Jon Samsel

Ah, paragraphs, that’s what brings articles to life. Paragraphs are the building blocks of articles. Create well-written paragraphs and that will usually lead to a well-written article. Without paragraphs, an article is dead in the water.

Each time you start a new article, realize that it’s the combined paragraphs that comprise the piece. If you think too much about the article as a whole (or the total amount of work necessary to complete it), it may put you off. Try to keep in mind that enough well-ordered paragraphs will eventually bring you to a logical ending. A great many articles will almost write themselves if the writer focuses on one paragraph at a time. Create a solid paragraph and you’re usually on your way.

The Paragraph: Content and Structure

An article is a series of paragraphs and the paragraph is the means by which your article is structured. Imagine how crude and illogical it would be if an article had no paragraphs at all from beginning to end. Wouldn’t it be difficult to read one long block of words? You bet it would.

Paragraphs are like a string of pearls. The string is the subject or theme being highlighted or presented. The paragraphs are the pearls whose combination produces the finished article with its resulting impact and effect.

What is an effective paragraph? At first glance, an paragraph does seem to merely be a number of sentences strung together. On a deeper level, a paragraph consists of a deliberate series of well-phrased sentences.

Northwestern University professor John H. Barber, Ph.D. describes good writing as: “Effective writing is a language-based interaction between writer and reader that promotes a sense of “reality,” believableness, or involvement.” It may be obvious that the way to build good, solid paragraphs is to write effective sentences.

Most Paragraphs Are Structured Using These Guidelines

• A strong opening sentence makes clear what the paragraph will be about. The first paragraph sets the stage and seeks to interest the reader
• The paragraph’s midsection supports the opening statement
• The last lines of a paragraph wraps up all loose ends and ends the thought process with a  satisfactory conclusion

Five Sample Paragraphs

1. Ken Orton didn’t set out to revolutionize the e-commerce travel market. In fact, what he initially set out to do was transform a TV-based travel programming company into a networked online travel business. What Orton and team managed to do in the process is shake up the $101 billion US travel agency market––growing their company, Preview Travel, into one of the most comprehensive, easy-to-use, and enjoyable travel destinations on the Internet.
2. High school days are wonderful times, but they go by faster than most people realize. If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to be zeroing in on what you honestly feel is the right vocation for you.
3. According to marriage expert Dr. Leland Glover, many people “spend more time and effort deciding which college to attend, which car to buy, or where to vacation, than they do in choosing their life marriage partner.
4. Bill Gates has never been accused of missing an opportunity to make a buck. So a lot of people got excited when Gates launched his Microsoft Network, dedicated to harnessing the Internet’s awesome potential for delivering product to bring entertainment in a myriad, interactive forms to a computer screen near you. Didn’t work out. MSN is already a distant memory in the nanosecond attention span of the digital world. Bill’s folded his tent and gone home. A lot of investors who have tried to profit from Web-based entertainment were not surprised that the effort failed, though most everyone was unnerved at how quickly Gates decided to jump ship on the effort.
5. We’ve all heard that ageless expression: “Practice makes perfect.” But does it really? If so, why do some drummers practice almost endlessly, only to achieve limited results, while others practice a minimum amount of time and advance rapidly?

There are two types of promotion––what your publisher can do for the book, and what you can accomplish yourself. Anything you can do for each of your books will help. In fact, publishers and book distributors expect today’s authors to step up to the plate and contribute to the marketing of a new book.

The following promotions have worked for many authors:

1. Do all in your power to get on local radio and television programs. You can email the station, one or more specific talk show personalities, or even go to the station in person. Ask for an appointment with the radio personality, program director, program producer, or public relations director.

Nothing pushes book sales up like radio-television author interviews, and the better known or popular the program is, the more sales it can mean. Most publishers will not line up such interviews for you unless you’re a mega name or well-known author. That means it’s up to you. Listen or watch these programs and try to come up with a reason tied in with your book why they should interview you.

