So you've published a book... now what?

One of the biggest challenges creatives face is viewing what they do as a business. It's hard to separate ourselves from the things we create, but as soon as you release your book into the wild, hoping that it will be picked up and appreciated, preferably in exchange for money - you have become a business, but does that make you an entrepreneur?

Entrepreneur = [ahn-truh-pruh-nur, -noo r] A person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.

Author = [aw-ther] A person who writes a novel, poem, essay, etc.; the composer of a literary work, as distinguished from a compiler, translator, editor, or copyist.

Author + Entrepreneur = Authorpreneur

 

 2015 is Authorpreneur Almanac year. 

Join me in my 365 Adventures in Writing and Entrepreneurship...

Test how authorpreneurial you are by taking this quiz:

http://ideaism.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/are-you-scribbler-dabbler-or-wrangler.html


 

For the past few years I've been working with people curious about self employment, people in the early stages of turning their ideas into businesses and small businesses who have recently set up. One of the lessons I share with them, one I learned the hard way, is the importance of taking yourself seriously as a small business.

Viewing our creations can seem somehow cold or disrespectful. 

This is the first mistake; being too precious about it. If you created it to sell it you need to be prepared to give it up. 

The second mistake is to aim for perfection. Perfection is a fallacy. Your work can only ever be good enough at that time in your life. Inevitably your work will improve over time, but it will only improve if you get feedback and continue to work at it. It won’t be perfect, perfection is impossible - but that’s OK. Accept it. Move on.

I argue that it isn’t disrespectful to think of your book as a product. Quite the opposite in fact. Surely all the hard work you’ve put in deserves to be rewarded? Surely it’s more disrespectful to let your work gather dust in a drawer or languish somewhere in the bottom of the internet undiscovered?

When I published my first book, The Bronze Box, I started to put into practice the advice I have been giving to other entrepreneurs and this time, I won't fail because I'm not treating it as a business.  

I admit, I'm not great at following my own advice - I did, however set myself a measure of success, at which point I could feel that I had done what I set out to do. I set myself a goal of selling 1,000 books in three years. 18 months in, I had doubled this target. 

 

I now have two books available and I'm working on the final installment in the Sheridan and Blake Adventure Series, Gabriel's Game.

My day jobs have always revolved around enabling others. In fact, it's taken me a while to realise this, but there are really only three things I can do:

Writing. Speaking and Enabling others and at the heart of this is my love of stories.

There is no magic formula to being successful in business, but there are logical, practical, sensible steps that apply to every business. 

These key functions within the life of your business are universal, the difference is in the scale. I call these processes the Business Life-cycle and here's the flow chart to put it into context that I have developed when working with small businesses of all persuasions.

If you are a regular follower of this blog, you'll know that I'm passionate about supporting others to follow their dreams and that I enjoy sharing the tips, tricks, actions and inspiration I've collected on my own journey into self employment and also what I've learned from the experiences of the people I've supported on their journeys.

A number of colleagues, friends and business associates have suggested I compile my knowledge into a book and I'm currently in the process of writing my first non-fiction book.

In 2014 I completed a 365 day project: 'Operation Author: 365 Actions to Becoming a Successful Author' where each week I shared seven actions I had completed to further my writing career. 

It seemed natural to turn the lessons learned from this process into a series of books. The first of which will be out in the summer of 2015:

Operation Author: So you've published a book... now what?

So what's it all about? Well, here's the blurb:

  
To come up with this blurb, I conducted some research on similar business books to get some ideas. 

Here are some of the books that inspired me to write my own and helped me with my research. I've read some of these and bits of others, but they are a neat benchmark for where I see my first venture into non-fiction book writing going.  


   

I've used some of the tips from this really useful book in my own marketing. It's simple to use and gives a good overview of the characteristics of the main social media channels.



 

This is a great reference guide that I dip in and out of regularly.






