Making Connections Writing, Selling and Publishing A Book About Tranyslvania

Is there something more to writing a book, or selling a book?  Is there something to the fact some people make money with their books and others don't?

You need to earn money from your book — this is the simple truth — but, rather than worrying about how you can make money, it's best to spend the time asking yourself if you are making the best of the connections you already have. I am referring to the goal of writing with the bottom dollar in mind — and if that is really a good thing when it comes to a niche market where people know who you are.  Does it help you to focus on money or on writing and publishing?

My writing friends and I spend evenings together where we talk about our goals and our dreams, where we've been and where we're going. At one gathering, the theme of money came up, and of course everyone had a point of view.  Some were negative about the concept of making money with blogs, whereas others viewed writing a blog alongside all one's other work as "not keeping all your eggs in one basket" — especially when it came to niche market websites such as the ones about Transylvania.  I'm not talking about the Gothic market which focuses on Dracula as a part of Transylvania but the history market, which focuses on that part of Transylvania.  This was when I was asked, since I write in a niche market, what is my long term goal?


I shared my views with them, and I'll share them with you: Writing and publishing several books is a long term goal of mine, and since the next book is nearing the final stages, this means I have to create a new goal.  My new goal is to learn more about the art of writing and selling books by using the connections I have with my readers.  I've learned that they are the ones who will buy a book, not me pushing the book on them.

The important thing is to focus on the writing and not on the money — selling one book a week won't help me in the long term, but it does make some nice spare change over time. I think that once you only focus only on the material things, like how much money you can earn, you lose the quality of your writing or the passion that you have for your subject matter.  I feel that if you publish simply to make money, you will find you get that but not the happiness you wanted.  To me, writing and selling a book about Transylvania is about the people who make the money come to me: my network of readers.

The best way to go about it is to ask if I've created a network worthy of the people reading my work.



The idea behind this is that while you have made more than what you thought possible and have earned great reviews on Amazon, you might still wonder if it was all worth while in the end — if you lose your network of readers and friends.  The reverse is also true, if you only focus on writing, you might feel much the same, or worse if you can't get anyone to buy the book.  You need to find that balance, if you want to see more success in your writing career.

Going back to writing in a niche market and self-publishing, it's even more important to focus on what will work for both you and your readers.  I find the video on publishing with CreateSpace to be useful for those who might have trouble finding a traditional publisher for their writing.  Many authors who write in niche markets use CreateSpace, and it does offer some choices for you.

That being said, it still won't sell your book if you haven't written it or are not sure if there is a market for your book about Transylvania.  I believe that there is a market for this books about this subject, and it is one which is needs to be focused and worked with correctly for you to see results.

Comments

Anonymous said…
excellent post, I didn't really think about connections before I started publishing. Good job, hope to read more like this soon.