Working 24/7

I'm on vacation this week, but my books are working 24/7!

The really cool thing about epublishing is that a reader can purchase and download a book at any time from almost everywhere in the world.

There is no need to be without something to read ever again.

It sounds terrific, but the more I think about the business of selling books, the more surprised I am that bookstores made it as long as they have.

Here's what I know about selling books:

There is always a library in every neighborhood full of free books (so as a book seller, I want to sell to libraries);

Just because a reader buys a book, it doesn't mean they will read it.  Books can sit around on coffee tables for decades before anyone bothers to read them.  It happens!  (Ebooks can languish away on hard drives world wide, but no one knows...)

It's hard to know exactly why anyone even wants to buy a book.  Readers buy books based on the covers or the placement in the store or just because it looks better than anything else they happened on as they browsed the shelves.  People who love to read have their likes and dislikes in reading material and those who don't really like to read, but buy books in case they suddenly want to read (which is not really very likely) will probably regift the book or start it and then donate it or sell it;

A lot of people don't read very often (or for fun).  A lot of people read 1-2 books a year and one of those books was actually a movie based on a book (that counts, right?);

A lot of people who do like to read don't have e-readers but prefer to buy hard copy books; and

Some people go to bookstores to drink coffee and look at books there (without buying them).  The last time I was at a big bookstore at the North Shore Mall, there were a few people browsing for books and the coffee shop was completely full of people looking at books!

It was a wonderful scene (and probably explains why the coffee there is so expensive).



For e-book writers, it's really impossible to give away a free copy of your book and expect anyone to talk about it after they read it.

There are some groups that solicit reviews online.  You can ask your colleagues and friends to read the book and help you out with a review, but honestly, even if you hand out a large number of books for free, it might not make much of an impression.


Ok, OK, so why is it so great to have a book out there that no one cares about 24/7?

All I can say is that writing a book is a positive experience.  Selling the book sucks, but knowing it's out there for that 1 random reader who loves to read your books on an e-reader and might just possibly tell a friend or two they loved your book, makes it worthwhile.

The one truly amazing thing about epublishing is that the writer decides when to sell a book and when to withdraw it.  The writer also sets the book's price (with the understanding that the retail site takes its cut).  

When writers get their works out into the world, society changes.  Think about what happened when the printing press was invented.  The internet and webpages changed the way human beings communicate with each other.

Being able to upload your writing to several retail sites instantaneously is a power very few writers have imagined.  Savor this artistic explosion, but don't forget to take a vacation here and there.

Your books will keep on working even if you're relaxing on the couch.

S O C I A L Media Game

This week, let's talk.

Blogging without comments is lonely.  It's like going to a party and not knowing anyone and trying to talk to people, but they just smile and go hang with their friends.

photo by skinwon

It is time for a party game!  I want to hear from you!  In every blog I write, I ask you a question.  If you read this post, please find a blog entry on Zap! Writing or Goodreads if you are reading this there and leave a comment.  At the end of your comment, please ask me a question (or your readers in general to really make this social experiment work).

image www.mynameisgigi.com

Please repost this anywhere you like and leave me a comment where you posted it and I'll come check it out!

Let's put the S O C I A L in social media! 

Let's talk about Success and Influence

When I lived in Iowa City, there was a writer there who wrote a little book that was turned into a movie with a character named Rambo.  Do you know who starred as Rambo in the movies?  Do you know who wrote the book the movie was based on?  

That writer drove a beat-up car with a muffler held on with duct tape... after the movie came out.

Bet you thought I'd say he drove that beat-up car, then sold the rights to his wonderful book which became Rambo and then drove around L.A. in his new Mercedes.

I can't tell you how much I wish the story went like that.  There is a happy ending here, but it's not going to be about money.   The happy ending here is that a fantastic writer wrote a phenomenal book and although everyone else in this crazy world became filthy rich from his story, the writer went on to write more books.  

Do you know this writer?

How do you define success?

John Locke's book, "How I Sold a Million E-Books in 5 Months" is a great place to look for how he defines success (and his heart-rending story of failure after failure after failure).  What stood out for me the most in the book was how John named each of his books and set sales goals for each book.  He applauded the success of each and monitored them as if they were his employees - how did Rachel do this month?  Thanks, Jill, your success just bought my groceries!  John Locke defined his goals and found a way to measure the success of each book.  He did not measure his own self-worth or success by how many (or how few) books he sold or how much money he sank into a pursuit that initially was a moneypit.  Like the world famous writer above who used duct tape to hold his car together, so he could keep moving, John Locke, used everything he had to keep things moving forward.

John Locke's Staff Directory

Find a way to hold your dream together and success will follow.

Somewhere in your life, there's someone who believes in you.  We don't have cheerleaders like the character Gary in the Pokemon series.  That would be nice!  You'll find people who are willing to read your blog, willing to read your crappy first drafts and willing to show up to your book readings just to say hi.  You'll find a few people who are willing to pay 99 cents for your book and tell others that it was a fun read.