I've been reading content on Joanna Penn's excellent The Creative Penn site for a while and pinning stuff from it frequently

http://www.thecreativepenn.com/blog/

Visit Amy Morse - Authorpreneur's profile on Pinterest.

What business books would you recommend to writers? 

 

What Writers Can Learn from the Movies

I'm a writer, so this is a tough thing to admit - I have a guilty secret:

If I had some time to fill and my choice was a movie, or a book, I'd probably choose a movie.

I love books, of course I do, I love the texture, smell and look of a book. I love their immersive quality and the fact that everyone who reads a book has a different experience because the movie is playing out in their head.

For years I held on to this secret when talking to other writers and readers.

All the advice says writers should read a lot. I agree, to a point, and I do love a good book. But I still felt inadequate when writers name dropped hundreds of authors I've never heard of and all the books they've read.

Many writers use it as a badge of honour, sharing their list of books with much haughtiness, as if they deserve a medal for it.

But being a good writer is not just about all the books you've read and authors you can name drop, it's about being able to tell a good story.

For me, writing is not about stringing lots of flowery words together, but telling a compelling story. It just so happens that writing is the best way I know to convey my stories.

The power movies have over books is that they are a quick and easy way to consume a story without devoting too much time and thought to it.

Ultimately, that's what it's about - they are just different mediums to consume a story and what I really love is stories.

Movies are short stories.

Box sets are books. They too are a series of smaller stories that form a more complete narrative.

Stories should move you, stories should get your heart racing and your imagination singing (Tweet this)

Writers can learn a lot from movies. Here's the good, the bad and the ugly of wrting tips learned from the movies:

The Good

• Don't linger in a scene longer than necessary. Keep it moving.

• Less is more. Give the readers a snapshot. Tell us volumes about a character in a single scene, mannerism or action.

 The Bad

• Avoid the cliches. Why are baddies always terrible shots? Why does the baddie tell the hero his entire plan in the mistaken belief that their elaborate contraption to kill him will work?

• They don't all have to live happily ever after.

• The hero doesn't always have to get the girl  

• Women are portrayed as weak, damsels in distress far too often in movies. Change the page people, it's the 21st century!

The Ugly

• Don't shy away from powerful, disturbing or controversial scenes. 

If a sex scene is an important turning point in a relationship between characters, describe it - get your readers crossing their legs and biting their lips as they immerse themselves in the scene. 
If your bad guy is a sicko that leaves a gory mess in their wake, embrace the gore.

If your bad guy holds some extreme views, help us to understand their point of view, even if we fundamentally disagree with their values.

 

 
Inevitably, writers are influenced by other writers and their style. 

For me, the top three authors I admire and whose style influences me the most are:

Kate Mosse



Stephen Leather


 

Paul Sussman




But, if I'm honest, I'm probably more influenced by movies and box sets. They are a visual feast, and the challenge for me as an author is to convey the action and experience of the big screen into text to give my readers a movie like experience.




When I write, the scenes play out in my head like the episodes in a box set, I 'see' my characters and their story and I want to transmit those images into the brains of my readers.

I use movie references to describe what the books are about:

'Indiana Jones, meets Bourne - but with a female lead'(Tweet This)

Here are the top 10 movies that have influenced the action/adventure genre where The Bronze Box and Solomon's Secrets fit.

These are movies from my childhood or that first ignited my passion for stories and more recent movies that inspire my stories:

1. Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Indiana Jones - The Temple of Doom
3. Indiana Jones - The Last Crusade
4. The Bourne Identity
5. The Goonies
6. Labyrinth
7. Ronin
8. Heat
9. The International
10. In Bruges

And here they all are. Every self respecting movie buff needs these in their collection:

What movies have influenced your creativity?

10 Links to Blog Topic Content and 20 Ideas

I published a post about lists a few weeks back:

http://ideaism.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/list-lists-lovely-lists-readers-choice.html

One of the items on my list was - List of blog post ideas.

There are loads of these lists out there.