It goes without saying that if there is any way you could get yourself on “Today,” “Good Morning, America,” or “Oprah,” go for it. Your book sales could go soaring through the stratosphere.

2. Many newspapers have book columns, or entertainment section news that could feature your book. Visit the online versions of these newspapers and try to get to know the columnists or department editors who interview authors.

Look for some angle that a magazine-newspaper editor could use to publicize your book. Will your book help the reader in some way, perhaps get a better job, save time, become healthier, more fit, learn a business concept, or whatever?

3. If you know how to write an article, consider the idea of writing a feature about your own book. It is possible that a national, regional, or local magazine or newspaper might use it. If your book is on a timely subject, chances are even stronger that your article will be used.

4. Contact any and all trade journals and publications about your book. Many subject fields have their own trade magazines so check that out.

5. Tell everyone about your book that you feel could help promote and publicize it. Are you on Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social media websites? Update your profile to include notice of your new book being published!

6. Suggest to the larger bookstores, both the chains and independents, that you could do autograph sessions and sign copies of your new book. Offer to speak at bookstores because they sometimes have author guests do this and answer questions about their book topic.

7. Many authors don’t keep after their publishers to promote their books. Whether it results in anything or not, it’s worth encouraging your publisher to get behind your book more. Offer to tour for your book or suggest at least a mini tour.

A number of sharp authors have traveled across America visiting bookstores, radio-television stations, and newspapers to promote their books. In many cases, it made the difference between just another book and a bestseller.

There are simply too many books being published each year (60,000 and counting) to do nothing for your book once it is published. If you, the author, don’t promote it, nobody else will (and unfortunately this can also include your publisher).

8. Tap the huge marketing opportunity via the Internet. Authors who are Internet savvy have a competitive advantage over their computer-weary counterparts. Launch your own web site for promoting your book or books. Offer a free chapter of your book on your blog and link to your publisher’s website where people can order a copy of your book.

9. Write a direct sales email in which you tell about yourself and your book. Send the note to a list of radio and television program directors, producers, and talk show personalities who may be receptive to having you as a guest author. Send your sales email to a wide variety of stations. In fact, send your sales note to anyone you think might help promote your book.

10. Consider “self-syndicating” a feature article or review about your book. You can get the names of a great most newspaper editors online—just Google it!

11. Work up an oral presentation in which you talk about your book; for example, discuss why you wrote it. Prepare a professional-looking pamphlet highlighting the features of your talk and telling something about your background. Have a number of copies printed and then send them to anyone and everyone who might book you on a program as a speaker. A number of authors do very nicely working as speakers in-between their writing projects, or even while they are writing.

12. Arrange a book release party for your new book. Invite friends, business associates, key book industry professionals, and perhaps even the general public. This is a fun way to announce the release of your new book and it starts the word-of-mouth process.

13. Contact your local library and let them know that an author in their area just had a book published. Many libraries will invite authors to speak on your subject of expertise or host a reading of a book chapter. Again, this is another way to “spread the word” about your new book.

14. Frequent online chat rooms and newsgroups and offer your expert advice. The online world is a great environment for spreading awareness for your book and/or professional services. Be careful not to blatantly pitch your wares, as the online world has strict rules of etiquette––no unsolicited advertising or promotions are allowed. Authors who ignore the Internet’s professional protocol risk being spammed. Authors who visit chat rooms or newsgroups and contribute meaningful information and advice (and casually mention that the reason they are an authority on the subject is because they are the author of book on the subject) are likely to increase awareness for their book.

15. Create a YouTube channel around the key chapters of your book. All you need is a video camera and some editing software to shoot some footage of you talking about your book or reading a few sample chapters aloud. Publish these free educational videos on YouTube, MetaCafe, and other video content websites which can possibly expose your work to millions. Be sure to include an ever-present URL to your website on your videos to help direct possible book buyers to your website.

