Who said writing was easy?

"...start fulfilling your ambitions. You do have ambitions, don’t you?”
“Ambitions,” Emmelisa repeated the word, “ambitions. Yes…I suppose so.”
“You do not sound very sure. Do you have anything planned for the future?”
“No,” Emmelisa replied.
“You thought this computer might help you?”
“Yes. I thought maybe I could find something that would make me feel better.”
“Like a bottle of medicine?” Mr. Spaceman suggested. “There are no magic potions for feeling happy or knowing what you want out of life. You have to work at being happy.”
“It’s too hard,” Emmelisa said despondently.
“Now, Emmelisa,” Mr. Spaceman said sternly, “you are giving up before you have even tried.”
“No. It’s just that you asked me if I had planned anything. I don’t know how to plan things.”
“Well, perhaps that is the question you should ask.”
“What?” Emmelisa thought aloud before the question came rushing into her mind.
“I know the question. The question is—How do I plan my future?”
“Well done!” Mr. Spaceman beamed with a smile wide enough to fill the screen.
“Well,” Emmelisa said with slight irritation at this smug response, “what’s the answer?”

Mr. Planemaker's Flying Machine, Chapter Nine: Questions and Answers © by Shelagh Watkins. 

When you started to write your memoir, did you have a plan, Abe? If you had thought it through and found out more about the publishing business, would you have decided not to write? If you started out without a plan, you didn't fail; you did something without thinking it through. Looking back, you achieved far more than you set out to achieve because your expectations at the time were unrealistic. Had you spent time researching the world of publishing, you might never have written the books that now sit on your bookshelves. The success was in the writing not in the selling. Had you worn your sales hat, you might not have the satisfaction of seeing those books, which would be a great personal loss. Sometimes doing something for ourselves that we thought we were doing for others (providing interesting reading matter) is not such a bad thing. In fact, it's an accomplishment.

dkchristi wrote:

Reality:  When we all decided we would like to publish a book, we had in mind an agent and a New York publishing company with a publicity department.  We believed we would write, occasionally go on speaking engagements arranged by the pr department, and start the  next book.

No, we didn't, DK. You did, and others who thought like you did, but I didn't.

Interesting and revealing.  It proves that no two people think alike and that what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another. 
As for my memoir, I wrote it intending it to be a family memoir or travelogue.  I recorded the events that included family in our travels with our ups and downs.  I worked on it from time to time and my children knew I was working on it.  When it was finished, my daughter in Virginia asked to read it.  She was the youngest of the family and her recollection of events was not as vivid.  After reading it, she suggested that I seek publication.  Instead I asked her to give it to a non-family member to read and get their opinion.  She gave it to her mother-in-law who was fascinated by it and thought it deserved publication, and that's how it all began.  I didn't know any publisher or anything about the publishing business.  I went on the I-Net and Googled Publishers.  The name Publish America jumped out at me.  They said they were open for submissions and to send a synopsis.  I sent the synopsis and they responded asking for the entire manuscript.  I sent it and within a few days they said they would publish my story.  I was totally surprised and at the same time delighted.  At that point I thought that I had done my part and now the Publisher would do the rest.  I accepted and signed the contract they sent to me without question.  After publication, the learning began and the disappointment set in.  I obviously read things into what the Publisher would or would not do.  I didn’t know the difference between a POD Publisher and a Traditional Publisher and therefore made assumptions.  As time went by, I found that the Publisher didn’t provide the Author assistance they claimed.  My efforts to get help were a disappointing failure.  My initial excitement and enthusiasm diminished rapidly.  And what followed led to the present. 
If my efforts are to be considered a failure, that failure is of my own making based on the decisions I made.  Ignorance cannot be used as an excuse.  I think it important for us to provide information about the publishing industry and what is required of an author to succeed.  The Author’s Forum is where people can learn about publishing, writing and promotion.  There are differences of opinion based on experience and even the differences are of value even though not all experience shared is related to writing or promotion.  Seeking answers is what prompted this thread.  Choosing what fits the psyche of the person is a step in the right direction.

My next-door neighbour in Scotland designed a cordless kettle. He thought it was a good idea, but he was an accountant with no manufacturing experience. Suppose he had tried to interest a small electrical appliance manufacturer in investing in his prototype. The small company took his design, produced a limited number of products and made very little money out of the venture. Would you consider that he failed because he didn't succeed in getting the interest of a large manufacturer (that was developing in-house its own cordless kettle)?

When you received the dollar advance from Publish America, did the penny not drop? The advance is to cover expenses before the author receives six monthly royalties. A dollar only buys two postage stamps.

What's your point?

My point is that the book you wrote was an achievement. The decision to go with Publish America without checking out how the publishing business worked was a failure on your part. Not a failure in the sense that no one should ever sign a contact with POD companies, but a failure to know exactly what it was you had signed up for. You pass that failure onto your book. Ann tried to explain the difference to you, but you seem entrenched in the idea that the book has value if it sells and no value if it doesn't sell. Sales of literary fiction are low compared to romance and thrillers. Does that mean that literary fiction is worth less than romantic fiction? Worth less in monetary terms, yes, but not in literary quality.

