Emily Frankel who has a blog called "Em's Talkery" had a recent post about all things 'chic' in our modern world, not the least of which is the E-World of publishing. With all the smart, stylish, elegant gadgetry in the E-World, we can communicate our ideas and thoughts within seconds all around the orbiting globe. Guess that's pretty awesome, particularly for us 'old dogs trying to learn new tricks.' Awesome, chic, whatever the defining adjective used, it is a rather incredible world we're living in today.

Not long after reading Em's post on 'Chic,' I read another post from an author who has some major concerns as to how he can best market and sell his books. This writer was concerned that his books were not selling to his satisfaction, even though he was getting 5-Star reviews in good numbers, even though he was utilizing the social media networks and blog sites to the max. He was asking for suggestions, replies to his post that just might open a door he had not thought to open. In essence, he was asking, does social media and do the blog sites sell books?

Along with many other writers I responded to his post. Without exception, each responder felt that the E-technology we have today is indeed awesome and mind-boggling, 'Chic' with a the big 'C.' With the praise for the technology came the resounding 'I don't knows.' Other than providing consistent name recognition for your brand name (you and your book titles), social media (twitter, facebook, et al) and free book give-aways, author interviews, and even 5-Star reviews aplenty were not selling a lot of books for some very good writers. A few of us responders told the inquiring writer that we had just about run the 'daily wars' gamut, you know, where you begin each day catching up with your followers on twitter, facebook, goodreads, linkedin, whichever, check your blog sites, write a new post, plus maybe fit in some family issues --- and I'm talking about us 'old dogs' in this new 'Chic' world, already in or approaching retirement from the world of work. A few of us told him that we loved to write and that we were getting caught up in this new E-World fantasy and not doing a lot of tapping on the old laptop keys...told him basicallly that we were just going back to our writing, keep our blogs updated with our books and let the chips fall where they might.

Sales and Marketing was my business for some years and I must admit that I'm stymied in this digital environement --- amused with it but also confounded by it. Now, I'm smart enough to know that some savvy folks have found some E-Doors to open that I don't know about, are younger and have the brain power, energy, stamina, and wherewithal to cope with this new E-World. I'm happy for these people, envy them in a nice way, and wish they would 'pro bono' themselves to my website and let me know their secrets. It's doubtful anyone would be so disposed.

Now I know what some of you are thinking, that maybe we authors are too much in love with our writing efforts to see the flaws in our 'product.' Not a chance! Our works are great! Remember the 5-Star reviews we have, and not from friends and relatives with false names. I've read some of these writers, and I know they're good. I rather suspect that the devil is running loose somewhere within this E-World technology...there is too much free stuff out there to read that people don't have the inclination to buy books. Would you? When you can get them free?

Anyway, me! welcome to the E-World! If I find the magic key and a door, I'll get back to you.

Keep writing, good authors 'of the pen!' Remember, we're in cyberspace...if not now, maybe we will be bought and read in another millenium.

"Somebody Likes Us!"
  
We all have our reasons for writing and it's a good bet that most of those reasons are fairly standard...to fulfill a desire...to become established, famous, successful...to simply tell a story...to scratch an ego itch...for all these and many other reasons. Does it really matter what our reasons are for writing? Any reason is valid and need not be magnified, right? Well, not quite. Some might write to hurt someone, to slander, to libel, to ruin someone or some entity. Let's just assume for this post that our reason for writing has a noble intent and has no malicious purpose.So we write a few books and there come the critics, the reviews that can range from 5-Star to 3-Star, even lower. The world of reading seems to thrive on reviews, what someone thinks about her/his reading experience. There are professional review services. There are housewives, husbands, people in book clubs, avid readers who are moved to comment about a writer's effort. It is a fact of life in the relationship between reader and writer.

So, you have written what you consider a relatively good book...sure, even you can in the final pre-publish reading find things you could change --- extend a section, remove a section, embellish here, there, increase the length, decrease the length, etc. In the end you feel that you have written an entertaining book, maybe not the perfect quintessential novel that you know is
still inside you somewhere but a good book. The reviews line up, the 5-Star, the 3-Star, the 1-Star, the fractional Star, and you begin to analyze the reviews, maybe even agree with a point or two the people are making. The emotions begin to swirl. Of course, you gravitate toward the 5-Star, 4-Star reviews and are elated. The bad reviews bring conflicting thought patterns. There is an initial sinking feeling which will likely become anger, and, at some point, you will equivocate, deny, only to finally acknowledge that perhaps the negative points made in the bad reviews have validity.

