May 24
AndrewA Writer's Blog
Whether or not you decide to self-publish or intend to find an agent and market yourself to a major publisher, you should be familiar with the business of producing and selling books. Depending on who is doing the work, you might not be involved in the day to day business of book production and sales, but don’t let that kind of distance lull you into complacency. Understanding the costs, methods, and labor involved will only help you negotiate a fair share of the revenue and further your career as an author.
Understand the industry
There are two primary avenues to publication. You contact a major publisher and use their distribution channels and connections to manage the production and release details. The other avenue is to self-publish, likely with print-on-demand services offered by amazon and other companies. Either way, you can outsource some or most of the work to others, including editing, writing cover copy, designing the cover and interior, ad placement and sales.
But books are just the threshold in publishing. Books are also released in audio format and digital release formats (e-readers), and distribution outlets are as varied as you can imagine. It may not be feasible to tackle all of them at first, but you should be aware of where your book can be sold, in what format, and how much revenue you can expect per sale.
Understand the costs
Cost is a vital factor in all decision making. Who is fronting the production costs for your book? What kind ad campaign are you planning and how much does it cost? Do you have to pay editors or contributors? How many books will you have to sell to break even? Who is setting the price point? The discount on books?
Not only does someone have to make all of these decisions, but every cost decision affects your revenue stream and your bottom line. Listen, you don’t have to get into the book publishing world to make a living, but assuming you plan to sell even one copy of your book, all of the decisions need to be made whether or not you expect to make a profit.
Understand the volume
Along with costs, volume determines your profit. Revenue is the amount of sales in a given period. Profit is the amount of sales in a given period greater than your expenses. Some authors don’t make a profit (whether they self-publish or go through a major publishing house). How many copies do you need to sell to break even? To live for a month? A year? It’s vital to understand where your break even point is, to understand how you intend to sell that many books without increasing your costs. Because as soon as you spend more more money, your break even point rises and you have to sell more books to get there.
Being a writer means you can focus solely on the writing. It’s a creative process that begins and ends with you. Being an author means understand the business side of publishing too because now it begins with you, but it ends with the reader. Production, sales and marketing are vital components to the publishing process that you, as the author, cannot afford to ignore.
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Andrew Marx is the author of Whisper in the Walls, available to download free at www.whispernovella.com.
May 17
AndrewA Writer's Blog
Whisper in the Walls marks my fourth release as an author (two fiction and two nonfiction) and I compiled a short list of tips for going the self-publishing route.
Don’t market just to your friends and expect to become famous
I knew this going in, so I wasn’t surprised to find out just how true it was. My friends and family are my biggest fans, and I treat them as the best. While I can persevere on their dedication, I won’t thrive on it. In the U.S. alone, there are 300 million people. Even if I consider my circle of connections 300 people strong, there are 299,999,700 other people out there who might also be interested in my writing.
Not everyone will love everything you write
I get a lot of flack for writing both fiction and nonfiction. It appeals to different people, and I often hear that I shouldn’t waste my time on one or the other. Because I am passionate about both, I expect to continue writing both. I am perfectly content if I reach the point where I have one fanbase for my fiction writing, and one fanbase for the nonfiction. To me, that could be the best of both worlds.
That said, maybe the real lesson is that you have to love what you write. If you are passionate about your writing and stand behind your books, it’s a lot easier to take the criticism.
You’re a writer first…
…so understand your limitations when it comes to editing, design, and marketing. As a self-published author, I do it all. But I also lean heavily on partnerships for certain parts of the process. I always have someone edit my book, even if I intend to edit it myself as well. I typically have someone else design the cover (I learned that lesson early on). I do a lot, and I like being hands on in the development of my book, but there are good reasons to have someone else involved. They can bring a different perspective and a better expertise to the process.
Knowing when to do it yourself and when to have someone else work with you is a balancing act. When in doubt, concentrate on the writing and let someone else worry about the rest of it. You are the author.
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Andrew Marx is the author of Whisper in the Walls, available to download free at www.whispernovella.com.
May 13
AndrewA Writer's Blog
Final work is being completed on the first volume of Thank You is Implied: The Annotated Smart ReMarx. The book collects the best Smart ReMarx articles from 1993 to 2008 and enhances them with additional commentary, anecdotes, and sources.