The incredible thing about a great author, Margaret Mitchell, was that she never thought or even considered the possibility of publication for the novel she worked on for years. During the late 1920s, she had to stay in bed several years for health reasons. To amuse herself, she wrote about Atlanta, the Civil War, and lost herself creating characters like Scarlett O’Hara, Rhett Butler, and others.
 
Margaret worked on her manuscript for one reason––her own interest and amusement. It was years later, after a Macmillan editor heard about her work and came to Atlanta, that Gone With the Wind was published (in 1936).

Margaret Mitchell is a strong example of an author who never thought about the marketplace while writing her novel about the old south. She didn’t think it was any good. What a far cry that is compared with today’s aggressive authors who pull out all the stops in marketing their books. Some authors of today even plan strategic campaigns to place their manuscripts.
 
The first thing an author of today should be aware of is that it’s a buyer’s market. Everyone and his brother’s cousin is writing, and that means most of the better publishers have a much wider choice. Publishers today no doubt reach for the rejection forms or “thank you but it’s not right for our list” reply much quicker. After all, they have stacks and stacks of other manuscripts and proposals sitting on most editorial desks.
 
One of the best strategies for approaching the marketplace is simply to let a worthy and capable agent do it for you. This allows the author to focus on writing and not have to think about marketing. Effective agents know which publishers are the right ones for a given book, so you don’t waste valuable time sending work to the wrong companies. And the agent can get you a decision a great deal sooner, whereas if you try one publisher at a time, on your own, it could take years to get even a handful of decisions.
 
But for most new authors, getting a quality agent is about twenty times harder than finding a publisher. So that puts the newcomer author back at square one and means you give up or market your work yourself as best you can.
 
A strange but very true fact about today’s publishing industry is that authors with up to fifty published books, including several or more bestsellers, cannot get an agent to represent them. It’s a paradox and proves that the so-called importance of a track record of published works does not really count for much anymore. Many of the top publishers and editors simply won’t consider anything unless it comes in from a powerhouse agent with clout. Powerful agents have to a large extent taken over the industry. They have become the gatekeepers today instead of editors.
 
Other leading editors focus their time on big name authors and proven commodities. It’s a catch-22 that frustrates a lot of authors, driving many of them out of publishing. Every now and then, however, a newcomer manages to slip in with good timing, a great proposal or manuscript, and lots of luck.
 
Another strategy is to already know someone in publishing or have a friend or relative who does. Networking may get your foot in the door.
 
Some patient authors have even obtained positions in publishing, in publicity, advertising, marketing, rights, or general office work, and then proceeded to show their work to contacts already made.
 
It’s helpful to read the trade journals and to attend publishing conferences and conventions. All of this together helps to keep you well-informed on what is going on in the industry, what the current trends are, types of books being bought and published, and contact names at various publishing houses.
 
A number of authors believe attending conferences for authors is a waste of time. Others claim they have made some contacts this way and actually later sold one or more books to editors and agents who attend the better author conferences.
 
Remember, too, that you can always pick up the telephone and call an editor, publisher or agent, whether it irritates them or not. You can send a letter, email, fax them, or try some unusual stunt to get their attention. A combination of these methods applied persistently should bring you some success or, at the very least, more knowledge about the way the business works.
 
Authors in the New York area have been known to eat at the same restaurants editors frequent in hopes of meeting one or more.
 
If and when one of your books goes over the top, and hits the blockbuster level, assuming there is enough publicity about it, editors and agents may come after you. Nothing gets their attention, makes them sit up and take notice, like a new author who just turned out a blockbuster. They will then find you.

People who have never put a pen to paper, for any long work, think they can turn out a work of fiction. You meet them at parties and banquets and hear them say, “I’m thinking of starting a novel over the weekend.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald said it well: “A novel takes time.” Any book does. It also takes advance thinking, planning, research, and years of investigation. Robert Benchley, the famous and beloved humorist, once remarked on the time needed to develop writing ability: “It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.”

Whatever type of book you’re thinking of writing, consistent daily work is a must. Most authors have daily goals of so many words or pages to be written, and they are very serious about it.

