COMMENTS THAT MAKE ME WANT TO TRAVEL AND TEACH HARDER

COMMENTS THAT MAKE ME WANT TO TRAVEL AND TEACH HARDER C. Hope Clark I speak to a lot of writers in a lot of environments. From conferences to libraries, from private residences to communitycenters, I converse with writers struggling to make heads or tails out of this business. Im glad Im not starting out, but then again, sometimes I wish I was. Its like seeing a teenager dipping his toe into the world: you wish you were in his shoes, but then again, youre glad youre not. So I try to educate the best I can, using what I know, about writing, about trying to get off the ground and find places topublish and earn a few dollars to make it worth the time. But invariably I hear a comment from someone in the room, whether before the group or behind the scenes to me privately, that makes me realize someone isnt quite getting it yet. And it makes me wish I could touch more people, teach harder. Comments I hear: 1) Im almost done writing my book. How do I publish I want to sit down and have coffee with this person, take his hand, and tell him to quit thinking about publishing. When I tell people to focus more on writing, some get disgruntled with me. Easy for you to say, youre published. I get impatient, too, but try to get rid of the anxiousness to publish. It hurts your work. Edit and edit and edit to the point of fanatical. No, you cannot over edit. Not in this day and age. Not when 99.9 percent of the writers do not edit enough. 2) Why dont agents and publishers like regular mail anymore? Thats like asking why dont we churn our own butter. We can, but why do so when theres a cleaner, faster, easier way? Emails more efficient. Short and simple. 3) I cant afford to buy nice business cards/buy my own books/buy a good cover for my book/design a polished website. Thats like saying you bake great cakes but cant afford to place an ad in the paper that you are open for weddings and birthdays. If you intend to publish, you have to afford the promotion. Thats how people find you . . . and form their first impression of you . . . and determine if you are worthy of their investment. You find a way. Ferret the best possible FREE business cards online that appear professional. Barter content writing for web services. Make a goal to do magazine/content writing enough save to pay a graphic designer to make a book cover. Search out investors relating to your book content to cover the cost of your first run of books until you can afford to pay them back. 4) How do I promote ebooks in person? You dont. Ebook readers find their books online. It just makes sense to promote there as well. If you do not understand how the business works, stop and learn. If you proceed without being knowledgeable, you could fool yourself into thinking youll navigate the journey without incident. Some argue that entering the business in a naive manner is a way to step out and dare. Not knowing the pitfalls means you have nothing to fear, they say. It also means that youre willing to learn via the path called trial Dont understand? Ask questions. Listen. Absorb. Dont judge. Be open-minded. And stay positive. Its supposed to be hard.