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The Very Rich Indie Writer (2011)

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Re: The Very Rich Indie Writer (2011)

#5
post #3

How has the market changed since 2011? Is there a current list of top trending authors with a way to calculate revenue? Is kindle still a strong ebook platform to publish on?

It is still the ebook platform. Unless you publish directly in the web like Worm author Wildbow, but then you'll make money from Patreon (Wildbow makes $70k a year).

Re: The Very Rich Indie Writer (2011)

#6
I'm the indie developer of a marketing tool/community (https://storyoriginapp.com/) for self-published authors like the ones mentioned in this article.

Not necessarily related to the article, but for other interested in the learning more about the self-publishing world.

Courses and training for authors on how to use Amazon ads, Facebook ads, build an email list, etc. has become incredibly easy to find. Some of the bigger names in the space are Mark Dawson, Nick Stephenson, Joanna Penn, Derek Murphy, and the 20BookTo50K community.

Authors are now essentially internet marketers who also happen to write books.

Re: The Very Rich Indie Writer (2011)

#7
post #6

I'm the indie developer of a marketing tool/community ( https://storyoriginapp.com/ ) for self-published authors like the ones mentioned in this article. Not necessarily related to the article, but for other interested in the learning more about the self-publishing world. Courses and training for authors on how to use Amazon ads, Facebook ads, build an email list, etc. has become incredibly easy to find. Some of the…

> Authors are now essentially internet marketers who also happen to write books.

For better (anyone can get started from their bedroom with just a laptop and an internet connection) and worse (less time spent on actual writing, likely no correlation between being a good marketer and a good artist), isn’t that true of all creative endeavors nowadays?

Re: The Very Rich Indie Writer (2011)

#8
It's absolutely astonishing to me how bad these books are. Not simply the weak plot, two-dimensional characters, and cliched writing, but grammatical and punctuation errors, continuity errors and logical mistakes.

I really don't think I'm a snob or a pedant. I happily read cliche-drenched hard science fiction and horror. I don't think it's too much to ask for subject-verb agreement and proper punctuation. I don't think it's to much to remember what kind of vehicle the characters are traveling in within the same paragraph.

I suppose it bothers me because when a writer has that little respect for their own work, I feel like I've been scammed. I've been sold a product the manufacturer knows is defective and can't be bothered to fix.

Re: The Very Rich Indie Writer (2011)

#9
post #7
post #6

I'm the indie developer of a marketing tool/community ( https://storyoriginapp.com/ ) for self-published authors like the ones mentioned in this article. Not necessarily related to the article, but for other interested in the learning more about the self-publishing world. Courses and training for authors on how to use Amazon ads, Facebook ads, build an email list, etc. has become incredibly easy to find. Some of the…

> Authors are now essentially internet marketers who also happen to write books. For better (anyone can get started from their bedroom with just a laptop and an internet connection) and worse (less time spent on actual writing, likely no correlation between being a good marketer and a good artist), isn’t that true of all creative endeavors nowadays?

Absolutely not! What an appalling and ridiculous thing to say. Even just to say it of writers. Let alone "all creative endeavors" (Maybe you didn't mean to cast such a wide net there. Maybe you just meant to include...the people who market themselves on the internet.)

That word 'essentially' is vague to the point of unfalsifiability - whatever I could say against that, you could say, "Yeah, but essentially.." - the word sounds objective but means 'whatever I think is the most important/central/defining feature'.

The artists/musicians/writers/etc who are good at getting work for themselves has always been very different from those who are good at the art. And the people at the top of whatever charts (pop music etc) would be the first to admit they're not the greatest.

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