It has been a couple of years since I presented my last Writing & Despair Happy Hour (previous ones can be found here on the blog: Writing & Despair Happy Hour . So I think it just may be time for another installment.
Books by Ted William Gross
The saga must continue....
Welcome to Part Nine of the Writing & Despair Happy Hour!
Where We Present
So You Decided To Self-Publish
subtitled:
Who Put That Idea Into Your Head!
So You Decided To Self-Publish
subtitled:
Who Put That Idea Into Your Head!
So there you were, 400 query letters had gone out, some by email, some by snail mail. You waited four years for the answers to roll in. After all everyone told you to have patience and knowing you were an impatient soul, you let time go by. Meanwhile you kept on writing and found yourself with no less than 30 books, all of which you could not get an agent to read.
Being a positive person full of the joy of life and writing you knew that this too was just a small obstacle in the road to becoming a famous author. So what if out of 400 queries, only 10 agents bothered to answer you? So what if your sent email folder had tons of emails which had no "continued conversation". These were just small, petty, little footprints in the map of your life. You will overcome!
Hey, Nutcase. Obstacles are there for a reason and guess what?
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| Despair.com |
And so you searched and searched. What you found out was that today you can actually publish the book you have written yourself, without having to wait for an agent and publisher. The Forums were full of authors who claimed to have made a killing and become best-selling authors at that. The secret? All you had to do was believe in yourself. All you had to do was regain that self-respect. "Believe in yourself," they said, "and you shall overcome!"
Yeah, right! And exactly what planet are you living on?
You also knew you had something unique. A new story to tell the world. After all, you told yourself, every writer has a special, unique and diverse style. And it was just a matter of bad luck that you have not been able to enter that vast pool of published authors until now. You were unique! You had an amazing ability to be different. You knew you stood out among the crowd of all that came before you.
So diversity was your friend. You knew how to overcome it. You would succeed and show them all just how great your writing is. You painted words with colors of the rainbow! And boy, was your rainbow ever messed up!
And there you were. Knowing that it was just a bit more work to get that magnum-opus out to the world. You were full of rejuvenated energy. To hell with agents. To hell with publishers. To hell with reviewers. Hope was your friend. You felt your whole soul fill with it. You basked in the light of hope. You reveled in the new found feeling. Your family and friends saw your face turn into one big smile all day long. You were full of renewed hope!
Umm, I really do not want to rain on your parade here, but...
So you decided to do it right this time. You went to the forums and listened carefully to what your fellow authors had to say. They discussed their problems of writing, submissions, publishing, covers, design and all the rest openly and softly. There was wisdom. They wanted you and everyone else to persevere. They were a very motivated group of people. Each with a story to tell. Each with determination and fortitude. So you all joined together offering advice and tips and hints on how to reach the best-seller list. On how to grab the reader. On how to write that opening sentence.
Problems were surmountable. They became opportunities!
So you went ahead and took your stand. Oh boy, was it fun. This time you would do it. This time you would burst out into the wondrous air of glory and fame. This time you were smart and who needed all the other garbage anyway? You designed your book. You uploaded it. You proofed it. And then you had to just "click" to make it available. That little voice inside of you, the only one left with a bit of doubt, said "Yes" then "No". It did this a couple of thousand times, before you just clicked and that was that. You released your book to the world.
You finally took your stand!
Well, the first few weeks did not work out like you thought. Even when you offered your book for free there were very few willing to take a chance. But take heart! Because you have another 30 books inside of you and on your hard disk. One of them has to succeed. One of them has to throw you into the limelight. One of them will surely make you the famous author sitting on all the talk shows. It will just take time and patience of which you have a great deal of. It will work. You will leave your legacy to the world. It will remember you just for who you are.
There is hope. There are possibilities. The great and the famous have done it before you.
You will Persevere!
Stay tuned for our next installment to the Writing & Despair Happy Hour!
All illustrations above are from the Despair.com. All hyperlinks on the posters will take you to their original page @ Despair.com.
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4 comments:
Great post. Looking forward to the next one.
Love it! Thanks for the inspiration! Mark
Love it! Thanks for the inspiration! Mark
I love your visual display of the excursion into indie writing. So true... so true (nods head emotionally)
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