Just like the Smart ReMarx blog, topics run the gamut from pop culture, etiquette, and relationships to writing, business and sports! The book is slated for an August 3 release date and will be available from amazon.com and other retailers. Preorder information will be posted on the microsite at the end of July.
Apr 20
AndrewA Writer's Blog, Humor
Working on the final edits for the new book Whisper in the Wall (May 18) so I decided to channel my inner hero and dress up with a makeshift cape (with a table cloth!) Check out the photos below!
Check out andrewmarx.com for a list of published titles.
(Hey! I resurrected the old “Buy my Book” sign!)
Apr 16
AndrewA Writer's Blog, Humor
You Must Review Me
(sung to the tune of You Must Love Me)
with apologies to Andrew Lloyd Webber
Where do we go from here?
Did you finish the book that I wrote?
You read it all, you bought it from me
I sold it to you!
It’s not about the sale
I need your review for my career to survive
Other readers want to hear what you think
about what you read!
Deep in your heart you’re concealing
Things that you’re longing to say
Excited about what you were reading
Or maybe you just thought it was lame
You must review me…
You must review me…
Why haven’t you shared your thoughts?
What did you think of the book that I wrote?
I look at the amazon reviews every day
and nothing has changed
Deep in your heart you’re concealing
Things that you’re longing to say
Excited about what you were reading
Or maybe you just thought it was gay
You must review me…
You must review me…
If you have read Accidents Happen or What Do You Say to the DJ?, you can use the links below to post your comments:
Accidents Happen
Post a review on amazon (login required)
Leave a comment on andrewmarx.com
What Do You Say to the DJ?
Post a review on amazon (login required)
Leave a comment on andrewmarx.com
Apr 12
AndrewA Writer's Blog
Twice in the last six months, I have dramatically switched gears on a fiction story. The first time was a draft of a full length novel. The vision was clearer in my head than it was on paper, and fortunately for me, my editor said it wasn’t good.
I listened. Although I knew it somewhere deep inside my writer’s brain, it was difficult to acknowledge out loud. I had written almost 20,000 words and it just wasn’t a cohesive story. The plot was choppy and my editor described it as “a bunch of mini stories -- none of them good.”
I also had a person-off-the-street read my book (a friend of mine) who pointed out one redeeming component to me. She said a few of the characters were dead on. I had created a few intriguing, enjoyable characters and she pointed to one specifically that she thought was well-developed and worth saving.
At the time, the book was shelved (literally, I have two printed drafts on my book shelf).
Flash forward to this year and I revisited the entire project. I extracted a few pages describing my reader’s favorite character and begin to build a story around him. My ambitions were smaller. 15,000 words, a tight story already plotted in my mind. And I started to draft my tale about this one guy and his best friend and the girl he loved (who was engaged to someone else).
A week ago, the entire project was scrapped again. It didn’t work. Was it flawed to start with material that had already been sent to the scrap pile? (I would have argued no before, but now I’m not so sure). In fact, had I finished the book, about 2% would have been recycled material. The part I saved was only a description of the character I wanted to revive.
It just never worked. Was I writing in the wrong genre? Possibly. It’s true that both Accidents Happen and Whisper in the Walls (May 2010 release) were so-called “superhero” stories, and both were written easily, the words flowing off my fingers on to the page like a waterfall. I grew up on comic books, particularly the Uncanny X-Men and the Avengers, so hero stories were familiar ground for me. But I have also written three full length nonfiction books to date (including the summer 2010 release Thank You is Implied) so I definitely have written in other genres.
In some respects, it doesn’t matter why it didn’t work, only that I was able to recognize that (twice!) and shutter the project. It’s difficult to put so much effort into a project only to get near the finish line and realize it’s just not working. As a writer, it’s a critical function to be able to self-edit (or at the very least, check your ego at the door when meeting with your editor). I have an obligation to myself and to my fans not to publish subpar material. It costs me in time and production and advertising costs. It might also cost me a few readers if they think I cheated on the quality of a book.
I’m a little sad that the book project is shelved for good. Somewhere in there was the story I was trying to tell; it just never materialized. I am also smart enough not to try and revive the work again. It’s time to move on.
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Andrew Marx is a long time writer on SmartReMarxcom and recently finished a new work of fiction titled Whisper in the Walls, available as a free digital download in May. You can contact him on twitter or leave a comment below
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