Writing - Think Like a Publisher

Books: photo by zole4 from Free Digital Photos

Dean Wesley Smith is a professional writer, a USA Today best selling author. He has over one hundred novels published and is responsible for many episodes of popular long running TV series.

He also finds time to write helpful blog articles and books to help aspiring authors.

Now updating his best seller Think Like a Publisher for the 2015 edition, he is posting the update chapter by chapter on his blog, www. deanwesleysmith.com  The joy of reading the book in this way is that its value is doubled. Not only is it a free way to access great information, but you also have the benefit of the comments section in which he gives practical answers to authors' questions. 

By doing the maths of the writing life, he shows  how it can be  possible to make a living without qualifying for the Amazon bestseller lists and constantly  reminds of the need for patience and hard work. Interestingly, he is not one of the authors with hundreds of five star reviews. He just does the writing and assumably  his work markets itself.

It's a blog well worth investigating and his other bestsellers, Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing, with the second book specifically about Indie Publishing, and the third one on the way, are also available chapter by chapter as blog posts with again the added benefits of the comments.

To  Market or Not ?

I suspect very few of us make a living as professional writers, eking out our income by teaching, full or part-time work or pensions. But it is possible if , like Dean Wesley Smith, we are adaptable, write for hire, ghost write, content write, and correctly price our writing to sell.

It does take planning and dedication and perhaps a bit of luck, though many would say we make our own luck by putting in the work.

It also seems to mean  a minimum of time spent focusing on marketing rather than new writing. 

Check out the writers you admire. How many have hundreds of five star reviews? I looked up a few of the indie publishers I know are making a living. To my amazement, their reviews were in the teens and twenties rather than the hundreds.

Looks like they're writing rather than soliciting reviews. But then they've spent years building their reputations

Anne Duguid Knol

A local and national journalist in the U.K., Anne is now a fiction editor for award-winning American and Canadian publishers. As a new author, she shares writing tips and insights at her very new Author Support blog: http://www.authorsupport.net

Her novella, ShriekWeekis published by The Wild Rose Press.