Now this is a great bio page

http://www.ingermanson.com/home/personal.php

Tough love for wannabe writers

Jane Friedman, my editor at Writer’s Digest for Write is a Verb, has compiled her best tough love reality slap for those of you who are really serious about being published writers. To paraphrase Betty Davis (who said Old age is not for sissies), writing and publishing are not for wimps.

Get some tough love from Jane and go get published if you (and you work) are up to it:

http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2009/10/06/TheSecretsToPublishingSuccessJanes2009ToughLoveGuide.aspx

How I got an agent in one day video

Managing to eat while being an author

“I never had any doubts about my abilities. I knew I could write. I just had to figure out how to eat while doing this.” –Cormac McCarthy

I came across this quotation the other day and had to laugh. I also realized it spoke to something very important for people who would be authors.

There is a business side to writing and publishing: making sure you write something people will want to read; getting agents and publishers to take the book on; getting readers to buy the book when it is published; getting the word out about the book; managed the money aspects of being a writer.

I cover all this stuff in my live and online courses on writing and publishing.

There are two faces to writing:
1. Your raw energy and writing abilities;
2. Your ability to get the book into the world and have it support your writing.

Some people are better at one than the other, but you must attend to and master both to get the book written and published.

Bill

As usual, I invite you to learn more by visiting: http://www.getyourbookwritten.com

Waiting for inspiration is like waiting for Godot

“I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.” Peter De Vries

If I had waited to write until I was inspired, I would have far fewer books written. I decided to work and wait for inspiration to show up while I was working. Writing, and any creative act, is a funny thing. You are not always inspired and you can’t directly control inspiration. But I find that when I work hard at the craft of writing, the art becomes easier. I am more confident that because I have pulled it off before (that is, completed a book and gotten it published) that I can do it again. And that seems to prime the pump of creativity so that I come up with ideas for books quite regularly. Most working writers I know have more ideas than they have time to write in a lifetime.

So, start working at writing and maybe the Muse will deign to visit you when you are at the writing desk or your computer or the coffee shop or the kitchen table or wherever you write. Once she knows where and when you’ll be there, especially if you develop regular habits, she is more likely to know where to find you.

Another blog to a book advance

The New York Times recently ran an article (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/fashion/30web.html?ref=books) about a guy who began blogging only a short time before he reportedly got a $300,000 advance from Random House for a book derived from his blog, Stuff White People Like (stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com). He has gotten 19 million hits on his blog since he started. (A few more than this blog, it must be noted.)

Have you started blogging your way to a book yet?

Enough

Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book. –Edward Gibbon

 

I came across this quotation today and it really struck a chord. That was me when I started writing (okay, maybe I did have some habits of thinking, but the other two are right on). I just started writing even though I wasn’t a good writer and didn’t know a thing about the publishing industry.

 

I attended a writing workshop once with former screenwriter turned therapist, Dennis Palumbo. He began the workshop telling a story about an encounter he had with Robert Redford in which Redford expressed some envy about Paul Newman. Redford thought Newman had it made and Palumbo was thinking that everyone else thought Redford [fixed typo, thanks Tony!] had it made. It occurred to Palumbo that this was an indication of scarcity. If Redford didn’t think he had enough at that level of success, fame and financial success, it was never going to be enough. That led him to develop one of his three rules for writing: Who you are and what you know right now is enough to start writing.

 

Don’t wait for the ideal conditions, that new model of computer, the room in your house to get remodeled,  the kids to graduate and leave home, the job to become less hectic, the next writing workshop, and on and on and on. Start now. Write now/right now.

 

You are enough. You have enough. You know enough.

 

Right now. 

Grammar Girl – Turning a podcast into a book

Grammar Girl. Former freelance science writer Mignon Fogarty decides to create a podcast discussing common grammatical errors she encounters in her editing work. She launches Grammar Girl, a lighthearted and kindly guide to grammar. Fast forward sometime later. Oprah is doing a show on grammar. Several of her staffers tell Oprah she must get Grammar Girl. Problem: Grammar Girl has a book contract but no book to tout when she is to go on Oprah, wasting a golden opportunity. Solution: She and her publisher, working non-stop for several days, create an audio book version from Grammar Girls podcast audio files and make the book available through Audible.com. Many audiobooks are sold, saving the day. Writers will find this essential and the rest of you may just find it amusing and helpful. You can learn about Spoonerisms, when to use lay vs. lie, when to use sit vs. set and other good stuff, presented with a light touch. You can get the podcast through iTunes or visit GG’s website: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/

 

The point for those of you who are aspiring writers? Pursue your interests and passions. Put something out into the world rather than sitting and dreaming about it. (Of course, make sure this isn’t a distraction from your writing or something you are doing instead of writing). Podcasts, like blogs, can enhance your platform and can generate material to use in your writing project. And as Grammar Girl has shown, it might even get you a book contract or a spot on Oprah.

How writing a book and getting it published can increase your income indirectly

I came across a report from www.raintoday.com in which they measured the indirect impact on professionals of writing a book and getting it published. Obviously, if you get an advance on royalties for your book and if your book “earns out” (that is, earns back at least its advance after publication), you can earn money from your book. But this reports attempts to quantify the indirect income authors earn from their books.

The report found that median indirect income – from more and better speaking engagements, the ability to generate more leads, to charge higher fees, to close more deals, etc. – was approximately $100,000.

I have certainly found the indirect income resulting from a book, mainly in increased fees and speaking engagements, but also from ancillary sales from other products as well (other books, audios, videos, consulting and coaching, boot camp signups).

I’ll discuss another aspect of this report in a future post, but for now you can use this as additional motivation for getting off your duff and getting your book written and published.

By the way, I have just revamped my Online Book Writing and Publishing Course. I have made it even more powerful and easier to take by breaking it up into chapters with specific focuses (foci?).

Chapter 1 – Introduction and Overview of the Course
Chapter 2 – Finding the Energy to Write and Sustain Your Through the Writing and Publishing Process
Chapter 3 – How to Start Writing, Write Fast and Write Well
Chapter 4 – Overcoming Writing Blocks and Fears
Chapter 5 – Developing a Platform to Increase the Odds Your Will Get Published to Agents, Publishers and Readers
Chapter 6 – How to Write a Winning Proposal To Sell Your Book Before You Write It
Chapter 7 – Finding and Getting An Agent (and whether you need one or not)
Chapter 8 – Money and Contract Matters
Chapter 9 – Completion, Recap and Plans for Going Forward with Your Book Project

The small investment you will make in the course (which you can take at your own rate and pace from anywhere you have a computer and Internet access) can, as the report on indirect income from being a published author indicates, pay off handsomely. The course is only $397 (USD) and you can earn that back and more by selling your first book. Visit: http://www.getyourbookwritten.com and click on the About the Online Course tab.

Now you can hear me as well as read me talk about getting your book written and published in record time

I have a new version of the audio blog/podcast I have been doing. Episodes will be released on a regular basis. I read somewhere that 38% of people are auditory learners, so this may be for you.

Visit: http://www.getyourbookwritten.com/getpublishedinrecordtime/podcast.html