Building an empire requires motivation, vision, and resources. Motivation I presume we share: * a love of books * a knack for writing * a desire to share our work with others * a dream of passive income to ease our way through life Vision My vision is a virtual Manhattan office tower, home…
The manuscript for my first self-published book, *Freein’ Pancho,* sat in a drawer unread for many years. Early on I’d sent it to a literary agent, waited with anticipation, received a kind letter of rejection. So there it sat until I mentioned the manuscript to Jenny, a fellow writer…
I stumbled into the writing game when a freshman-English prof said I was good at it. What did I know. The prof told me that I didn’t belong in his class. Kicked me up to Creative Writing 201, upper-division night class. Picture: Older students lounging around seminar tables. Beards.…
Whoo! A Publishing Empire in a Box(tm)? Sounds exhausting. Good point. As an indie publishers I’m already juggling myriad balls and wearing many hats—researcher, writer, copy editor, book designer, typesetter, proofreader, publicist, marketing manager, bookseller, contract manager, business executive, yada, yada. I could hire freelancers and consultants,…
Signing a book contract with a major publisher confers indisputable prestige and quite likely an advance against royalties. And more, the publisher shoulders lion-share of editorial and publishing responsibilities and, icing on the cake, takes the lead in marketing. The Purple Crayon, an outstanding blog covering writing, illustrating, and publishing…
Why do we write? A catalog of motivations would require many pages. But motivation matters. Can we talk about beautiful books without talking about content? Pursuit of money, prestige, influence, and power no doubt motivates many writers. Scholarship, journalism, advertising, and public relations are honorable writing professions that reward many…
Writing books is time-consuming enough. But publishing, marketing, promoting sales, all while researching the next book— Whew! Been there. Done that. Three times. Need help. If only I had more hours in the day. Truth—my computer is simply not working hard enough. So I’m on a journey. I’…
As serious self-publishers we’re the contemporary vanguard of a centuries-long tradition of story telling. We create inform, entertain. We create worlds, breathe life into virtual characters, convey insight, knowledge, and culture. We can take this responsibility lightly—and fail. Write a book, self-publish, and get rich quick? Forget about…