explain how to make money online.

So I did. And the result was The Best Book on How to Make Money Online. In it I explained the most lucrative niches to get into and how to generate income from them. When researching the book what stunned me the most was how much money can be made and that the biggest hindrance to success is people spreading themselves too thin. Again another hit on all three platforms. You can get your copy by clicking on the book image on the right.

But the most successful of them all was the book that came out of the most miserable and soul-crushing experience of my life.

My divorce.

I had been married for 25 years. Thought everything was going fine. Then BOOM, it was over.

Never entered my mind to write a book about it, thought it too personal, too painful.

THEN I DISCOVERED THAT NEARLY EVERY MIDDLE AGED MAN I SPOKE TO WHO WAS GOING THROUGH A DIVORCE, OR HAD ALREADY BEEN THROUGH A DIVORCE TOLD THE VERY SAME STORY, HAD THE VERY SAME EXPERIENCE.

Like me, none of those men saw it coming. It was then I realized that I had to get the word out so guys who were going through what I went through could protect themselves and prepare for what was going to happen. So I wrote DIVORCE: The Middle-Aged Man’s Survival Guide.

I honestly believe I have written a number of great fiction books. They have all received very positive reviews, but the MOST Important Book was DIVORCE: The Middle-Aged Man’s Survival Guide. Because some men have told me that book literally saved their life.  One guy described it as a rescue boat when trapped on a desert island.

Now here’s the take away from this post. Should I wish to have my next fiction book published through a traditional publisher, I can begin my query letter by pointing out that I already have a large number of readers, have several non- fiction books that are selling very well, have great reviews and have proven that I am a prolific writer who can provide consistent high quality product AND KNOW HOW TO MARKET THEM!

And that my friends, is how you get their attention.

To check out our website Click Here

How to Write Well

   Having just reached my second decade as a published author there are some lessons I have learned and have shared them with my readers. I have even written a book on the subject because so many young talented writers are shooting themselves in the foot by not knowing the skills they need in order to be taken seriously. Here are the links for the ebook & audio book versions.

   Ebook: http://www.amazon.com/Write-Publish-Market-Novel-Bestseller-ebook/dp/B00EHYIMCI/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1389196887&sr=1-3&keywords=zackary+richards

   Audio Book: http://www.audible.com/pd/Self-Development/How-to-Write-Publish-and-Market-Your-Novel-into-a-Best-Seller-Audiobook/B00GUTI4FI/ref=a_search_c4_1_2_srTtl?qid=1389197027&sr=1-2

   I also moderate a writers group and if you’re a writer and don’t belong to one, you are again shooting yourself in the foot. Interacting with other writers will provide you with the opportunity to master the craft much faster than by going at it alone.

   The thing is, if you have talent, drive and imagination you can become a writer and if you’re lucky, make a living at it.

   But there is one obstacle that will cripple you and prevent you from becoming a well-known and respected novelist.

   And that, my friends, is your ego.

   And here’s the Catch-22. The more talent you have the more ego there is to overcome.

   All modestly aside I’m a pretty talented guy. But I take no bows for that because I was born with talent. I got it free. No effort was required, no obstacles to overcome, no herculean tasks to perform.

   No charge, buddy. Enjoy!

   But unbeknownst to me, that talent came with a silent, sadistic partner. And that partner threw a monkey wrench into every artistic endeavor I attempted throughout my life.

   And yes, you guessed it. The culprit was my monstrous, Hulk sized ego.

   The problem is, if you can learn things easily, you start believing there isn’t anything you can’t learn and therefore have no need of teachers. And to make matters worse any attempt to show you how to do something better, is taken by you as a personal attack and a hate crime.

   And yes, my ego is just that crazy.

   It took me years to learn to lock that lunatic away and to shut up and accept instruction from those more experienced and better trained.

   Want to save yourself years of frustration, heart-break and disappointment? Here’s what you do. When you are with someone who has similar goals or talents, ask questions. Because even if you are more talented, or more successful, they may have mastered or discovered a method that will greatly improve your own skills.

   Case in point. After starting my own publishing company I met a man in a bar and we started talking. I should point out that not only do I have an enormous ego I am ALSO anti-social as hell. I don’t say nothin’ to nobody. No way, no how, unless I’m on stage or doing a presentation.

   But this guy was very personable. So I opened up a bit and discovered he was an inventor who had created a very innovative product that he sold over the internet. So I told him about my fledging publishing business www.aripublishing.com and compared notes.

   He listened attentively and when I finished he said, “Sounds good, but here’s what you’re doing wrong.”

   Fortunately I had a couple of beers in me or I would have slapped him with my glove and challenged him to a duel. I mean, who was this clown, telling me how to run my publishing company? The guy wasn’t even a writer!

   So I ignored his suggestions and kept doing what I was doing. He was a very interesting guy however, so we continued to meet at that bar once a week.

   But my business wasn’t making any progress. Yes, the books were selling but we weren’t increasing our reader base and so sales were flat. So I started looking into marketing to try and find a way to beef things up.

