Monday 24 February 2014

When I say work I only mean writing. Everything else is just odd job.

“When I say work I only mean writing. Everything else is just odd jobs.”
—Margaret Laurence

I know many of the readers of this blog are still debating the perils of trad publishing over self publishing. You’ve finished your manuscript and you don’t know what to do. Face the rejection or going down the traditional route - who knows you might get lucky or just self publish and again you may make it big (In both cases I believe your success is partly down to luck and partly down to how much time and effort you are willing to invest) . A writing buddy recently sent me this interesting report on author earning which I thought I would share the link with you lovely people. It’s a fascinating debate on whether you should use traditional publishers or just self publish and the result is that the self-pubber wins. Personally, the way I read it is that if you get one of the top five publishing houses and you are not just ‘mid-list’ then you are better sticking with trad publishers. Additionally if you write genre fiction – so your book slots perfectly into ‘romance/ mystery/thriller’ categories- you have a high chance of earning well by self-pubbing. But the article doesn’t just paint a rosy picture of self publishing. The author clearly indicates that in order to be a successful self-pubber you have to have some dedication, determination and a bit of luck.

If you want to make a career out of writing or even just make a bit of pocket money then you must read this article. Here it is:


If you don’t read the article you may be interested in this link below sited in the article.  It’s a calculator to turn your amazon rank into a sales predictor. Good, if like me you haven’t published yourself and what to chart your rank and therefore sales figures alongside your marketing efforts. Also it’s a good guage to see how many books you are selling so you can 1) do something about it if sales are poor and 2) help you boost motivation whilst working on your next project and 3) know what to expect when you receive that first royalty statement.


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