I get your point, Shelagh, but I don’t think you are getting my point. 
So I wrote a book and the original intended audience read it. 
I wrote subsequent books, but a limited number of the intended audience read it.  Without a plan to reach that audience, it may have been a waste of time.  The whole point in my posts is how to reach that audience.  I don’t think there is a simple answer to that question nor do I think that I am alone in this quest.  It would appear that most anyone can get published even if they have to self-publish.  That’s no big deal.  If one writes about anything, there should be a reason and it is my belief that reason is to have others read and enjoy what we wrote.  How do we get people to read our book(s)?  I think the question is clear and simple, however I don’t expect any answer to be so clear and simple.

I have a colleague who was also published by L & L Dreamspell and when they closed, went on her own.  She is doing gangbusters.  You might want to look at her web site and blog.  Her books are entertaining but not literature. www.cindysamplebooks.com

She has taken a cute book and turned it into a second career with a series by following all the advice about self-publishing though she initially had a publisher.  She does all her book launches - and re-launches as a self-published author - with flair and a big deal as though she is famous.  I respect what she has been able to accomplish.

Same is true for a local author in my NPC organization.  Her book, Garage Sale Stalker, is typical woman being sleuth but it was made into a Hallmark movie because she sent it to a relative who was connected in Hollywood.  The movie resembles the book...

It has always been my position, back to the PA days included, that the fastest way to promote a book is by who you know.  If you don't know anybody famous then it's a challenge.

Why do people read books?  Because they saw an interview on tv or heard one on the radio or read one in the paper - by someone famous.   Maybe because a friend told them.

By the way, writing a book that anyone will read is an achievement.  It's not easy to get to that final stage and then publish it.  Many people today are taking that leap, but when we started there were fewer.  A well-written manuscript is still an art of which the writer may be proud.

I interview many painters.  They have a few award-winning paintings and sell a few.  They keep painting.  Most have a spouse or significant other to pay their bills.

Even authors who succeed in signing a contract with one of the top publishers do not necessarily make enough sales to be offered another contract. These authors adopt new pseudonyms and start again. This is a tough business, Abe, and you are right, there are no easy answers, which is why Emmelisa was annoyed when A. Leon Spaceman said, "Well done!" -- she didn't want a pat on the back for knowing the right question to ask; she wanted to hear the right answer!

dkchristi wrote:

By the way, writing a book that anyone will read is an achievement.  It's not easy to get to that final stage and then publish it.  Many people today are taking that leap, but when we started there were fewer.  A well-written manuscript is still an art of which the writer may be proud.

I interview many painters.  They have a few award-winning paintings and sell a few.  They keep painting.  Most have a spouse or significant other to pay their bills.

We seem to be on the same page. I was just about to ask what our positions might be if we were painters rather thn writers. Most painters that I know, or know of, are focused on their work. Creating the project is a driven need. Selling it is secondary.

When this discussion comes up, my head always goes back to one of the exceptions: James Redfield, the author of The Celestine Prophecy, which he self-published and sold from the trunk of his car until its success drew the attention of a major publisher, which took over the project and the sequels.

I did not read the books until a few years ago (the first book came out in 1993). I kept hearing about the title in different contexts, then seeing the book, everywhere - online searches, forum posts, and then, on a sale rack at my check-out counter at a local B&N, so, believing as I do in synchronicity, I bought the darn thing. One of the first concepts I came across as I was reading it was about the validity of synchronicity.

The book and its sequels are all fictional adventure stories. The hero finds himself reluctantly called into an adventure. The basis of the adventure is a group of hidden manuscripts which reveal a series of spiritual insights that threaten the religious status quo. The idea is that we are shifting into a worldview that recognizes these insights and applies them toward finding a new and more viable worldview. The books are often dismissed as New Age stuff. From some perspectives, that is true. They tend to get a bit "way out there."

But my point is that that first novel hit upon something vital that mny people needed to hear, and the initial self-published book served a psycological need. That, I feel, is why it was successful, and what led to its being picked up. Not that the publisher saw more than a series that they could sell and make money from, and while I can see a difference between the first book and the sequels in terms of a professional editing process, I still think that the content is what sold the books. I wonder if Mr. Redfield did not get caught up, along the way, in the process of selling more books and making more money, but the early work did meet a spiritual need for a lot of disenchanted people.

Mark David Gerson is a writer who has written several books for writers on writing from the heart. At one point in one of them, he says that it doesn't matter whether we even publishwhat we write. The act of putting the words down releases them into the universal consciousness and does its part to create the reality of the world we all live in.

That, to me, is what writing is about. I have no objection to selling my work. It is just not the reason I am compelled to write.

And it also doesn't mean that I am not discouraged by negative criticism. The intrinsic rewards are a little bit harder to hold on to so that I have the faith in myself to keep going.