I hear that a lot.
You’re welcome. Here’s my secret.
When I put my first book out, I had all sorts of questions. There was a very helpful website at the time that allowed me to ask questions to people who had much more indie experience than I did. They were extremely helpful.
Every time I had a rookie question, I would swallow my fear and just ask it in the plainest, simplest way possible. Veterans would come in and answer the question. Newer people would say things like “Oh, I had that question, too.”
The other thing I saw was people had been on that site for years and had the same questions I was asking as a rookie. That meant they were afraid to ask or didn’t know to ask, and had foundered unnecessarily for too long.
So I asked lots and lots of basic simple questions over there because I knew every question I asked, lots of other people had that same question, they were just too afraid to ask it publicly.
Same thing here. Every time I help some new author in a critique group or privately, there are usually some basic issues they are dealing with and I just use them as an example (without using their name) and answer it here – so everyone can benefit.
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REBLOG me! Or SHARE this post on Facebook and Twitter! See those little buttons down below? Put on your glasses. There they are. Click them.
Got a QUESTION? ASK IT! Hit the Contact Me button and I’ll see what I can do. (I have lots of smart friends.)
Dan Alatorre is the author of several bestsellers and the hilarious upcoming novel “Poggibonsi: an italian misadventure.” Check out his other works HERE.
And, that’s why your blog is taking off right now, because you answer the questions aspiring authors want to ask. I follow a few blogs, but when I wake up in the morning, before I get my kids out of bed, this is the first one I look at. It’s one of the most useful I’ve found, and it helps to know the advice is coming from someone who’s IN it. Who’s making it.
Thanks, Jenny.
You know, (and I’ve said this before) I blogged about stuff for about 2 years with almost zero followers. When I started helping other writers with what I’d learned, SPARING them from the bad things I’d been through, that’s when it took off. We add followers every single day and it’s likely we’ll have over 1000 by the end of this year. We had maybe a hundred at the end of last year.
And yeah, I say “we” because I feel it’s a team effort.
Friends like you – not somebody who lives next door or works with my wife, but who found me through the vast spanse of the interwebs and who I’ve interacted with about writing enough to feel a kinship, that’s a friend, and a valuable one – friends like you are what make this thing happen.
Wanna feel motivated?
When people tell you they read your stuff every day, THAT is motivating!
I’ll read that and think, gosh, I can’t disappoint her now. Come up with something good for your next post!
(Most say it privately but it feels good publicly, too. To be honest, if they all said it publicly I’d probably die of embarrassment or a seriously big head).