5 Things to Stop Doing ( if you want to really finish your writing)

Solid advice...what do you think?

Five things to stop doing if you wanna finish writing that book...

1. Nix the excuses.

"We get it, life is busy and writing is hard work sometimes. Still, excuses never changed anything, never inspired anybody, and never made any dreams a reality. Goals like writing a novel don’t die on their own. We suffocate them with our excuses."

2. Stop trying.

Y"our novel needs less “trying” and more “doing” from you. Like Yoda said, Do or do not. There is no try."

3. Stop the Inner Critic’s crazy rants.

"Shut it down. Duct tape its mouth. Stand on its neck. Whatever you do, don’t let the Inner Critic make you doubt yourself. There’s no reason to. This is open range and there are no rules, no right and wrong. You can do Whatever. You. Want."

4. Don’t overdose on caffeine.

"Seriously. I’m sorry, but it has to be said. Call it tough love if you want, but more writers go stark raving mad in espresso-fueled rages than any other artists (with the exception of polka musicians, for obvious reasons).
Trust me on this. You don’t want your neighbors finding you crawling through their pet door at 3am in search of more coffee because you ran out at your house two hours earlier. Not that that’s happened to me. I’ve just heard stories."

5. Stop thinking it should be easier.

"That’s like hoping gravity will get less gravity … er … ish. Less gravity like. OK, poor choice of words. You know what I mean. Bottom line: writing is what it is. Sometimes it’s easier than at other times. Expect it to be work and you’ll be thrilled when it doesn’t feel that way."



 Article by:Kevin Kaiser via writersdigest.com Click here to see his article.
Check out Writer's Digest and read other great articles there. It's NaNoWriMo time...click the link to read some great articles about NaNoWriMo...

 

Is Amazon playing Indie Authors? How to reach w/o Self-promotion and Bookbaby VS. Smashwords

Is Amazon playing Indie Authors?
Mark Coker (founder of smashwords) seems to think so. And this is some of what he had to say about it:

"Every indie should get their books distributed to as many retailers as possible. Every author should be at Amazon, but they should avoid the temptation to enroll in the KDP Select program because of its exclusivity requirements."

"From a global market share perspective (and this is a global market!), Amazon’s share is declining over the last few years. Authors who go exclusive – even if only for three months at a time – are harming their ability to capture this global growth."

Is this true? Read the rest and decide for yourself, as for me I believe this is sound advice. I have been exclusive on two of my books with Amazon for a bit and have been happy with the results, but being exclusive does have its disadvantages. I want to reach more readers and when it comes time to renew , I may just not. What do you think? To read the full article via selfpublishinadvice.org click HERE.

So how do writers reach readers without promoting?

That's a very good question.

"Go to where those readers are on the internet."

"That’s the secret: Connect and chat with the same intention that prompted your book — of being interesting, informative or inspiring in your particular way (or all three, which is easier in a short comment than a long book!)"

"If you follow the advice here and take the trouble to go where your readers are and reach out to them regularly, they will spontaneously want to share with you, learn from you, grow with you."

Makes sense- what do you think? To read the full article click HERE.

Now the question is which service do you prefer? Bookbaby vs. Smashwords- which is better?

"Until recently there was only one sensible option to distribute your ebook outside of Amazon, and that was through Smashwords. "

Read the article and compare distribution and the fees.
The bottom line- "Financially, the decision on which route to go with will vary depending on your price point and your projected sales, but decisions are seldom strictly financial ones. Other factors come into play."
Read more of the article to see what those factors are and to see comparisons between Bookbaby and Smashwords. Find out also a little of what the other distributors have to offer and where they are in the lineup. Click HERE.

So there you go... some links that will hopefully help make building your platform a little easier. Good luck!

Thanks for the drop by,