John Reed’s advice to wannabe authors is worth reading… if only for the entertainment value.
It’s counterintuitive to most of what you “think you know” about publishing that’s why I predict you’ll like it.
From John Reed
*Writing talent (or at least the sheer nerve to think you have it - Chuck!)
*Know the subject
*Self-publish - The main reason to self-publish is that publishing is not that hard. Roughly speaking, it is the same as writing something and taking it to Kinko’s to get a bunch of copies run off then creating a series of Web pages about it. You have probably already been to Kinko’s a few times. And you may have a family or business or school Web site that you have contributed to. That’s it, babe. Publishing just ain’t that complicated. (Kinko’s is too expensive to print your books. I just mention them because it is a process you are familiar with.)
*Stay out of the book stores -My first full year not in the book stores was 2002. My net income in 2002 was 257% higher than in 2000. “Hey, Joe. We really love your work. We are going to raise you from your current $43,000 to $43,000 x 257% = $110,510. Is that OK?� Why does getting out of book stores raise your net income 257%? It’s a bit of a complex story. It’s explained in my book. Basically, it has to do with the Internet, which changes everything, and margins and prices and page counts and so forth. To put it another way, you are cutting out all the many middlemen in an industry where the middlemen are especially evil and greedy. Don’t believe me? Try it your way. Write a how-to book and let the book store crowd sell it. You’ll be SOOOrrry.
*Low overhead
*‘Soup Nazi’ marketing -If you do a ton of customer service, you will gradually stop being a writer and turn into a concierge. That is not what I want. I have 30 books and a newsletter now. That’s a lot of customer service. I would not have time to write if I did what I used to do: phone orders, mail orders, fax orders, email orders, foreign orders, rush orders, and so forth. So I adopted my own version of the “Soup Nazi� or self-service pump. I have a Web site with a shopping cart. It takes MasterCard or Visa. You process your own order. When you’re done—if your credit card is approved—you and I each get an email from Yahoo Store giving the details of the order. I then ship you those books. I won’t give you a status report or even tell you if it has been shipped. That all takes time and it’s a waste of time. You get them when you get them. If you send me a check or money order, I will shred it—literally. Mailing it back is like processing an order—for nothing. My order processing requirements are apparently so funny that a number of people have emailed them to friends. I was not trying to be funny when I wrote them. As I became more successful, I found I was spending more and more time on customer service. I would rather spend my time writing. So I just gradually cut out one customer service after another until I now have almost none. You want a book? Go to my shopping cart and fill it out. I am not interested in whether you live in Canada or don’t own a credit card or don’t trust the Internet or any of that. Do it my way or vaya con Dios. I’m not trying to be a hard ass. I just prefer writing to dealing with people who think using a shopping cart and Mastercard or Visa is overly burdensome. They are entitled to their opinion and I am entitled to do without their $30. Bottom line is I make more money overall doing it my way than I would accommodating all those special needs.
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