Writing for a living also means plenty of revision, bouncing ideas off editors, planning, writing, and selling new proposals (or outlines and chapters), promoting your books after they are published, getting publicity for them, hopefully media attention via radio and television interviews, and going to bat for your books in every way possible.

Discipline is important because a writer must be able to continually coordinate all the above activities and provide time for them.

Three-time Academy Award winning songwriter, the late Paul Francis Webster, once said that two of the most creative places he had experienced were “on a train from Los Angeles to New York and at the top of the highest hill in Hong Kong.” It is very true that certain places stimulate the creative juices more than others.
 
Creative people ask questions. What if I switched things around? How about an overseas setting for this story or book? Could a key element from one work be shifted to another?
 
The creative process thrives on experimentation, first trying one thing and then another. Thomas Edison, creative genius that he was on inventions, was never despondent throughout the 10,000 attempts to find something that would work for the electric light. Edison’s reaction was direct and simple: “We know this idea won’t work so that means we’re just one step closer to finding what will work.” Eventually, he found a filament that became the solution for the electric light.

Terry Borst is a terrific writer of new media and motion picture screenplays. I met Terry in the mid-1990’s when I was working as a multimedia publisher. With a college major in English and an impressive resume of writing credits to his name, I thought it would be fun to touch base with Terry again after so many years to see what he’s been up to. If you’re a fan of interactive stories, Hollywood movies, or educational simulations, you’ll enjoy what Terry had to share. Read on!

Q: What types of writing projects are you working on these days?

A: Books!  I’m currently co-writing my second book for Focal Press, on the topic of serious game and simulation development and production (from an independent game/low budget perspective).  The book will probably be published in late 2009 or early 2010, and follows up on my earlier co-written book, Story and Simulations for Serious Games.  (See the Amazon listing, or go to my LinkedIn page or terryborst.com to find out more).

The 2 books derive from several of the projects I’ve worked on the last few years:  scripting videogame simulations for the military and first responders.  These are pretty exciting because, as a writer, you get to enter new worlds and then see if you can build a convincing enough replica for professionals to test out tactical and strategic decision-making.  You’re quite involved with the design of the experience from the ground up, which is very creatively satisfying.

Q: Tell us about some of your previous projects.

A: For 20+ years, I’ve worked as a professional screenwriter and scriptwriter.  I co-wrote a sequel to the feature film MIDNIGHT RUN, and for years wrote episodes of a BBC action-adventure series syndicated in dozens of countries (which I still receive royalties for).  I scripted other independent and TV films, and got paid to write a lot of feature screenplays and pilot scripts that didn’t get produced.  And more than a decade ago, I got hired to co-write scripts for one of the most popular videogames in the ’90s:  WING COMMANDER.  I’ve written scripts for other entertainment videogames since then, before the recent migration to the simulations mentioned previously.  (You can find out much more about these titles on my website).

Q: What inspires you as an artist?

A: I think it’s impossible to answer this without lapsing into gauzy sorts of cliches.  Life inspires me; great art inspires me; all those moments when “a terrible beauty is born” (to quote Yeats).

Q: What creative mediums do you prefer to work in–and why?

A: While I may aspire to art, I pride myself on being a professional writer – and so I prefer to work in creative mediums where I get paid!  That said, there’s nothing like executing a feature screenplay really well:  creating a great story arc within a contained world is an incredible challenge.  I believe in art that takes us on a journey and provides closure:  a great painting or sculpture or piece of music can do this, and a feature screenplay is a kind of sculpture through time and space.

Q: Briefly describe your creative process–how do you get your ideas…how to you develop that idea…what steps do you take to bring that idea to lifeﾅwhat tools do you use?

A: Ideas are everywhere:  the trick (for new, original work) is to find the ones you’re willing to obsess about.  If I’ve got an obsession, then I keep thinking about it, and start to think about the kind of journey that can be taken within this obsession.  If necessary, I’ll do research, and I’ll start writing down ideas about scenes, parts of scenes, and characters.  You build something like this over time, and eventually you try to find some dramatic structure for the story that’s been accreting.