   And the more I learned the more I realized what that guy had told me so many months earlier was exactly what this marketing course was teaching!

   So I went back to my buddy and started asking questions, which he, ever the professional, kindly answered.  Turns out, he was one of those Millionaires next door types you read about and had more money than he could spend in two lifetimes.

   So I implemented his ideas and sure enough, sales picked up and things turned around. Lesson learned? Don’t reinvent the wheel. If you are a writer but aren’t making progress, the buy my book. It’s that simple. My books are selling well, are yours? If not, then it’s likely I know something that you need to know. Don’t let your ego try to convince you otherwise. Here are the links again

   Ebook:  http://www.amazon.com/Write-Publish-Market-Novel-Bestseller-ebook/dp/B00EHYIMCI/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1389197756&sr=1-3&keywords=zackary+richards

   Audio book: http://www.audible.com/pd/Self-Development/How-to-Write-Publish-and-Market-Your-Novel-into-a-Best-Seller-Audiobook/B00GUTI4FI/ref=a_search_c4_1_2_srTtl?qid=1389197027&sr=1-2

Problems Uploading to Kindle: Avoid the Kindle Uploading Nightmare

   I own a publishing company so you would think I know everything about it.

   And for the most part you’d be right. Except for one thing

   And that, my friend is uploading a book to Kindle.

   IT…IS… A… NIGHTMARE!

   It literally took me months before I managed to acquire the skills to do it correctly. And although I do know how to do it correctly, I often have to go back and make several corrections because I am human and therefore make errors when I’m uploading a novel containing several hundred pages, over 50 chapters and various font types throughout.

   I know there are several websites whose members are quite skilled at uploading but they too are human and as such prone to making mistakes. Frankly it’s near impossible to avoid when you have to run the manuscript through the Microsoft Paragraph Tool, then the mobipocket converter, then the HTML rebuilder, then redirect to publications and then pray as you click the upload tab.

   You breathe a sigh of relief when the SUCCESS tab appears

   But  FEW DAYS LATER your heart sinks when you GET YOUR FIRST REVIEW and see that the novel you spent over a year working on got only one star and the entire review is about how the book is incomprehensible because of the format errors.

   In panic you click the kindle preview and notice that your title isn’t centered, the jump cuts aren’t spaced and the special font you used has been converted to Times New Roman. As you read further you notice that your chapters aren’t separated and there are huge spaces between words and some pages have only one word on them

And so you go back in to stop the hemorrhaging but it’s too late. Several other one star reviews come in with the same comments.  

   Book, DEAD. Sales, DEAD. Career as a novelist, DEAD.

   There are two ways to prevent this from happening. The first is to click this link:

http://ac2f0103vs6n9ramm6w20v3peh.hop.clickbank.net/

   This company has an exclusive software program where you simply copy and paste your manuscript into their software template and it produces a perfectly formatted manuscript every time!

   No worries, No errors. No problems! Perfect every time!

   And it comes with a 60 Day no-questions-asked money back guarantee!

   The second is to download “How to Write, Publish and Market Your Novel into a Bestseller” in e book or audiobook form. Inside it is a step-by-step informational guide on how to correctly upload to Kindle that has been used successfully hundreds of times. Here’s the Link:

http://amzn.to/1anekEm

   Either one will get you safely through the process and put your book on Kindle in its proper form.

   Word to the wise:

   If you’ve spent years learning to write, perfecting your craft and fashioning a novel that you believe can become a best seller, for heaven’s sake don’t ‘wing it’ when it comes to uploading or trust it to a friend who says he/she has a “pretty good idea” on how to do it!

   You wouldn’t trust your health with someone who’s not a doctor, or your money with someone who’s not a licensed investor, so don’t trust your literary future to a non-professional. Go with either the software program:

http://ac2f0103vs6n9ramm6w20v3peh.hop.clickbank.net/

   Or the step-by-step book tutorial http://amzn.to/1anekEm

   I look forward to seeing you on the best seller list.

How to Write, Publish and Market your Novel into a Bestseller

Hello fellow bloglidites. I am in the process of wrapping up a book on Writing, Publishing and Marketing. 

   I wrote it because I noticed that a lot of my fellow authors were having trouble getting their books noticed and securing book deals. 

   So incorporating my experience as a writer, publisher and marketer I put together this book to share my knowledge of the industry and to give back to the many people who pointed me in the right direction and helped me along the way. 
    
   It will be especially helpful to new writers, writers considering self publishing and publishers who need to learn how to increase sales online. 
   
   I'm looking for some beta readers to post reviews on Amazon following its launch in a week or so. 
    
  It's a straight read, no filler and includes How to correctly upload a manuscript to Kindle, the 10 most common grammar mistakes writer's make. How to copyright your novel, how to create an audio book and book trailer. How to create professional looking book covers at low cost, and how to find specific keywords to get your book on Google's first page. Plus much more. 
     Only nine spots left so if you want a copy email me at czarrichards@gmail.com and I'll send you a PDF. *Please Note-All material is copyrighted and may not be reprinted or forwarded to third parties.