Your thought processes on reviews run the gamut. 'What gives this person the right to publicly condemn my efforts, this Hannah Housewife, this Harold Husband? Hell, I likely gave them the book free on amazon during a free giveaway day! Cost them nothing and they're critiquing me!' You go back and re-read the 5-Star and 4-Star reviews, get some renewed sustenance. But, most of all, you're in a dither and doubting yourself and your writing talent because you could not please everyone. Chances are very good you are not being controlled by a publicist, someone who shelters you from this wasteful
dithering. As an independent author you are a one-person publishing house, writing, editing, marketing, promoting, getting lost in all the digital world's 'ways and means.'

Does an established, famous, author get a mixture of critiques? Perhaps not so many because the pros have the reading Pavlov public 5-Star oriented. But the truth is, yes, even these most popular penners of best sellers get their negative reviews as well. They have a much better shield in place to deflect the nasty words that cause the dithering.

All of this is not to say that you, I, and the countless other writers do not have our book flaws. Most probably, we have many flaws in our books, and with each new book we write, we are getting less and less errata. We are, as they say, growing our craft. Will we get to that stage where we live among the giants of our writing world? Some certainly will because talent cannot be denied too long.

It is very difficult to separate ourselves from the critics in the writing field, but we can remember what our reasons are for writing. We will still experience the dithering, but it seems to me we have to stay true to whom we are. If we are getting 5-Stars along with some minimal Stars, somebody likes us. And, that is the message: remember your reasons for writing and just know that somebody likes us. My belief is you get better with each writing effort. Just stay committed to your course. Believe in yourself.

Somebody Likes Us!

So Many Ways To Confuse!
Posted on September 8, 2012
  by  billyraychitwood1

 Fancy yourself a writer?

Yeah, me, too. I’m writing my tenth book. My first book was actually published by a small pub house in the 1990s. It was after this experience that the decision was made to go it alone, that is, be a one-man show: write, proofread and edit, re-edit, re-edit, re-edit, publish, market/promote, sell, and try very hard to understand the new internet language of the day. You know, URLs, Feeds, Links, Tags, Keywords, Blogs, Posts, Websites, Widgets, Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, on and on? That’s when it hit me like a bad tooth ache: I’m a freaking anachronism — I know nothing about this new digital world we live in.

Well, you can see I didn’t give up. You do see, right? Those nine books I’ve got on amazon.com? Really, you haven’t seen them? Well, you should… Whatever, with all my hooting and hollering, my ranting and raving, my wife sure wished at times that I would give up. I’ve tried the social media, nay, I’ve become a slave to the social media. There are several long visits each day to Twitter, to Facebook, to WordPress, to Goodreads, to Pin-It, to Google Plus, to my Website and blog sites, to two e-mail sites, et al. Now, being an older fellow, I’m up at 7:00-8:00 AM and, darn, before there’s a clue, it’s 5:00 PM and I’ve done virtually no writing at all. And everyone knows what happens at 5:00 PM, right? No, not cocktail hour! Well, maybe cocktail hour! But, the news of the day comes on at 5:00 PM, and, being good citizens of the world, we need to know what’s happening around the globe… So, now, it’s dinner time and soon to be 8:00 PM. My wife needs to watch a couple of TV shows. Now, it’s 11:00 PM. I’ve got no juice left for writing my masterpiece. I take a pill and go to bed. No writing!

That’s the point! No Writing! I want to write and finish that tenth book (I like even numbers!). Yet, like all of us ‘best selling authors’ (mind your chuckles!), there is the almost prurient side of me that wants the books I’m writing to sell — like, viral sell! Time is of the essence for me (playing the age card!) and I’m beginning to wish this electronic age had not been so fast and furious in coming at us. It would just be so very nice to have a publisher again, a good one, a publisher who expertly handles the nitty-gritty details of editing and promotion. They would surely find more of my errata than I’m likely to find. They could likely even suggest ways to make my masterpieces even better — it’s okay to ‘yuk-yuk.’

Anyway, there are so many ways today to confuse us poor beat-up writers, to keep us from doing what it is we really want to do. Sure, there are those with the ‘e pluribus unum’ to hire publicists and get these things done, but I’m a stingy stick-in-the-mud who has just got to do it his very own way, goofs and all.

So, the question is: Is there someone out there who will work pro bono and get me out of this mess I’m in?

Okay, if you’re all going to sit there laughing your fool heads off, I’m outta here!