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Quitting Comments and Some Learning Sales
Seems I Touched a Few Writers… I got a bunch of email, but two letters were from writers who had quit as well as the other ones I mentioned. Both had less than 20 books discoverability and both didn’t understand why their books didn’t sell more than a few copies. Both had even bought into the myth of doing ads. They had no branding on the covers, dull plot-filled sales copy that no buyer would get past, and the two I looked inside at had no depth of openings at all. Alas, they wrote, but never bothered to learn how to get their books to readers. Sadly, both of them…
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Writers Quitting…
Three Letters… In the last seven days, I have gotten not one, not two, but three letters from writers about ready to quit. Now I get these letters occasionally, I think all professional writers do. Sort of a last gasp before letting the dream float away. Not sure why three this week. Maybe the way the world is right now, I don’t know. All three had clearly spent some time. None of them were published wide, seeming to think Amazon was the be-all and end-all. Real bad information there. Two of them had in the ten-or-more-book range before discoverability, but one had 24 books. No sales at all, or just…
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Going For It!!!
Starting Two New Challenges for Myself… Actually, three. And I will be doing every detail of everything all myself. No help from anyone. That’s right. I will be doing my own covers and my own interiors with Vellum or InDesign. I will be listing them all electronically and with Ingram for paper and hardbacks. And I will be working on my store and getting all of them there as well. So what is my challenge? From November 10, 2025 until November 9th 2026… Challenge #1… I am going to write and finish a new novel every two weeks. So 26 novels, but in the actual year I will more than…
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Quitting is Forever…
Writing and Publishing Can Be Frustrating… But quitting is forever. I honestly have no idea looking back how I made it 51 years in this business. I went over (in a full 9-week class on WMG Teachable) about what I learned from my mentors in 50 years and another class I covered the mistakes I made in 50 years. And I have failed at things in publishing more times than I want to count. I’ve had horrid days and great days. When I am writing, I love it and the feeling of writing. When I am not writing, I wonder why I am not writing. Looking back on that first…
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Caution on Emails With Praise…
They Hit You With Praise and Then Ask for Money… For some reason, lately, this ploy has been happening. This is my third in three weeks. These folks never research who they are sending to, but do at least pretend to have read the book they are trying to get money to promote. The most recent for me was tonight… Here is the letter I got on a book that has been in print for 12 years and just reprinted this last spring with new covers. Ready for this??? Dean, My name is (Deleted) . I came across The Slots of Saturn, and it struck me as more than a…
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Getting Ready…
A Bunch to Learn or Relearn… Just to get ready to start this challenge of writing a novel every two weeks. And do collections. And other books. I got to relearn all over how to find art that is not AI. I got to relearn InDesign, which I have already started on and having a blast. Double column layouts of Smith’s Monthly issues will be a challenge. Using Vellum for regular books will seem easy people tell me. Getting my learning back up to full on Shopify will take a little time, but looking forward to that this coming year. None of that is the writing side, just the publishing…
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Limits in Writing and Publishing…
Everyone Sets Their Own Limits… Actually not completely true. Everyone’s limits are set by what they learned from others, mostly non-writers spouting myths they learned at some point. And there are major myths that most writers never get past. — Writing Fast Is Writing Poorly — Everything Must Be Rewritten — Everything Must Be Perfect Before Publishing These myths and so many more are what limits each writer. And the myths were encouraged by agents who were never writers and also traditional publishing that could only handle so many books from a writer, usually just one per year. And the fear of what others will think stops millions of writers…
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One More Time Before Moving On…
All Kinds of Great Learning… Putting this here again because honestly it is quick and the internet at this time of the morning is going and coming… Oh, fun. So I am doing these and only one person so far has signed up on the Kickstarter Mentorship and still have two on the Sales Mentorship. After this post moving on to other fun stuff. KICKSTARTER MENTORSHIP… That’s right, one-on-one, I will help you build and launch a book kickstarter in the next three or four months that will fund, (I guarantee if you do as I say) and get you readers for your books, then I will continue to help…
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Fall Indie Writing Festival Starting…
Five Videos Plus Extras About Reviews on First Day… Just getting started and this time around, instead of offering the 20 or so people signed up (yes, still room to jump in), we are making all of WMG Teachable Courses half price. All six hundred plus of them. For everyone… And we will give you an even better discount on the Lifetime Everything Subscription to WMG Teachable. Ask me if interested. This first week is all on Readers and Fans and getting more of both, which also means you will make more money. Here is the basic information on the Fall Indie Writing Festival followed by the basic information on…
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Mentorships and Fall Writing Festival Starting
All Kinds of Great Learning… KICKSTARTER MENTORSHIP… That’s right, one-on-one, I will help you build and launch a book kickstarter in the next three or four months that will fund, and get you readers for your books, then I will continue to help you with how to fulfill the campaign. You can start any time you want with this. Even into next year, but need to sign up now. I will cut this off after a few. And then in the following six months after the first one is done, I will help you with a second campaign. You will have two successful campaigns from this and have the confidence…