When Life Throws You a Curve Ball

It’s crazy. Just when I have plotted out my life for the next umpteen months and settled back to work the plan, Life throws me a curve ball. It shouldn’t surprise me.

Enough seasons have passed through my earth-bound existence that I should know better than to think any long-term plan will play out exactly as I have envisioned it. It must be the optimist in me, for I keep planning.

Or maybe it’s my insanity. You know the old definition of lunacy: doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different outcome.

However, my recent roadblocks are just that–little obstacles. The unanticipated hiccups don’t really change my plans. My destination is still the same: write books. Now, I will have a few detours through unfamiliar neighborhoods. That can be a good thing, right? It adds color, dimensions, flavor to my collection of life experience.

I’ll stop rambling and be more concrete.

I make my living by farming. I make hay, cut wood, and grow vegetables for selling. This year I planned to add the sale of landscaping stone to my product line. Due to another hiccup in my life plan, my way of making a living was to be more important than ever in 2013. But. . . .

Karma has other plans. I have torn my rotator cuff. I am scheduled for surgery soon and will be convalescing for six months afterward. No farming this season. No farming means no income.

Thankfully, there is nothing wrong with my brain. So I have to ask myself, is the Universe clearing a path for me to write?

The Five Mistakes Killing Self-Published Authors

The Five Mistakes Killing Self-Published Authors.

The link above is to Kristin Lamb’s blog. The linked article is invaluable to anyone who plans to self-publish. The key points she makes are:

1. Self-publishing makes it too easy to publish poor material.
2. Learn the business of writing before publishing.
3. Marketing is a necessary evil in order to sell books.
4. Don’t give your books away for free.
5. The minute you publish your first book, start your next one.

 

Marketing Tip: When You Release a New E-Book

     This week in my writing class taught by mystery writer Lauren Carr, I learned a marketing trick that I intend to use when my book is ready for release. Here’s a story to illustrate the power of using this tip.

     A new author released her first novel as an e-book. Readers were reluctant to spend their hard-come-by dollars on an unknown author, fearing they would be disappointed. The author’s sales were nearly non-existent.

     On a whim, the new author decided to write a short story and offer it as an e-booklet for free in the same venue as her e-book. Readers downloaded the freebie. They liked what they read. Then they searched for more works by the new author. The readers, who now had a taste of the new writer’s work, found the new novel and ordered it. Before long, the new author had sales equal to other well-known authors.

     Lauren Carr, who currently has four novels available through Amazon.com, will be releasing her fifth novel in early summer. She heard about the success of the novice author in marketing her book via the use of the giveaway e-story. Carr decided that if she used a similar tactic, she may lure new readers for her novels. Carr e-published a short story called “Lucky Dog” and reports that the story is selling at $.99. She hopes the interest in “Lucky Dog” translates to sales for the new release.

     Carr says, “The short story cost me nothing but my time. I have about 3 hours of time invested in the writing.” A bit more time was needed to format and upload the document to an e-marketer.

     The award-winning author recommends this tactic as a way for a new author to develop a following.