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

You’re Smart. They’re all Stupid. Here’s Why.

When I read biographies of famous creative people I’m often amazed at the difficulty they had achieving fame and notoriety, especially when they were so obviously talented and their work so superior.

If, like me, you are incredibly talented you’re probably wondering, with all the poorly written novels out there, why hasn’t your work of unmitigated genius been discovered and thrust into the limelight for all to purchase and enjoy.

Here’s why. It’s a very tight market. The print industry is dying and its employees are scurrying for the lifeboats. The few who have retained their jobs are not going to take any risks with a new and unproven author. Why? Because if they push to publish your book and it goes nowhere, they are going to get called out on the carpet to explain why.

And frankly, they’d better have a damn good answer. They’ll need to explain to their superiors why they thought the book would sell, why the cover would catch the public’s eye, why it would fit in with the current popular genre and why they believed you had enough personal appeal and charisma to sell several hundred thousand copies right out of the gate. 

Do you have oodles of charm and charisma?

Me neither.

In fact, like me you’re probably only an amazingly talented and skilled novelist.

Unfortunately nowadays that ain’t enough. Not when Madonna’s notoriety can land her a very lucrative contract to write children’s books. But then, one shouldn’t be surprised when you consider how child friendly her act is.

And it’s not like she’s isn’t already a best-selling author. Remember her book ‘SEX’ and how she won over the illuminati by parading around nude? And it’s not like I wouldn’t do the same thing for fame and fortune unfortunately whenever I parade around nude men gag and women sandpaper their eyeballs.

But take heart. Many amazingly talented people like us had their work routinely rejected only to go on and stun the world. For example:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was rejected by a dozen publishers, until Bloomsbury a small London publisher, only accepted it because the eight-year old daughter of the CEO begged him to.

Really?

Harry-freakin-Potter?! Hundreds of millions of copies sold throughout the world yet no one in Britain’s renowned publishing circles saw any merit in JR Rowling’s masterpiece? And the only reason this literary genius was published at all was because a child wrangled her father into doing something he didn’t want to?

Here are some other timeless works that were considered worthless.

The world-wide best seller Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was turned down 121 times.

Margret Mitchell’s classic Gone with the Wind was rejected 38 times before getting published.

C.S. Lewis received 800 rejection notices before selling a single piece of his work.

134 rejections for Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen before they found a publisher for Chicken Soup for the Soul

The BEATLES were turned down by every recording label in Britain before the last one, EMI begrudgingly signed them and assigned George Martin, who was producing comedy albums at the time, to record them. 

So apparently ABSOLUTELY NO ONE IN THE PUBLISHING BUSINESS HAS ANY IDEA OF WHO OR WHAT WILL SELL.

It’s simply a crapshoot and either you catch a break or you don’t. However I will recommend one thing. If you are lucky enough to catch that one break, make damn sure you have your skills honed to their sharpest and more importantly, find a damn good editor. One who will drive your mercilessly and force you to create your best work.

When JK Rowling’s final Potter novel was released I was stunned when I saw the critics lining up to tear it apart. Here was an artist who had brought so much entertainment to so many people yet, the only thing the book reviewers wanted was to find some flaw in the book to exploit and criticize.

Scumbags.

Anyway, good luck to my fellow authors out there. And remember, in order to compete in today’s book marketplace you’re going to have to do something that will draw attention to yourself like Madonna does.

Well, if that’s what you got to do, then that’s what you got to do. As for me, I got my camera ready.

You’ve been warned!

As always if you enjoy my blog you can read a FREE sample of my books by clicking on the covers on the slideshow above. Or join in the fun, invite a friend or leave a comment below.

Authors and Marketers and Self Promotion

     Most people feel uncomfortable drawing attention to themselves. Oh sure, its fine if you’ve got a good joke or an interesting tale but nobody wants to be sucked into a sales pitch, especially by someone who is selling their own wares.

   However there is no other way to sell your stuff unless you have lots of money to pay an advertising firm to create a sales campaign. So if you don’t have venture capital, the only other option is to stand around pounding the proverbial bass drum and exercise your carnival barker skills while people slink by with their index fingers press together in the form of a cross or whispering the word ‘Unclean, as they pass.

   As the late Rodney Dangerfield used to say, “We can’t get no respect.

   However, if we’re clever we can disguise the sales pitch as a form of entertainment, or as a learning experience or as a quick joke.

   As all writers know: People love CONTENT.

   So instead of showing you another picture of my book cover (as seen here)

 

   I’ve created a YouTube video that entertains, educates and is fun to watch. It’s a little over two minutes and well worth your time, so why not have a look?

http://youtu.be/BhBYZFeY870

   Then again as writers and marketers we’re often get grief for self promotion. The premise being how good can you be if you have to hawk your own product?

   Well apparently VERY GOOD as Author Gigi Gait points out in her tongue-in-cheek blog post titled ‘Authors who self-promote-Oh the Shame of it all!

Here’s the link: http://gigigalt.com/

   Author Kimberly Grabas makes no bones about the importance of author self promotion and has written a blog post containing 71 ways to do it.

Here’s the link: http://www.yourwriterplatform.com/promote-and-market-your-book/

Thanks ladies.

   There is nothing wrong with self promotion especially if you’ve worked very hard to create a product well worth the price. Lately, because I own a small publishing company and understand how much effort is required to get a company off the ground, I prefer to purchase products from people online.

   They work harder to satisfy you as a customer and value your business. Plus I’d much rather see my money go into the pocket of a fellow small businessmen/women than into the pocket of the CEO of a big box store.

   So when the opportunity arises, purchase from a small online business. Or from a company that supports online business like Amazon. Once your product starts selling regularly they help promo it to their customers at no cost to you.

   A friend forwarded me this email he received, I took a screen shot of it. 

And there is my novel Noon: The Rise to Power.
Thanks Amazon!

     So when the opportunity arises support the people rebuilding the economy and maybe someday those very same people who will offer you a job.

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.