February 6, 2011
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How to Succeed Totally in 2011
That’s is what people need, success! I know, I understand; people are frustrated, angry, wanting, despairing, and that’s what they need, not bullshit. Success, and in every area! Yes, that’s the thing, that’s how I should start the year. I should do people a service, not be all mean and bitter and twisted. Step into the gap, fill the need. Tell ‘em how to do it, explain, every last detail. Then they can apply themselves – application! marvellous stuff. When you’ve learned all this that I’m teaching now, be sure to keep your eye on the ball – no wandering, no slacking – eye on the ball, song in your heart, all that good stuff. Go for it. You can do it. Elbow grease they used to call it, and if you use a little of that with all I’ve taught here, it’s easy. Bingo! No sweat! Straight to the top! Just muse on all you’ve learned here, use it enthusiastically, and… bingo! So there you are, all you need explained. No need to thank me, it’s been a pleasure working with you. Just a little spare dribbling from the goodness of my heart.
Comments (7)
Success, well time for me to keep my eye on the ball. Thanks. Sounds like a good solid plan partner! Happy New Years!
so, i just went on amazon and previewed ‘Xangans’. i must say. the first story is fucking incredible. i love it. now i’m going to see if the person still frequents here.
@veronika_grey - John still has a website, but doesn’t update much. He’s buried up to the earbrows in courses at college. He is by the way a very helpful person.
i searched, found, and sent him a message. mission complete. also sent him a friend request just in case.
It is so cool that you published a collection of stories and poems from Xanga! When I first mentioned that I was blogging on Xanga to my 18 year old niece, she and her friend laughed hysterically! They had been among the pioneers of Xanga; at the time they were in fourth grade. For them it was a “kiddy” site! How Xanga has changed. For me I love Xanga as a place to explore my innermost thoughts, to put my poems in cyberspace for trial readings, to think out loud and form cohesive thoughts about topics that trouble our world and our existance as humans! How different it must have been to them.I also have a private website where my book can be bought a a deep discount from the Amazon price, where I still get a paulty $3.00 per copy despite Amazon’s high price tag. There I try (“try,” being the operative word) to sell signed copies that the publisher, authorhouse, gave me. ( http://www.arinaldi.webs.com) Authorhouse.com also sells cheaper copies of my book. Do you have a similar way to sell less expensive copies?Also, I’m curious to know if you did any professional marketing. I did not (and it showed in sales). I’m thinking about plunking some more money down for marketing services and a plug as a potentional movie or TV series. They approached me specifically on the Movie idea saying the material was unique and just right. But I’m so reluctant to throw good money after bad. Any thoughts/advice on marketing issues, my fellow author?
@nyfemme - I’m not ignoring you, it’s just that I’m hellish busy, and your questions open up a whole bunch of considerations, which I don’t want to try and answer in a rush.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ”I’m not especially charmed by any of the publishing alternatives. I did my first with Mill City Press, who now charge about $1,500 for the basic package, including cover design. Booksurge are much cheaper, but do not supply a cover design other than a template design (choose your range of prtty pictures, that have no relevance to your book, and cry out “amateur.”) In all cases, avoid the “extra services,” such as “we will build you a website to sell from.” These services are useless junk, and expensive. For the last two I used CreateSpace. It’s dirt cheap, but but but….. you need to supply ALL formating skills, and a formated cover. CreateSpace are simply an upload system, owned by Amazon, that approves your uploaded Ms and cover, sticks an ISBN number on it, and shoots it to a POD printer, who supplies copies to Amazon etc as customer orders come in. If I had something to publish tomorrow, I would probably go with CreateSpace again.”Now the nasty marketing bit. From my own experience, I can only echo the advice I’ve heard from certain sources who seem more concerned with advising than SELLING solutions that don’t work: there are no magic bullets. Many – perhaps all – “self publishing” companies will offer, for additional fees, additional services. These are usualy such things as constructing websites, which no one will visit, and sending special information packages to various people, who probably throw this bumf into the trash can, unread. In my early days, I laid out about $2,000 on these “additional services.” My basic philosophy is that marketing effort should be directed to making publicity appear in places that are frquented by people with two characteristics: they love to read, regularly buy books in this place, and go to the place for that purpose. Hence I make a lot of lists on Amazon. This causes sales, but not enough to justify the efforts I have to put in.Another approach is to make a joint effort with other authors on Xanga, which is why I collected and published “Xangans.”