Examples R’Us…

Three Examples in Four Days of Mindset Issues…

This just had me shaking my head. Now granted, most don’t know we just started a Mindset workshop, and even if they did, many flat can’t afford it. Totally understand that.

But three different writers wrote me with very serious questions. And every one of the questions was based on faulty mindset.

Two said they could not afford someone to do their covers and had no artistic skill to do it themselves or afford the art if they could.

Mindset totally off combined with total lack of research and a wealth of bad information.

— Professional art licensed standard for book covers costs around $10 and is not AI.

— Everyone on the planet who can imitate can do a book cover. There is no artistic skill needed. Imitation. And a free program. And the ability to do Google searches for details on how to do something in some free program.

So instead of saying “I can’t…” switch the mindset to “I am learning…” And if you want to get to my level of mindset, you say, “I am learning and having a great time doing that.”

Sadly, for many, that might be a bridge too far since learning is scary. I just find it exciting.

All three said they could not afford to hire copyeditors. All three, and all three felt or made it clear or flat told me they could not publish something that was not copyedited. It was stopping all three from publishing, that was clear.

Horrid mindset and a faulty belief in a myth. If you have the money, copyediting is great and needed in many cases by writers of all levels. And it is not cheap, and takes time to find the right copyeditor.

So sounds like I just agreed with the questioners, doesn’t it?  Uhhh, no. Notice I said “If you have the money…” Most new writers, putting writing in the extra hours of their life, do not have the money. So what do they do? What many professional writers do about copyediting is simple.

You change your mindset and do it yourself.

But how? So easy as to be silly. A number of professional writers I know read their work aloud to their partner. You will find a ton of copyediting and voice mistakes when you do that.

Or read it aloud to yourself, slowly. Again, reading it aloud will find mistakes and words out of place and wrongly named characters.

So a mindset change is needed by the three who wrote me letters.

When you hear yourself say in this world of 2025, “I can’t…” you need to stop, reset, and say simply, “I need to learn that skill…”

Nothing about writing and publishing can’t be learned and done damn near for no cost. Just got to drop the “can’t” and figure out a way to get to learning.