Juggling soot and herding cats (memo to self – get their attention with cute pic of cat) are just two of the many phrases I have heard over the years to describe something that is very difficult, or impossible to do. Well, that’s what I (and I suspect many writers) have been doing for quite a while now. The demands of marketing in this Brave New publishing world have taken over from whatever it was we used to do, what was it?..... oh, yes, that was it.... writing.
It is only going to get worse. There are more and more of us everyday, peddling our wares and notching up 5* reviews on our bedposts as fast as Amazon will allow. The only serious point I want to make in this blog is that we are now forced to sell our precious products for far less than they really should be sold for. I hope Mark Coker (Smashwords) is right when he says in his blog – “...authors and publishers must compete against free. Luckily, what writers write is completely unique. This unique creation has value, and if it’s desirable to readers, and the perceived desirability outweighs the price, readers will pay. Readers will favor trusted author brands. That means your opportunity as a writer is to build your brand.” I hope there will be some mechanism or trend emerging soon to allow really talented authors (of which there are many – and I do not include myself, yet) to earn a reasonable reward for their labours.
The benefits though of all of this is that more and more people are now buying ebooks, so it is not all doom and gloom. It is an exciting time to be a writer, no doubt, and I look forward to the year with confidence – but then, I always was an over-optimistic fool!
I have learned many things about building website, articles, content and blogs that my now seventeen year old son (birthday on 2nd Jan – Happy Birthday, Thomas) knew years ago and now I need to put this knowledge into action. This week’s lesson for me is ‘linking’. If any reader has a site they would like to link with mine, please contact me – and tell me how to do it!
By the way, as a Briton living in Hong Kong I love exploring nature’s wonders on my annual vacations. I have never thought of the USA as a target destination, but it seems to be the place everyone is talking about – perhaps I will visit the ‘Mountain of Debt’ or the ‘River of despair’ – are they anywhere near the ‘Fiscal Cliff’ (or ‘Fiscal Canyon’ that I have just heard about today)? – I tried to Google them, but came up with pictures of Obama every time – that guy must get everywhere. Seriously, I hope you guys sort yourselves out quickly, I know what is coming, I have seen ‘Red Dawn’!
Don’t forget to sign up to receive my bi-weekly dribbling regularly – the Tuesday piece will be a serious one seeking to help new writers. The other one will be frivolous – maybe herding soot and juggling cats next time. This paragraph is called a CTA – a Call To Action – an attempt to make you do something. You see I know all the jargon. I just hope I can make it all work for me and GMM – Get Me Money! Happy writing, and I hope 2013 will be good to all of you.
It is only going to get worse. There are more and more of us everyday, peddling our wares and notching up 5* reviews on our bedposts as fast as Amazon will allow. The only serious point I want to make in this blog is that we are now forced to sell our precious products for far less than they really should be sold for. I hope Mark Coker (Smashwords) is right when he says in his blog – “...authors and publishers must compete against free. Luckily, what writers write is completely unique. This unique creation has value, and if it’s desirable to readers, and the perceived desirability outweighs the price, readers will pay. Readers will favor trusted author brands. That means your opportunity as a writer is to build your brand.” I hope there will be some mechanism or trend emerging soon to allow really talented authors (of which there are many – and I do not include myself, yet) to earn a reasonable reward for their labours.
The benefits though of all of this is that more and more people are now buying ebooks, so it is not all doom and gloom. It is an exciting time to be a writer, no doubt, and I look forward to the year with confidence – but then, I always was an over-optimistic fool!
I have learned many things about building website, articles, content and blogs that my now seventeen year old son (birthday on 2nd Jan – Happy Birthday, Thomas) knew years ago and now I need to put this knowledge into action. This week’s lesson for me is ‘linking’. If any reader has a site they would like to link with mine, please contact me – and tell me how to do it!
By the way, as a Briton living in Hong Kong I love exploring nature’s wonders on my annual vacations. I have never thought of the USA as a target destination, but it seems to be the place everyone is talking about – perhaps I will visit the ‘Mountain of Debt’ or the ‘River of despair’ – are they anywhere near the ‘Fiscal Cliff’ (or ‘Fiscal Canyon’ that I have just heard about today)? – I tried to Google them, but came up with pictures of Obama every time – that guy must get everywhere. Seriously, I hope you guys sort yourselves out quickly, I know what is coming, I have seen ‘Red Dawn’!
Don’t forget to sign up to receive my bi-weekly dribbling regularly – the Tuesday piece will be a serious one seeking to help new writers. The other one will be frivolous – maybe herding soot and juggling cats next time. This paragraph is called a CTA – a Call To Action – an attempt to make you do something. You see I know all the jargon. I just hope I can make it all work for me and GMM – Get Me Money! Happy writing, and I hope 2013 will be good to all of you.
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