I’ve been fortunate that most of the work I’ve been doing the last 15 years has been work for hire.  So the initial concept for the project might not start with me.  Still, I have to brainstorm how to get into and get out of a scene.  Or, I might know that I want a videogame player to undertake a new mission.  But what’s the setup for the mission?  And what obstacles will confront the player on the mission?  Ideas are then frequently found by 1) figuring out the obvious way to reach my goal in a scene or sequence, and 2) then throwing out the obvious way and looking for the surprising way to reach my goal.

As to tools: At a very early stage, I still use 3×5 index cards to capture story beats, scenes, moments, etc.  But I’ve also used StoryView to construct outlines, and I’ll use Word for other outlines.  Then it’s on to Final Draft or Movie Magic Screenwriter, or sometimes other tools for more interactive projects.  These days, you could use a tool like Google Notes and use your cellphone to outline acts or missions or scenes.

Q: Do stories really need to be told interactively? What’s the advantage of this medium?

A: Interactive storytelling offers us (as creators) a new way to engage the “receiver”.  We can create new kinds of immersive narratives, and entertain and teach in ways we never could before.  WORLD OF WARCRAFT, BIOSHOCK and GUITAR HERO all create unique and even profound experiences for players, just as The Canterbury Tales, Dream of the Red Chamber, Middlemarch, Waiting for Godot and 2001: A Space Odyssey created unforgettable experiences for earlier generations.

Q: Looking back on all that you have accomplished throughout your career, what are you most proud of working on? Would you do anything differently if you could? What was your greatest lesson learned?

A: Most proud of working on: 1) The WING COMMANDER series, because we really did break some new ground; 2) a screenplay for a historical novel called The War Train, which sadly went unproduced to a regime change at Paramount.

Would I do anything differently? Probably lots, but all of this is about career management decisions, and hindsight is always 20-20.

Greatest lesson(s) learned:  1) You can’t write too much.  2) Plan for a career:  always consider where you want to go, and what can get you there.  3) Be entrepreneurial.

Q: Any advice you’d like to provide to people hoping to find work as a digital storyteller?

A: I think you have to find your own work.  The tools are within everyone’s reach now.  You should know how to shoot video, edit media, and work in Flash.  If you’re a good enough creator, you can launch your own YouTube channel and wind up making money.  If you’re just starting out, you need to wear multiple hats to succeed.

Q: Do you know of any useful online resources for budding digital storytellers?

A: Interestingly, my wife (Carolyn Handler Miller) actually wrote the book (literally!) on digital storytelling, titling it Digital Storytelling.  You’ll find a lot of references to it online.  That might be a start.

Game Developer magazine has most of its content online; gamestudies.org gets into the more esoteric side of videogame theory.

Assuming we’re really talking about interactive storytelling, then the novice creator needs to immerse him- or herself in interactive experiences.  Play games, spend time in Second Life, study webisodics.  You should discover what’s unique about interactivity when married to narrative (whether structured or post-hoc).

As a college English major, I always knew that reading the Cliff’s Notes was no substitute for reading the book.  Get in the game! as the console advertisement used to go.

Links:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/tborst
http://www.terryborst.com

The Internet and its colossal impact on businesses worldwide is something I like to refer to as the Web Effect, a precept that Laurie Windham and I first postulated nine years ago in our book, “Dead Ahead: The Web Dilemma and the New Rules of Business.” The Web Effect loosely plays on Edward Lorenz’s chaos theory principle known as The Butterfly Effect.  The Butterfly Effect has become a popular metaphor for describing the chaos theory, the notion that the flapping of a butterfly’s wings in China can send ripples of effects throughout larger and more complex systems, causing say –– a hurricane in Florida.

Following this analogy, the Web is a true “phenomenon” that has impacted nearly everyone.  The “complex system” that’s been impacted by the Web is our global economy.  Much like the ripples in a pond which repel from a center point and then move outward, the Web effects businesses in ways that cannot be entirely predicted, and that will continue to impact organizations in this unsettling way for many years to come.