Why does negative influence from the trolls, griefers, and gripers have so much power online?  

There's a famous social media saying, "Don't feed the trolls."  Trolls are the negative folks who spend their days alerting the world to how much you suck.  The best way to handle trolls is to ignore them.  However, there is another famous saying in social media, "everything online stays online forever."  So, without feeding the trolls, by default the trolls' hard work stays permanently in place with your social media.

Over time, your fans and influencers will step up and override the trolls, but dealing with the negative influence will not help you on your path to success.  Let all that go.  When someone finally steps forward and says, "hey, leave her alone, she's a nice person working hard," give that person a LOT of your attention and if you can, help them in turn!

Success comes to those who pick up the pieces time after time.  Success comes to those who never give up.  Success comes to those who keep writing when their first books don't sell and frankly stink.  You are the success of all your failures, triumphs and efforts.  Your success is a shadow of all your smiles, frowns, tears, late nights, early mornings, missed meetings, showing up time after time and shaking hands with a few good people over the years.  

Influence is coming out from the shadow of success and telling everyone that you're who you are today because of a roll of duct tape, a book from a guy who names his books and sets sales goals, a high school teacher whose daughter wrote and said you were a nice girl, a teacher who hated your writing, a teacher who loved your writing and a teacher who said "if you don't cry when you write, you can't write poetry."  Influence is taking all those stories and wrapping them around you like a fur cape and then flinging back the cape and confidently telling the world to gather around:  it's time to tell a story.

It's YOUR time!  Make a wish and tell your story!

Happy Easter! Holiday Scenes in Books - fun & easy!

Happy Easter!

My books almost always feature holidays.  In my first romance novel, A Guy's Best Friend, it all kicks off at a New Year's Eve party and by the 4th of July, my main character knows things are not where they should be.  My readers do get their Happy Ending by the following New Year's Eve!

In my second book, A Guy's Worst Nightmare, the main holidays featured are the 4th of July and Halloween.  I even wrote a scene about the famous playboy bunny Halloween party!

So far, in book 3, I'm once again looking at the 4th of July and I just realized since this book, A Guy's Dream Come True, is about starting over and renewal, I'd be a fool not to write about Easter on Revere beach!

We Hansens have an Easter tradition:  we walk Revere Beach!  The sand is cold and there's usually a little coldness in the wind (except for the year it was almost 80 degrees on Easter Sunday and then we had a snowstorm with 2 feet of snow on Easter Monday!)  Warm winds greeted our bare arms and legs that Easter Sunday!

That combination of ultra-hot and ultra-cold sounds completely unbelievable.  If I wrote that scene, my readers would never believe it!

Yes, life is stranger than fiction.  Holidays are always stranger than an average day.  For readers, a holiday scene signals something important is about to happen.

What an easy way for writers to draw readers down the path and deeper into the story.  Let me know some of your favorite books with holiday scenes or about holiday scenes you are currently writing in your own books.

Stuck in the middle of a story? To toss or to tell it through to the end?

“It's important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go. Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse.” 

― Yann Martel, Life of Pi

A completely minor and unimportant moment in the book and movie, "Life of Pi," was fascinating to me:  the fictional author interviewing Pi shares his own life-changing experience with Pi:  he had worked on a book for over two years and had finally given up and thrown the book away.  

I, personally, would never give a "writer" who had abandoned a story MY story.  Never. 

Why would anyone bother to finish a book if they have to work through it?  Shouldn't the story flow perfectly from Once Upon a Time to The End?  

All writers start with a dream:  a captured moment of pure inspiration. (Zap! Writing)   

Here's where writers separate from dreamers in the pack:  the personal, internalized "moment" of inspiration has to be expressed externally as a story.  The writer chooses how to express the story she wants to tell.  Will it be a poem?  A book?  A song?  A play? 

A dreamer can fake it through step one and start expressing an internal moment as a story, but the thrill for the dreamer is reliving the moment of inspiration; not the creation of the external story.  The dreamer wants to keep the inspiration for herself.  The dreamer will never write out the dream to its conclusion.  Concluding the moment of inspiration would kill the dream.

The dreamer gives up the writing and clings to the dream.  It's MY Moment.  I'm not risking it. I'm tossing the story.  It will never equal my dream.

Now comes the moment of truth.  The writer faces the biggest question of all:  can I tell this story?  Do I have what it takes to push the dream I experienced out of my mind and into the world?  Can I let it go?     

The writer plunges on; putting words on paper until the link between inspiration and external expression of the dream are woven together into a story.  Writers pour dream after dream into each scene of the story to draw the reader into a shared flash of inspiration.

A friend of mine, a talented painter, finishes a painting, shows it and sells it. She's kept a few paintings over the years, but for the most part, if a painting doesn't sell and she needs the space in her studio to work, she re-uses the canvas.  She paints over canvases she didn't sell and isn't planning to show in the future.    

