Non-famous, first-time writers...you know, the talented ones that actually write their own stuff...have been literally shut out by traditional publishing interested only in the fast buck for the more-than-recent-past!
But, technology has blown a lifeboat their way and one of the big oars that come with that lifeboat is social media...Social media can be their agent, book tour and publicist all rolled into one AND it's free!
Lori Culwell , a published writer and expert in Search Engine Optimization, posted this in the Huffington Post RE her own experience getting published for the first time (a wake-up read):
I think if there's one trait about me that has served me the best while at the same time annoying the most people, it is that I will absolutely not tolerate being told that I cannot do something. "No" is the one word that makes me almost pathologically have to find a way, if for no other reason than to go back to the original nay-sayer and proclaim "See! It could be done -- you just lacked the vision!"
Yes, it is richly ironic that I chose to be a writer and yet I find rejection so odious. I get it.
Now you're wondering how this applies to you.
A couple of years ago, I decided I was going to write a novel. Was I a celebrity, did I have a book deal, or did I once date Hugh Hefner?
No. I just wanted to write a novel. Is that so wrong? I had hope when I started. And yet, even before I was done, the chorus of "that's so hard" was upon me. "It's impossible for an unknown writer to sell a novel these days" turned into a cascade of rejection letters and emails from interns at agents' offices, then editors, publishers, even well-meaning writer friends. The manuscript was barely even done before it was finished, as they say.
But, here's the thing -- I knew the novel was good, and I knew it would sell, and even though I didn't relish the idea of self-publishing, by then I was on a mission, not only to put the book out, but to convince the world, one person at a time if necessary, that my book belonged on their summer reading lists.
Read more http://alturl.com/fbzkd
But, technology has blown a lifeboat their way and one of the big oars that come with that lifeboat is social media...Social media can be their agent, book tour and publicist all rolled into one AND it's free!
Lori Culwell , a published writer and expert in Search Engine Optimization, posted this in the Huffington Post RE her own experience getting published for the first time (a wake-up read):
I think if there's one trait about me that has served me the best while at the same time annoying the most people, it is that I will absolutely not tolerate being told that I cannot do something. "No" is the one word that makes me almost pathologically have to find a way, if for no other reason than to go back to the original nay-sayer and proclaim "See! It could be done -- you just lacked the vision!"
Yes, it is richly ironic that I chose to be a writer and yet I find rejection so odious. I get it.
Now you're wondering how this applies to you.
A couple of years ago, I decided I was going to write a novel. Was I a celebrity, did I have a book deal, or did I once date Hugh Hefner?
No. I just wanted to write a novel. Is that so wrong? I had hope when I started. And yet, even before I was done, the chorus of "that's so hard" was upon me. "It's impossible for an unknown writer to sell a novel these days" turned into a cascade of rejection letters and emails from interns at agents' offices, then editors, publishers, even well-meaning writer friends. The manuscript was barely even done before it was finished, as they say.
But, here's the thing -- I knew the novel was good, and I knew it would sell, and even though I didn't relish the idea of self-publishing, by then I was on a mission, not only to put the book out, but to convince the world, one person at a time if necessary, that my book belonged on their summer reading lists.
Read more http://alturl.com/fbzkd
1 comment:
Thanks, John - Encouraging!
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