A conversation with Marry Anne

[Richard A. McCullough]

Mary Anne sent me this and its worth a read
But my "reply" was too long so I'm posting the whole thing here.

>>Just read both the SYSTEMS and NATURAL TALENT, too bad I didn't join this circle sooner - I would have not wasted my time with Self-Publishing my first book...lesson learned for jumping the gun...the book would be two years old come this November and only made me about twenty four dollars, I'm out six grand and still have no way of knowing if the book is really selling or not.
It seems the company is constantly changing hands when dealing with authors.<<

$6K - Ouch! And no product - double Ouch!!

You're not too late to "join the circle".

Write me directly at [e-mail] and I'll make sure you're on the list for every new article I post. Also you can read everything that I've been posting over the last couple months at AFABW.

Click Here http://afabwint.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?user=0v2aaysiue8nr
There are 35 pieces there but unfortunately no way to sort them - so you just have to scroll around.

But it gets better - my website will be up shortly www.write-better-fiction.com which will have over 250 articles sliced-and-diced by category.

Regarding your foray into selfpublishing - if I may be so bold - you were perhaps just a little ahead of the curve and it sounds like you got hoodwinked into dealing with the wrong company.

Selfpublishing is definitely the way to go - but like everything else there is the "right way" and then there are all the "other ways".

>>My second manuscript is finished and am now writing my third with the final fourth on the horizon, and I am NOT letting the publisher touch this one, but I am trying my best to get the agents attention by submitting my manuscript to their offices.<<

Forget about "agents" they are just as useless as the blood sucking publishers.

>>With one well known publisher in Toronto, I did get a return with a nice letter of rejection - no problems there, I understand, I may have to go through with hundreds of rejections before I click.<<

Forget about "rejection slips" - read the article I just sent "Selfpublishing - the Best Game in town". We writers need to shift our viewpoint from being whores to the publishing industry to being product developers. We already do 95% of the work but the way the publishers have the game rigged we get less than 6% of the money. We can't possibly win that game.

>>Meanwhile, when not writing the middle of my third story, I am writing poems, or lyrics to a song...till I come up with a set of new fresh ideas to add to my story lines.<<

Again "if I may" I'd like to suggest that you spend as much time as you can spare, studying the subject of Promotion & Marketing. Because the truth is that whether your book is great or just so-so has little bearing on how it will sell. Whether your books sell well or flop has everything to do with your marketing knowledge and efforts and nothing to do with your publisher.

Publishers don't sell books. Bookstores don't sell books. Amazon doesn't sell books.

Only authors sell books. And they do that only be becoming good at Promotion & Marketing. Which interestingly enough while being a largely misunderstood subject is not nearly as complex and filled with false data as is the subject of writing good salable fiction.

So if you can learn how to write a decent book you dam well ought to be able to learn how to sell it. And I don't mean "selling" it to a blood-sucking publisher but rather "selling" it - in quantity - to readers. These are the actual people that buy your book.

>>Your 'Systems' makes more sense than any other books I have read on the same subject and I have learned more of what I really needed to know and I thank you for sending it my way.....Mary Anne<<

Thank you very much for your huge complement. It means a great deal to me.

Keep me posted and I'll add you to my list as soon as I get your address.

And like my foray up the "writing fiction" mountain I'm doing my best to document and codify my assent up the twin peaks of "manufacturing" and "selling". And I'll be sharing the map I draw with anyone what whishes to come along.

So, strap on your hiking boots, Bunky - grab a sturdy stick and let's get going.
You may get a few bumps and bruises along the way - but it won't be boring.

We're about to tramp right over the faces of those corporate blood-suckers and leave them dying in the dust.