 I collect them on my 'Blogging Brilliance' Pinterest board

Follow Amy Morse - Authorpreneur's board Blogging Brilliance on Pinterest.
 
Rather than reinventing the wheel and writing my own list, here's the best 10 links to lists of blog post ideas I've found:

1) OnBlastBlog.com has a list of '101 Blog Post Ideas'. Written by Matt Banner, there is also lots of other useful tips and advice for fellow bloggers on the site

2) http://www.yourwriterplatform.com is a brilliant resource, written by Kimberley Grabas with lots of great content, this list is 'Blog Post Ideas for Writers'

3) http://www.digitalmarketer.com has a downloadable list of 212 blog post ideas and a rather neat Infographic (you do need to zoom in to read it though):

4) http://www.elleandcompanydesign.com has lots of lovely inspiring information by Lauren Hooker including 50 No Fluff Content Rich Blog Ideas

5) http://www.thecollegeprepster.com has a quick to digest list of 50 post ideas by Carly A. Heitlinger

6) http://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/a-girl-obsessed has a neat post of 50 blog ideas by  Mandy, a Girl Obsessed

7) http://crafterminds.com has a list of 52 Things to Post About (When you Don't Know What to Post About) by Heather

8) The always brilliant Duolit has a slightly different take on the blog post content by posing 101 Author Blog Prompts to inspire you. Friends, Shannon and Toni established Duolit to help other self published authors maximise their potential

9) http://www.marketyourcreativity.com offers 27 Blog Topics You Can't Wait to Write About by Lisa Jacobs

10) http://bloggingontheside.com offers Topics to Make Your Posts Go Viral to get your creative juices flowing and help schedule in an editorial calendar by making the most of key events throughout the year. Becky and Paula have lots of lovely tools and tips for bloggers on their site. 

Here are the 20 most popular ideas for blog posts that keep coming up on different sites:

1) Behind the scenes. 
What goes on behind the scenes of your business? Share images of your workspace

2) List Posts (like this one!)
Lists are always a quick, simple and easily sharable way of digesting a lot of content 

3) Product review
Review a product (or service) you like. This is a good way to get some affiliate marketing in too to monetize your blog. Or review a book you enjoyed / didn't enjoy

4) Quotations
Post quotes that inspire you. You could make some images from them (as I did here: http://ideaism.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/4-quotes-about-creativity-and-other.html)  or write a piece based on what a quotation means to you

5) How-To post
Posts offering 'how to' guides are a great way to share your expertise

6) Case Study
We all love stories, our brains are hardwired to respond to them. Why not showcase someone elses story and share what they learned from different experiences?

7) Research
If you are conducting research for a project, share it as a resource for others and as a way to showcase what you're currently working on

8) Interview
Interview an influencer in your niche, a colleague, a friend, a relative, an expert - anyone who has something interesting to say 

9) FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions are always a useful resource

10) SAQ
A different take on the FAQ is 'Should Ask Questions'

11) Checklists
You could produce a downloadble document or printable that people can tick off as you guide them step by step through something?

12) Definition
Define a word, process or activity and expand the narrative to include some useful information and tips

13) Ultimate Guides
Feature some information for 'an ultimate guide to X' - You could even turn it into a more detailed guide and publish it as an eBook

14) Series
Write several pieces that come together to form a series (the ultimate guide could be one. Or you could serialize your book) 

15) Stats / Infographic
Explore some stats. An infographic is a good way to visually show some interesting stats

16) Profile
Be generous to someone you admire and write a profile of them

17) Crowdsourced
Ask several people to contribute on a topic. Ask a question and get multiple takes on it

18) Cartoon
Do a cartoon of something. It could be serious or satirical

19) Survey
Conduct a survey. Something useful to you but also that people would be interested to give their opinion on. Publish the results

20) A short story or poem
Showcase some of your creative work and ask for feedback

What blog topics have got you the most attention?