The ripples in the Web Effect demonstrate the various stages of impact:

• The Web Effect begins with access.  People with access to the Web quickly develop a preference for the Web as a vehicle for performing many business and leisure tasks.
• This access quickly led to preference to do business and expand relationships on the Web in every market.
• As consumers and business customers develop a preference for using the Web, they now demand that all companies service them online.

The result of the Web Effect is that it has created an empowered customer. Control of the transaction has shifted from the seller to the buyer, from the vendor to the customer.

Now that there has been this monumental shift in control to an online user, that control cannot easily be taken away.  More than a demand––it can be said that the Web has become a prerequisite to doing business with a company.

One secret of good article writing is to make effective use of anecdotes. Anecdotes can be the magic ingredients of articles, and they do a great deal to bring an article to life, give it substance and depth, and hold the reader’s interest.

Definition of an Anecdote
The American College Dictionary describes an anecdote as “a short narrative of a particular incident or occurrence of an interesting nature.”

An anecdote is a very short story with a point. The best anecdotes have a beginning, middle, and end. Little stories like this help illustrate the basic points or purpose of an article. If you have the ability to tell a story or relate an incident, then you probably already have an anecdote or two in your back pocket.

Sample Anecdote
General George Patton’s fighting spirit revealed itself clearly at West Point. While many of his fellow students disobeyed the academy’s rules, Patton was serious about them and believed in keeping them.

One day the future general saw a classmate breaking a rule and felt he had to report it––a rule required by the West Point code. Later that night, several of the largest and toughest cadets visited George and threatened him with a beating should he make the report and squeal. Patton calmly replied, “I’m reporting him. I’ll fight you now, one at a time, and when I get out of the hospital I’ll start again where I left off.” Nobody accepted his offer.

Where to Find Anecdotes
Here are some useful sources for anecdotes you can start tapping at once:

• Your own past. Search your memory. You are bound to discover a rich variety of little stories you can use from your youth, school days, jobs you have held, hobbies, or travel.
• Interesting tidbits you’ve gleaned from Digg, Technorati, Twitter, the Drudge Report, your local paper–wherever. You can put them into your own words or use them as they are, if not too long.
• Your friends, neighbors, and relatives. This can be another rich source. When you hear a good anecdote related by a friend or relative, get it down on paper fast while it’s fresh in your mind.
• Books are a fertile source for anecdote material. There are even whole books devotes to the subject of anecdotes!

As time passes, you will eventually develop quite a backlog of anecdotes. Once you have a lot of them, you might wish to divide them into categories. Then when you are writing various articles, you have only to thumb through your anecdote file cards to select those you want to use.

Suggested Anecdote Category List

• Humorous anecdotes
• Anecdotes about money and personal finance
• Technology and social media anecdotes
• Health and job hunting anecdotes
• School and college anecdotes
• Anecdotes from entrepreneurs and great leaders
• Travel anecdotes
• Anecdotes on marriage, death and taxes

Basic Tips for Using Anecdotes
Here are three basic guidelines for using anecdotes in the articles you write:

1. Anecdotes may be used anywhere in an article. They usually appear in the body or midsection, but many articles open with an interest-grabbing anecdote.
2. Even seemingly unimportant incidents can have the effect of an anecdote. Don’t rule out trivial sounding incidents (what happened to your neighbor, getting caught in the rain, and so on).
3. Anecdotes can be short or long (from a few lines to one or several paragraphs), though they are usually short.

What type of website experience causes visitors to come back repeatedly? Great ones! Oh, if creating awesome website were only that easy, we’d all have one. Right?

While tactical approaches to designing websites vary widely, successful web strategies are based on a few simple principles –– something I first wrote about nine years ago in a book I co-authored with Laurie Windham about doing business online. In that book, “Dead Ahead: The Web Dilemma and the New Rules of Business,” Laurie and I warned businesses that they needed to fulfill the demands of their site visitors, or face their wrath.

