{"id":6444,"date":"2011-11-25T19:00:51","date_gmt":"2011-11-25T13:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/?p=6444"},"modified":"2014-12-23T16:51:38","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T11:21:38","slug":"is-the-ebook-expressway-every-authors-back-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/is-the-ebook-expressway-every-authors-back-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the eBook Expressway Every Author\u2019s Back Road — to Big Bucks & a Bona Fide Writing Career?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest Expert: Laurel Marshfield<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
\nWhile rarely noticed, there\u2019s an instructive parallel between people who yearn to be famous authors and those who yearn to be famous actors.<\/p>\n

The mainstream literary scene, like Hollywood, is constellated by twenty-five or so big-name authors with literary-auction-level fame (and among actors, by twenty-five or so who possess mega-watt star status).<\/p>\n

Anything these two dozen people write or act in will sell extremely well, because their fame tends to self-perpetuate: their \u201cbrand\u201d sells itself on name recognition alone. J.K. Rowling, Stephen King. Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the total number of people who write and act for a living — that is, professionally — while impossible to accurately calculate, probably levels out in the tens of thousands. These twenty-five thousand, let\u2019s say, aren\u2019t famous (except to each other and fiction or movie aficionados). And though their books or movies may be read or watched by many, very few will remember their names more than briefly, if at all.<\/p>\n

For Whom Does the eBook Revolution Beckon?<\/strong><\/p>\n

But there is also a population of authors (and actors) who may earn a certain percentage of their income from writing (or acting), but who mainly support themselves with a day job. These are the creative yearners (among the authors, at least) for whom the eBook Revolution — that nearly new expressway to what looks like a Do-It-Yourself authorial career — beckons.<\/p>\n

Why so? eBook publishing easily speeds past POD and other self-publishing methods, because its financial and know-how barrier to entry is a lot lower. So nearly everyone with a manuscript can clamber over that barrier and land on the opposite side, overnight.<\/p>\n

What this means is that the eBook world is filled with an avalanche of reader choices. And what that means is that authors taking the eBook Expressway must cultivate additional \u201cdriving skills\u201d to attract readers and get sales.<\/p>\n

A Detour on the Success Side<\/strong><\/p>\n

So let\u2019s take a detour. Let\u2019s look at two of the most successful authors on the eBook Expressway. They are two of a mere handful of authors whose astonishing examples rev-up hope and motivation for those contemplating a drive down this revolutionary, eReader-fueled publishing route.<\/p>\n

Cruising along, just ahead, at about 85 mph, is Darcie Chan. Her eBook, The Mill River Recluse<\/em>, a self-described \u201cquiet, literary\u201d novel (typically very hard to sell) made The New York Times<\/em> eBook bestseller list in August; The Wall Street Journal<\/em> list of fiction bestsellers in October; and sold hundreds of thousands of copies (at $0.99) since it was first uploaded in May of this year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

How did Chan, an attorney by day, do that? The first thing she did was write a novel so appealing that literary agent, Laurie Liss, of Sterling Lord Literistic, agreed to represent her \u2013 even though she was that difficult-to-sell clich\u00e9, an unknown author with a first novel.<\/p>\n

Alas, even Liss couldn\u2019t place this book with a publisher, and Chan was back to square one. Wisely, though, the second thing this author did was make an important decision. She would view all efforts at finding her readership as an experiment in understanding what worked and what didn\u2019t. That saved her from anxiety, despair, and burnout. And as it happened, she didn\u2019t have to wait long before it paid off.<\/p>\n

Among her many experiments (apart from creating a website, Facebook author page, and Twitter account), Chan paid a small fee to have her novel featured on industry blogs \u2013 Ereader News Today<\/em>, Kindle Nation<\/em>, Pixel of Ink<\/em>. After that, she paid for reviews on Kirkus Reviews<\/em> and on IndieReader.com<\/em>. Not long afterwards, her novel spontaneously garnered nearly two hundred customer reviews on Amazon\u2019s and Barnes and Noble\u2019s sites. In other words, by making her book visible in the blogosphere it got noticed by readers who found her story compelling, and soon it was gathering momentum. The rest is an ongoing story (and Chan is at work on her second novel).<\/p>\n

Another eBook success is the singer-songwriter and much-published romance author, Nyree Belleville. Her pseudonymously authored twelve novels sold only moderately well before her big-name publisher dropped her, giving back her book rights. As it turns out, being cast out of the publishing house was a gift in disguise.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Belleville decided to upload an early novel that she now had the rights to on the Kindle platform as a lark. Sales of this book and a handful of others started slowly but soon picked up speed, eventually netting her $500,000. Half a million<\/em> in spite of the fact that she didn\u2019t use promotional strategies, the way Chan did, but relied solely on her existing following and the fact that she was writing in a very popular genre.<\/p>\n

Romance, like other genre novels — paranormals of various kinds, thrillers, mysteries, and some YA sell extremely well because their readers expect not just one novel but an entire series (we meet Dan Brown\u2019s protagonist, Robert Langdon, in book after book), which they also expect to buy.<\/p>\n

Okay, so what\u2019s the take-away, the lesson these eBook success stories bestows? For bestselling eBook thriller author, Joe Konrath, there is<\/em> no lesson. After you\u2019ve done everything you can do to write stellar fiction, promote like crazy, and build a readership, part of any success is sheer luck. And over sheer luck, we have no control. (You can read Konrath\u2019s blog post on this topic here: http:\/\/bit.ly\/rIWYON<\/a> )<\/p>\n

Because this is true, Konrath recommends focusing on what you can<\/em> control \u2013 the very things that Chan and Belleville intuitively directed their attention toward: writing as well as they could, trying new things, learning as they went along, and never giving up. No matter what.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Laurel Marshfield<\/strong> is a professional writer, developmental editor (aka \u201cbook doctor\u201d), and ghostwriter who helps authors shape, develop, and refine their book manuscripts for publication. She offers manuscript evaluation, developmental editing, co-writing, collaboration, ghostwriting, book coaching, and consultation for authors.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Her blog publishes inspiration and advice for the author\u2019s journey: Blue Horizon Communications Blog<\/a> And her free eBook, available for newsletter signup (see the upper right-hand corner of her homepage) is titled: I Need to Be a Bestselling Author \u2013 Is That True?: The Five-Destination Roadmap to Authorship<\/strong>.
\nOn Twitter, you can find her at: @BookEditorLM<\/a>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest Expert: Laurel Marshfield While rarely noticed, there\u2019s an instructive parallel between people who yearn to be famous authors and those who yearn to be famous actors. The mainstream literary scene, like Hollywood, is constellated by twenty-five or so big-name authors with literary-auction-level fame (and among actors, by twenty-five or so who possess mega-watt star […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":6473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[353,3,720],"tags":[9,3,18,329,581,586,226],"class_list":["post-6444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bbmtc","category-book-marketing","category-guest-posts","tag-authors","tag-book-marketing","tag-book-promotion","tag-ebook","tag-ebook-platform","tag-ebook-revolution","tag-ebooks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}