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News, Fiction Updates & General MusingsPhysical Books: Are They Still Relevant?
Not a week goes by without another article about the death of physical books, and parallel rise of the ebook.
August saw eBook sales overtake print sales on Amazon, with something like 114 ebooks sold for every 100 paperbacks. Just this week, Digital Book World reported that digital sales were up by 34%, with paperback sales slumping by 20%. Traditionalists worldwide began to cry tears of mourning, whilst digital commentators sat smug-faced, with ‘I told you so’ smiles.
But what does the supposed demise of physical books mean for the future? The only answer anyone can really give is this: we do not know.
A while back, I made a somewhat radical claim that we’re moving away from a world of ownership and more into a ‘rental’ mindset. Perhaps this will happen – Spotify and other music streaming services are flying the flag for such a business model in the music industry.
Or, maybe physical books will display a vinyl-like resilience; a collectors item for the dedicated fan rather than an everyday mainstream item.
Building Your Author Platform – Part 2: Layout and Pages
This is the second part of a four-part weekly series on how to set up your author platform from scratch. If you missed the first stage, then click here to read it, and head back to part two when you’ve finished.
So, congratulations! If you followed last week’s steps, you’ll have the infrastructure of your website in place, as well as a great domain name that every reader will remember. Your author platform is well and truly on its way to becoming a thriving hub of interaction. But what now?
Whether you went the wordpress.com or wordpress.org route, there are two more things you need to think about, preferably before you start posting.
– An eye-catching yet subtle layout
– Appropriate pages to direct your readers
I’m going to start by talking about the layout, as it’s the look of the website and author platform hub that ultimately makes every web user’s mind up for them. If you are using wordpress.com, head over to the ‘Appearance’ section, click on ‘Themes’, and see what takes your fancy.
My problem with wordpress.com? You can’t bring in a theme from elsewhere, or customize the preset themes too much.
This isn’t a major problem – there are some brilliant, subtle wordpress.com themes out there. The default ’20-’ themes are generally suitable for the purpose of writers, although a personal favourite of mine would have to be the ‘Blogum’ theme. See what works for you, anyway.
As a rule of thumb – make sure it’s clean, and not too overwhelming. I know it doesn’t sound very exciting, but simple, tidy minimalism makes for a better browsing experience than an eye-popping, colourful mess.
Writing Confidence: Three Thoughts That Breed Failure
Confidence is a big thing in writing. Without some self-belief, the whole thing will fall apart, and you’ll find yourself never completing your work. I’ve talked about the importance of writing confidence in the past, and how ability and enjoyment both contribute towards eventual success.
But how can one be confident? There’s a difference between confidence and arrogance. Arrogance is a blind belief based on an inflated sense of self-importance. Confidence, on the other hand, is a belief in the quality of your work and the strength of your abilities. Sure, you might not be Shakespeare (who is?), but you know how to tell a good story, right?
The first step to a more confident and positive outlook to writing involves cutting out those thoughts that create failure. Imagine two hypothetical pitches – one brimming with belief and desire, the other hesitant and uncertain. The first person could be shaking with nerves and still deliver a more convincing account of their book than the second.
I’m very interested in words and the power of language to create certain connotations and emotions. It’s amazing to consider the sheer power difference achieved by, say, cutting the ‘t’ off the end of ‘can’t’. But anyway, I digress.
Here are three thoughts to cut out of your writing life. Three thoughts that breed failure. Three thoughts that will stop you from writing and selling your book.
Building Your Author Platform – Part 1: Getting Everything in Place
This is the first of a four part series, to be published every Friday. This week will focus on the technicalities of setting up an author platform, from choosing a good name to hosting options.
So, you’ve made the decision – you’ve researched your favourite authors and seen what they all have in common: a website, or a ‘platform’ as it is more suitably dubbed. Joanna Penn has one, David Gaughran has one. But where do you start? What’s all this technical rubbish about domain names, self-hosting, blah blah?
Fret no more – this series of posts will act as a guide on your journey from anonymous author to someone with a thriving platform.
Setting up a platform may seem overwhelming, but believe me, it’s a lot more simple when you have someone to help you through the process. That’s what I’m here for.
I’d recommend reading this post before starting the process, by the way. I’m more of a tip-sharing, give you the freedom to do what you want, sort of teacher.
So, shall we begin?
What is an author platform?
An author platform is the foundation upon which everything else is built. It’s the web that brings social media, book purchase links, contact info, and blogging together in one place.
You can sell your books via your author platform, you can reach out to readers via your author platform. It’s yours to do what you want with it.
Currently, lets say you use your Facebook page as your primary source of focus. That’s cool, but really, how do you expect others to find you? Y’know, the people who use search engines to find blog content, and those who still resist Zuckerberg’s empire?
You want something that is yours. Although unlikely, Facebook could collapse any second now. If you’ve invested everything in them, then your entire web presence goes crumbling down with them. Is that a risk you want to take?
Scrap All Your Social Media Accounts: An Experiment
I’m going to put a rather controversial sounding proposal out there. It may seem mad, but bear with me until the end, and hopefully you’ll see my logic.
Ready? Okay.
You should deactivate all of your social media accounts.
I know, I know – crazy proposal, right? I’ve been singing the praises of social media advice for months, so why the sudden u-turn? I know what you’re thinking: ‘Ryan’s finally lost it.’ Perhaps, but hear me out and you’ll see where I’m coming from.
Hopefully.
The Logic Behind My Madness
Okay, so open up that one social media account you don’t really use that much. You know, the one where you always forget to post things, and where you only have about four followers? Yeah, that one. Let’s hypothetically say that this social network account is, I don’t know… Google+. Hypothetically, of course (ahem). Hit the deactivate key.
A question for you: how do you feel now that you’ve ditched a social networking website that you never actually used properly in the first place? If you’re anything like me, you’ll feel less burdened. A weight has lifted from your shoulders.
Enjoy that feeling?
Right, now open up your Twitter account…
Hover over the deactivate key…
Twitter Dilemma: To Follow or Not to Follow?
Twitter can be a nightmare of etiquette. I’m sure we’ve all experienced the moment where someone follows us and we aren’t quite sure whether or not to return it, right? To follow or not to follow on Twitter? That is the question.
But forgetting the clichés (and the fact that I revisited Hamlet as part of my studies this week), there are some serious implications behind the decision to follow somebody on Twitter. Follow everybody, and you’ll end up with an incomprehensible update feed, but follow no-one and you’ll stand no chance of growing your fan base.
So, how does one find a balance on Twitter? I’m not talking about tweet content, as I’ve already done that, but in terms of following and following back? Here are a few paths you could explore.
Path 1: The ‘Follow Everyone’ Tactic
This route is probably the fastest way to gain followers for yourself. Type in #amwriting, follow 50 or so people, and watch more flood in. Follow everyone back who follows you.
This tactic can be beneficial, as amongst these thousands of followers, there will no doubt be the odd true fan. However, I question how one can truly gain a fan base through this method. Not only will your own feed get clogged up, but the bulk of your mutual follows will see you as little more than a figure. That is assuming, of course, they see you at all.
Of course, there are ways to filter through people using this method: many writers set up Twitter lists for those they are interested in/family/friends, etc. I use lists myself, but I wouldn’t say I follow everyone back. No, my tactic is slightly more conservative…