Over the years, I\u2019ve met hundreds of authors. Some of them are experiencing varying degrees of what they consider success. Many more of them are struggling. Some believe that the publishing system has failed them. <\/p>\n
In reality, it is the author himself who has failed all on his own. How? First, he entered into a serious business that he knew nothing about. Let\u2019s use Bob as an example. From the outside looking in, Bob thought he could see all he needed to know about the industry and how to participate as a published author. There were people eager to take his money and produce his book. Bob had met other authors with books, read about them, heard them speak at his church group and civic group meeting about their books. He had attended signings and book festivals. He believed that the book he was writing was every bit as good as some of those he saw on the market and better than many he had bought recently. He was sure that he had more on the ball than most of the authors he met. <\/p>\n
Not only that, when he told people about his book, they appeared interested. He had every reason to believe that thousands of people would want it once he published it. <\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Bob would most likely end up in the majority group of authors who sell fewer than 100 copies of their books. The number now is right at 78 percent. Why would Bob find himself among the 78 percent of authors who fail? Not because the system failed him, but because he did not take the time and effort to understand the system, his options and his responsibilities as a published author.<\/p>\n
Bob remained on the outside looking in. The only involvement he had with the industry, was deciding to go with the first pay-to-publish company he found on the Internet. Soon he had a book to hold in his hands. Turns out it was not a well-written book. Bob was an accountant not a writer. He didn\u2019t know how much better an experienced book editor could make it and why it was important to produce a well-written book. He didn\u2019t have a clear understanding of his audience. In fact, he hadn\u2019t given his audience any thought while he was planning and writing his book. This was simply a book he wanted to write. If he liked it, surely others would, too. And he didn\u2019t know that it was his responsibility to promote his book to this audience. It didn\u2019t occur to him to connect the dots from the process of producing a book to the ultimate end result\u2014people purchasing it. He had no idea how to take his product from point A to point B. In fact, he didn\u2019t even know to consider his book a product.<\/p>\n
Just as there is an enormous amount of skill, talent, knowledge, time and energy that goes into becoming an Olympic swimmer, an expert equestrian, a successful restaurant owner or a sought-after actor, for example, so it is with successful publishing.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s more to this industry than what you see on the surface. If you want to become a successful part of it, you must invest and immerse yourself in it. The number one recommendation from any expert or professional worth his or her salt is to study the publishing industry.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s my contribution to that end:
\n\u201cPublish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author.\u201d Order it from Amazon.com or any other online or downtown bookstore. Also available at my Matilija Press website. See below.<\/p>\n
PLF620@yahoo.com Over the years, I\u2019ve met hundreds of authors. Some of them are experiencing varying degrees of what they consider success. Many more of them are struggling. Some believe that the publishing system has failed them. In reality, it is the author himself who has failed all on his own. How? First, he entered into a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com<\/a>
\n http:\/\/www.patriciafry.com<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"