DWS Article: Book as Event

[Boyd]

Just found this article written by Dean Wesley Smith on his website and thought it would be helpful to us aspiring writers.

Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing: #5… Book as Event

And for anyone who hasn't listened to Dean's interview on the Self Publishing Podcast mentioned in another thread, you should definitely check that out as well:

SPP 071 – Killing Sacred Cows with Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Dean certainly has a fastlane mentality when it comes to writing and publishing.

I'd love to see an AMA with him here!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Thriftypreneur]

Just found this article written by Dean Wesley Smith on his website and thought it would be helpful to us aspiring writers.

Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing: #5… Book as Event

And for anyone who hasn't listened to Dean's interview on the Self Publishing Podcast mentioned in another thread, you should definitely check that out as well:

SPP 071 – Killing Sacred Cows with Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Dean certainly has a fastlane mentality when it comes to writing and publishing.

I'd love to see an AMA with him here!

Great read.

Also interesting to note that, yet again, despite what all the communities out there seem to echo (except this one), someone is saying:

I am a believer that more writing promotes writing better than anything artificial an author can do. Just because you finished a novel doesn’t mean you have to spend six months promoting it. Why not spend those same six months writing the next one or two novels?

Yet this Book As Event thinking is causing writer after writer to stop writing and promote their last book. What a waste of time.

Definitely bookmarking that post for later motivation.

 

[Boyd]

My favorite quote in the article along those lines is:

Remember, writers are people who write. Authors are people who have written (and are now promoting). Be a writer.

 

[Breaking Free]

I'm fairly certain DWS is "the" go to guy for anything publishing related. His experience is insanely valuable.

It's even funny, the wording "Book as Event" and how close that is to the Fastlane verbage... think he's familiar with MJ's work?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[COSenior]

Just found this article written by Dean Wesley Smith on his website and thought it would be helpful to us aspiring writers.

Read it and just woke up my husband screaming 'hooray!' Must find time to read more of this blog.

 

[Boyd]

Wow! Another great article by Dean Wesley Smith that I just have to share with the forum:

The New World of Publishing: The Money is All in the Numbers

I admit that I've been spending WAY too much time reading this guy's stuff (when I should be writing) but he provides a wealth of information about the publishing business. I'm amazed at how well it all fits into the Fastlane mindset and approach that is preached here.

The bottom line takeaway from this article: Quantity in numbers of titles is everything.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

Wow! Another great article by Dean Wesley Smith that I just have to share with the forum:

The New World of Publishing: The Money is All in the Numbers

I admit that I've been spending WAY too much time reading this guy's stuff (when I should be writing) but he provides a wealth of information about the publishing business. I'm amazed at how well it all fits into the Fastlane mindset and approach that is preached here.

The bottom line takeaway from this article: Quantity in numbers of titles is everything.

Definitely love this guy's stuff. The more I read of it, the more confident I become in what I'm trying to do. He seems to echo everything I figured out and have planned from studying other indie-authors. Primarily:

— Do no promotion. Just focus on only getting more books and stories up.

Yeah, I know, I know. How will anyone find your work if you don’t promote it? Announce it on your web site, announce it on Twitter and Facebook, and then move on to the next story. You can promote after you have fifty or a hundred things up. Then the promotion and sales and loss leaders will have value.

— Focus on writing shorter lengths if possible.

Even if you are a novelist. Remember the one-hundred-thousand word novel was an artificial creation of the publishing industry over the last forty years to justify price increases. Let your stories go natural lengths. You will discover that most novels are fine around fifty-to-seventy-thousand words. Sometimes shorter. Just write the story you want to write.

— Combine to create more product.

This is only limited by your creativity in some cases. Short story collections are logical, both five story and longer collections. But also short novels can be combined or series books can be combined and so on. More products equal more sales and more money.

Novella Series + Perma-free titles for promotion + Combined series as new products = Winning.

Guy certainly knows his stuff. Just wish I would have found his thoughts sooner. Would have saved me a ton of time in validating my indie-publishing research. Thanks for the confidence-inducing share this morning, Boyd.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.