Top 7 myths about being a author
New Flash!
There are myths floating around about being an author.
- Authors are millionaires - majority of authors write because they have a passion of letting their words out. It's not that they are writing to be the next millionaire. On average most authors make fewer than 10,000.00. Self published authors don't get advances to write their books but have to pay upfront for a contract to have books printed on demand.
- Lights, Camera, Action! - There are millions of books published annually and not all books are made into movies. I can name Fifty Shades of Grey, Pet Cemetery, Waiting to Exhale, and The Help to name a few that were selected to be edited and written into movies. Set your expectations to be realistic.
- Who Needs to Edit? - The myth that you don't need to have your work proof read, edited, and edited again before it goes to print. Why? You can't catch everything and its good if you have others read it, come back to let you know if something wasn't clear, and also make suggestions.
- If you write it they will come- a hard lesson I learned was that you have to always promote your brand. Letting your audience know what you're working on, engaging with them so that they build a relationship with you, and letting them know how your book stands out that they should purchase. Invest in websites, collecting email addresses to build your audience so that you can communicate regularly, and build author pages on Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, and Amazon.
- Educate-I never professed to know everything so I soak up morsels of what others have shared with me. I learned to educate the readers, share something about myself, and offer something. I.e. newsletter, coupons, events.
- Learn your niche- When I first started writing my book I was so excited to be published that the publisher had the marketing consultant to call me with grand ideas and I was vulnerable so I would agree to everything. Wasted a lot of money to learn that my niche was mainly women in New York, California, and Connecticut. I paid for an interview with a well known Business Talk Show Host and his demographics were older white collared men in the southern belt. If I knew what questions to ask I would have known that it wasn't a match and declined.
- Get Rich Quick- If you are writing a book and think that you’re going to get rich quick. Think about the royalties that you receive for each book sold average could be under 2.00 each.There are cost for production of the book, cost for services i.e. formatting, copyright, etc. Also make sure that the book is priced so that it sells. I had a publisher format one of books for hardcover that sold for 36.00 and sat on the shelves.
Not to discourage anyone from fulfilling their dreams of
writing a book. Write the book. Do your homework and learn the business. Being an
author is a business. There are free resources that you can learn from. There
are groups on Face book that you can join and learn from. Some offer workshops
for a small fee and its worth it but do your homework and ask the questions.
Biography of Patricia
A. Saunders
Self Published Author, Patricia A. Saunders was born and
raised in Connecticut before relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area nearly 26
years ago. She received her Master’s in Management from the University of
Phoenix in 2011. After the passing of her mother who had Alzheimer’s, Patricia
decided if she inherited the disease she wanted her words to be her legacy and that
all the words that she kept to herself were to be released.
Her work has been featured on a Coast to Coast Book Tour at
the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Toronto Word On The Street, Sacramento
Black Book Fair, Tucson Book Festival, Miami International Festival of Books
and AARP Life@50+ Spring Convention. Recently she was chosen among 100 authors
from around the United States to participate in the Author’s Pavilion at the
2018 Congressional Black Caucus Convention in Washington, DC.
Follow Author :
Facebook www.facebook.com/blessedpoetpat
Purchase books:
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