Having a Business Plan

I read recently that writers should develop a business plan to set forth the goals for their writing. The article indicated that the plan needn't be fancy or long and made a few suggestions, such as the author's desire to improve his writing with each new book.

I take that as a given, since I'm always striving for ways to be a better writer. On one level, the more you write the easier it becomes, but I find myself being more critical and revising many more times - even in the early stages of writing.

Back to that plan. If I were honest, I'd say my goal is to sell more books than Stephen King and James Patterson combined, and to make J K Rowling's bank account look like chump change.

<sigh> Not going to happen, I know.

Perhaps my dream of having Oprah recommend my books isn't out of the question? Okay, you're right. That won't happen either.

My first Brad Frame Mystery was published by Five Star - a small press. I think it had a print run of 500, enough to enable them to pay off the advance they had given me. I was so excited to finally be published that I wasn't thinking about the marketing challenges. My publisher wasn't spending much money to market the book. They sent out review copies, but (I later learned) without enough lead time to attract reviews from the major book reviewers, so it didn't get that many reviews. Although I must add that the ones it did get were quite favorable.

Since that first book, all my other novels have been self-published. I've written six books so far, and working on my seventh.

Without ever adopting a formal business plan, my hope all along was that with each book I wrote more people would learn about my writing. It's been ten years since my first book was published. Within the past year, I've heard of three instances where people learned about my most recent book, loved it, and then bought (and read) all of the other ones. That part of my plan is working... just slowly... and Stephen King, James Patterson, and J K Rowling have nothing to worry about. Yet. :-)

I also read an article (see, we authors read in addition to writing) that writers should submit their work to contests as a way of getting noticed. I recently learned that LADY ON THE EDGE (pictured above) is a finalist for a Royal Palm Literary Award. Results will be announced in October. Stay tuned.

I hope your plan will include giving my books a try. You can read all of the opening chapters at www.rayflynt.com - just click on the tabs at the top of the home page for mysteries and suspense and then click the link for the openings.

Networking Tips for Indie Authors - A Guest Blog by Mary Jeddore Blakney

Cooperation is essential to success in today's business world. And as Victoria Dougherty points out in her article "Rivals, Colleagues and Friends," this wasn't always the case in publishing, but it is now.

I met Ray Flynt several years ago after posting a review of his political thriller Kisses of an Enemy (which I loved, by the way). That eventually led to his hiring me to line edit his latest book, Final Juror. After that, he referred me to his friend Thomas John, who hired me for his novel The Healing of Reverend James. And the chain goes on.

Here are five networking tips I've learned from Victoria, Ray, Thomas and others:

·         Don't spam or harrass. There's probably no quicker way to get dropped from a great network than by sending out "WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BUY MY BOOK?!!!" messages. An ancient sage once said, "Let another man praise thee," and that's the beauty of networking. As humans, we're much more receptive to recommendations than self-promotion. Go ahead and let people know you wrote a book, but let others do the praising.

·         Sincerely help your colleagues. As much as we may tend to see fellow writers as competition, the fact is that readers really do read more than just one author. And they're usually eager to get their hands on a book that has been recommended by a writer they love.

·         Be honest, diplomatically. On the one hand, it pays to help your fellow authors promote their books, because you want them to do the same for you. On the other hand, you don't want to ruin your reputation by recommending a poorly-written book. So what do you do?

o   You can often find something positive but true to say about either the book or the author. ("Roger Writer taught me everything I know about Smashwords, and now his own book is coming out. It's called Undermining Elephants," or "Roger Writer's new book Underming Elephants: I just love the cover!")

o   You can say something neutral. This works for books you're not familiar with, too. ("Congrats to Roger Writer on his new book Undermining Elephants!" or "How do you undermine an elephant? Undermining Elephants by Roger Writer is coming out in three days."

·         Invite your colleagues to write guest posts for your blog. Yup, that's why you're reading this here. That's why Thomas John has a post on this blog, too. And that's why Ray has written for my blog. It's win-win: we both get more exposure this way.

·         Share some of your book space with other authors in your genre. An excerpt of Luke Bellmason's The Canterbury Tales appears in the back of my upcoming book, Damage Control. That helps Luke by marketing his book to my readers, and it helps me by adding value to my book. Just be sure of three things before you do this:

o   The story you're sharing is in the same genre as your book and would be of interest to your readers.

o   You have read the book and can wholeheartedly recommend it.

o   You have the author's permission.

It all comes down to the Golden Rule: networking is about keeping your mind open for opportunities to help others, and letting others help you, too. 
__________

Thanks, Mary for good advice! The image above is for Mary's upcoming novel. But you can visit Mary's author's page at Amazon to see her other books/stories. It's all about networking.

Writer's Block

Every writer has experienced writer's block. We just don't know what to put on the page next. Or, what I find more commonly the case, I know what I want to convey but just can't seem to find the right words to express it.

The best way to deal with writer's block is to move on and come back to your problem later. The equivalent of saying "pass" on a tough series of quiz questions. By the time you return, hopefully an idea will have sparked.

But when I suggest moving on, I don't mean it's time to go do the laundry. No. Move on to the next bit of dialogue in the scene. Or consider how you might start the next chapter. Or go back to the start of the chapter you're working on and begin to edit.

We have so many distractions when we write, and to do it effectively means having the discipline to resist the trip to the kitchen for a snack, or checking e-mail (even though you just checked it ten minutes ago), or deciding it's a good time to confirm your bank balance online. Keep writing.

Of course, you could always pick up a book and read someone else's marvelous prose, admire the way the words flowed so easily from their pen to the page. "Why can't I do that?" you'll say, while kicking yourself. What you forget is that the person whose prose you admire may well have spent hours perfecting a page, a paragraph, a key description... until everything came together.

I've often thought about the fact that it takes me about a year to write a novel length mystery, while the reader can finish it in five or six hours. And they have no clue of how many times I threw up my hands while stuck on a word, phrase or idea.

I figured out a great way to cure my writer's block recently: I wrote this blog post. :-)

Tell me about your writing journey. Do you have a special technique for dealing with writer's block? Please share, and keep the conversation going.