In E-publishing, writers can rewrite over their canvases.  I've received a ton of notices from Amazon that writers have updated their Kindle books with significant edits.  I love that writers are re-painting stories that they want to sell or show.  

Middles are the toughest to write.  There's no doubt about that, but to bring the story out, you have to write out the whole dream.  Don't be afraid you'll sell the dream short.  You dreamed it perfectly and flawlessly.  The dream will always be yours.  Savor your dreams.  Inspire yourself to make your story better as you push through the middle.  Give the middle a chance to bungee back and forth from the moment of inspiration to the conclusion.  Complete the dream.  Move on to repaint the next dream. Push your dreams onto paper. 

HOW to "Write Happy"

What makes you happy writing?

Whatever makes you happy writing, NO ONE can tell you how to write, what to write, when to write, and especially, WHY you write.

Being happy writing, for me, means I write what, when and how I want to write.  I don't care what anyone else thinks about my writing with the exception of my friends/fans.  I care about them.  I write for their enjoyment.

How to "Write Happy"

1)  Shut out the noise.  Noise = TV, music, book reviews, books you're reading, thoughts you have about everything except the story.  You need a break from the noise to write happy.  Mentally push the volume "off" button and write.

2)  Say thank you.  Thank you for being alive.  Thank you for letting me have so much fun writing!  Thank you for the joy my writing brings to others.  Thank you for allowing me to put my thoughts into words.  Thank you for all the noise (when I'm not writing!)

3)  Be selfish.  Take time to write what you want to write.  If you write for a living and have a contract, finish the work so you can WRITE!  Find fun ways to write for yourself.  Use Dragon dictation and write in the car.  Squirrel away ideas you want to write about.  Find pleasure in your own secret writing plans.

4) Expect the unexpected.  It's OK to imagine your book becoming a bestseller or being read and loved by a big movie producer and made into a movie.  Magic happens.  Find joy in all the nice things people say to you after reading your book or for just writing a book.  Revel in it.  You're cool!  You wrote a book!  A friend of mine I hadn't heard from in a few years called me out of the blue yesterday and told me how brave I am to write a book.  It felt really good to hear.  Thank you!

5)  Stop when you're bored or you're done for the day.  I wish YOU all the best and I want you to stop reading about how to be happy writing and go do it!  I would rather discuss this with you in the comments below than try to pull a #6 out of a hat.  My coffee is getting cold and my story is waiting for me.

HAPPY WRITING!
Shawna

shawnasbooks@hansenonline.net
Check out my books on Amazon, BN & Smashwords :)

Be Happy Writing

Hello blog readers,  I'm catching up on my correspondence today and wanted to write you a quick note.

I am so happy that you are writing!  Whenever you tell me about your book ideas, I always think of other books that have similar themes and want to recommend them to you, but I also think that your voice is unique.  My followup thought is always to tell you to keep doing whatever it is you’re doing – dreamweaving and coming up with a story.  You are on to something. 

Taking writing classes is a great way to connect with writers/teachers, but you may find it tedious.  There are a lot of writing groups in every cafe and library across the world, and (whisper) they may get tedious, too.

What I’ve learned over the years as a writer is that I like a little of this and a little of that.  I can only take the classes and the other writers in small doses. Other people's views on writing are helpful, don't get me wrong, but in the end you're alone with your thoughts.  

 I have a few close friends that I share my writing with. It's a big deal to me.  Opening up my art/story/dreams to my friends is one of the best social interactions of all time.  I highly prefer it to social media!

One thing I have overcome is my fear of failure as a writer.  I will never make a living writing.  I will never win any big awards (ok, I have won a couple early on and that was an honor).  My books are imperfect and need a good editor, but I’m happy!  Isn't that funny?  I publish my imperfect books on amazon, bn.com and Smashwords and for the first time as a writer, I’m happy!  

I don’t even care about bad reviews.  Who cares?  It’s the writing and the sharing that are what I want as a writer. 

I love/crave getting emails from my friends that they love my writing and want to read more. I’ve written three books now and am working on #4.  Some of my friends loved them.  (Another thing you learn quickly as a writer is that only your fans/friends love your books.  Stay with your fans/friends.  Write for yourself and for them!)  Some are happy that I'm happy, which also makes me happy!

So long message short - Be Happy Writing!  Not many people care about your writing, but there will be readers who do.  Have fun, be yourself and write your heart out.  You have nothing to lose if you are happy writing!

Don't wallpaper your bathroom with rejection letters.  Don't print out bad reviews.  Don't be unhappy writing!  There are plenty of unhappy writers out there; miserable no matter how many awards they get.  

Remember the secret to a balanced life:  the more you take for yourself, the less you have in the end; the more you give of yourself; the more you get back in the end.

Be happy writing!  

P.S. and don't forget to eat your greens.  :)