The four demands of the empowered customer are:

1. Give me what I need when I need it
2. Don’t waste my time
3. Give me meaningful content, not fluff
4. Don’t exploit me

When you factor the demands of the empowered customer together, you realize that people want a Holistic Experience that is based on their interpretation of the rules. Playing on that concept, a Holistic Website integrates marketing, sales and customer usage activities to enable shopping, buying, receiving, and consuming –– in one cohesive site. It puts the user in the center of the universe, anticipating, stimulating and facilitating their behavior. It fulfills the promise of the company’s value proposition by satisfying user needs.

Companies who can combine these holistic insights with solid user centric design and testing will find themselves much better prepared to develop a website that truly delights their customers.

Self publishing is an inimitable stepping stone for many first time authors to see their work in print. With so many online resources available, writers have a wide range of publishing options from which to choose. The possibilities for your finished book are infinite.

Every book is a lead book for a self-publisher, who sinks a lot of money, time, effort, and sometimes real sacrifice into the book. If the gamble pays off, the self-publisher makes a bundle when a major New York publisher will offer to take over the small self-publisher’s book.

Self-publishing is certainly a way to get the attention of the big New York publishers. If your book or books take off and chalk up a lot of sales, or bestsellers, the major publishers will sit up and take notice and contact you. Cliché or not, nothing succeeds like success, in this business as in others.

The major risks to self-publishing are:

1. It’s a slow growth / low margin business opportunity
2. Success linked to amortizing hard costs and releasing multiple book titles over time
3. Self-publishing has an “amateur” stigma attached to it
4. Lots of small publishers competing for recognition and awareness
5. Many small publishers are under financed and cannot survive during slow sales periods or radical shifts in the marketplace

Another risk to self-publishers is the large wholesale order. While a self-publishers initial reaction to a large order of 5,000-10,000 books may be joy––the reality is that this large order may lead a self-publisher down the path to bankruptcy! Many self-publishers will finance a large volume of books to be put to press, then wait 6-12 months for a check from the wholesaler. Assuming they can survive that long, given the fact that they may be $15,000-$30,000 in debt, a wholesaler may later come back with significant returns and ask for some of their money back. Many small presses and self-publishers have gone under this way.

Prove as a self-publisher you can deliver the goods with strong-selling books, meaning bestsellers, and you may not have to stay a self-publisher unless that is your wish.

Sales of a book in the first year are critical and usually determine what its fate will be, when controlled by a large national publisher. It may die a quick death by, or before, the end of the first year. For a self-publisher it’s different. The first year is used to build a solid market for a future of sustained sales. A large New York publisher may sell only 5,000 copies total, but a number of self-publishers can count on 5,000 copies (or more) each year.

Realize, too, that a self-published book often has a better chance of success because it is under the control of one who cares––the author. Dan Poynter, a self-publisher who has done very well indeed, sold 125,000 copies of a book on a new sport when he began. The book reportedly took him two months of writing time. One can only wonder what sales of the book would have been if it had been published by a large company. Perhaps 5,000 or 10,000 copies or maybe a few thousand more.

There is the case of a successful woman lawyer in the Midwest who finished a novel and sent it off to a likely major publisher. After six months of waiting, her manuscript was finally returned. Undaunted, she sent it to another publisher. An incredible year-and-a-half passed, and then she finally received another rejection. So what did she do? She published her book herself, doing the artwork and handling its printing and distribution. Her book started selling and soon attracted a West Coast agent who signed the self-published author-lawyer as a client. Her agent sold the paperback rights for a large sum of money.

Vladimir Lange, M.D. self-published his book, Be A Survivor: Your Guide to Breast Cancer Treatment. He set up a book signing at a popular bookstore and hawked the new title at a medical trade show. Less than one month after the book’s initial release, sales were booming. The book went back to the presses for another 5,000 unit run.

The point is, despite the risk, self-publishing can be a way to success with the major publishers and quite possibly a very profitable way.