So 3/4 of the tips are: write a book people want to read?
No clearly, the message is, write self-help books for wannabe writers.
Self-help books for wannabe anythings is not a bad idea. Imagine a self help book for wannabe app developers.
Why most non-fiction authors don't make any money
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Re: Why most non-fiction authors don't make any money
#62Unfortunately most writers of fiction make next to nothing too. Writers often are not happy writing either (unlike painters and video artists who seem to have a whale of a time). Sadly I toiled for 8 years on a novel (while working a day job). It was a massive effort. It might be hard for people to understand but I felt I had to write it (i.e. writers curse). I wish I had spent all that time on studying programming e…
The review that you got there was pretty cool! The reader was actually surprised by the innovative way that you've put together your narrative :)
Re: Why most non-fiction authors don't make any money
#63Unfortunately most writers of fiction make next to nothing too. Writers often are not happy writing either (unlike painters and video artists who seem to have a whale of a time). Sadly I toiled for 8 years on a novel (while working a day job). It was a massive effort. It might be hard for people to understand but I felt I had to write it (i.e. writers curse). I wish I had spent all that time on studying programming e…
Hey I know you're feeling like giving up, but you have to realize that you've only taken the first step--and the good news is, it's a step that only 10% of people ever make! So congratulations! You published your first novel! Only 10% of people ever finish "that novel" they have in their head that they feel the urge to write. I'm proud of you! Now for the next part, which no one like's to hear: the easy part is over.…
What motivational bullshit. Why should the GP continue working hard for little reward?
It's easy to tell someone else to be unhappy and poor isn't it?
Re: Why most non-fiction authors don't make any money
#64Unfortunately most writers of fiction make next to nothing too. Writers often are not happy writing either (unlike painters and video artists who seem to have a whale of a time). Sadly I toiled for 8 years on a novel (while working a day job). It was a massive effort. It might be hard for people to understand but I felt I had to write it (i.e. writers curse). I wish I had spent all that time on studying programming e…
Hey I know you're feeling like giving up, but you have to realize that you've only taken the first step--and the good news is, it's a step that only 10% of people ever make! So congratulations! You published your first novel! Only 10% of people ever finish "that novel" they have in their head that they feel the urge to write. I'm proud of you! Now for the next part, which no one like's to hear: the easy part is over.…
I never really understood these pep talks, given by strangers but like they really know you. I see this on twitter too:
"Hey you, you are beautiful"
"Hey, you are doing a great job this week, I'm proud of you"
The Twitter ones are telling everyone who reads that they did a good job this week. It's a public message. How can it have any sincerity?
I understand the desire to console the GP here, but the Twitter ones make no sense to me.
Re: Why most non-fiction authors don't make any money
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does it, though? I assume you mean "Billion Dollar Muslim: Why We Need Spiritually Inspired Entrepreneurs". It clearly makes mistake #3: "writing broadly about the topic instead of making a clear promise about what the reader will get out of it". What is "clear promise about what the reader will get out of it" in "Billion Dollar Muslim"? Frankly, based on the title I don't see why I should read it, even if I'm somewh…
> What is "clear promise about what the reader will get out of it" in "Billion Dollar Muslim"? Uh, it promises to explain Why We Need Spiritually Inspired Entrepreneurs. I don't think the book needs to appeal to you to count as a clear promise the reader will get something out of it! You could object in the same way to a book called "How to Draw in Charcoal", how "Frankly, based on the title I don't see why I should…
There isn't a book out there that doesn't promise to show its contents to the reader. If we're dividing books into those with a clear promise vs those which are broadly about an area, compare and contrast "How to Draw in Charcoal" with "Thousand Dollar Artist: Why We Need Charcoal Drawings".
Re: Why most non-fiction authors don't make any money
#66Unfortunately most writers of fiction make next to nothing too. Writers often are not happy writing either (unlike painters and video artists who seem to have a whale of a time). Sadly I toiled for 8 years on a novel (while working a day job). It was a massive effort. It might be hard for people to understand but I felt I had to write it (i.e. writers curse). I wish I had spent all that time on studying programming e…
I am slightly bothered by terms such as "Writer's Curse" and "Writer's Block". Doesn't this apply to all creative disciplines and any creative pursuit? What's special about the process of writing?
Re: Why most non-fiction authors don't make any money
#67I enjoyed this, I thought it mostly made good points, and it linked to other articles I will look at. Yet.. I started reading a blogger who teaches how to make a successful blog, sells courses about it, etc. I soon realized her blog is just about her making money from promising to help you make money from your blog. A frighteningly vacuous operation. It seems a modern cousin to the old ad in magazines promising to re…
The article does read like that but he seems to have basically applied lean principles to writing books. And he says he's written 2 books that both make him $10k per month so it seems he's walking the walk.
Re: Why most non-fiction authors don't make any money
#68It seems to me that virtually everyone going into the creative fields (art, music, writing, acting) should enter that field without any expectation to make a living from it. We pay other people to do things that aren’t fun for us, not the other way around.
The owners of and investors in publishing houses, movie studios, and music labels tend to expect something beyond 'making a living'. Whereas those who actually generate cultural phenomena (our culture, aka the shared framework of references that allows us to define an us) see little to nothing from work that is foundational to multi-billion dollar media empires. Not making a living means that the class of people most…
Ha ha what? The problem is there are low barriers to entry to working in the creative arts so there's huge competion. It's like app development. Creating isn't enough. You need a marketing strategy.
Publishers OTOH diversify so can build their empires by backing multiple authors etc, some of whom break out.
Re: Why most non-fiction authors don't make any money
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hey I know you're feeling like giving up, but you have to realize that you've only taken the first step--and the good news is, it's a step that only 10% of people ever make! So congratulations! You published your first novel! Only 10% of people ever finish "that novel" they have in their head that they feel the urge to write. I'm proud of you! Now for the next part, which no one like's to hear: the easy part is over.…
I never really understood these pep talks, given by strangers but like they really know you. I see this on twitter too: "Hey you, you are beautiful" "Hey, you are doing a great job this week, I'm proud of you" The Twitter ones are telling everyone who reads that they did a good job this week. It's a public message. How can it have any sincerity? I understand the desire to console the GP here, but the Twitter ones mak…
I'm definitely not into this stuff, but at the same time, the human mind is a strange and mysterious thing. Generic pep talk, positive signage, self affirmations all seem to have a positive effect on a lot of people.
There are quite a few scientific studies out there that bear this out.
Re: Why most non-fiction authors don't make any money
#70I'm an author of a non-fiction book. I self-published. My book has a 5-star rating to date even though it was published nearly 5 years ago. My book meets most of the criteria laid out in this book. I even had both a publisher and distributor approach me and I had plenty leverage. Despite all that, I didn't get the book sales I wanted nor the PR. Everyone that reads my book is surprised to hear it's not topping the ch…
Does it, though? I assume you mean "Billion Dollar Muslim: Why We Need Spiritually Inspired Entrepreneurs". It clearly makes mistake #3: "writing broadly about the topic instead of making a clear promise about what the reader will get out of it". What is "clear promise about what the reader will get out of it" in "Billion Dollar Muslim"? Frankly, based on the title I don't see why I should read it, even if I'm somewh…
Just going off the title this sounds very niche. How many people take this kind of self help stuff seriously, and how many also value spirituality? The subtitle even says "for muslim engineers" (which I'm sure is a fairly large group, but still).