Dreams are as light as fog and heavy as steal, but a mere shadow of doubt, can wipe them from being. They are the light-bulb waiting to be turned on. It is self-confidence, which drives the successful. The ideas, plans, and energy, feed a champion, and drive them to succeed, where others have failed.
Two days ago I met a man. I was introduced to him by Everett Powers, via Twitter. He wrote a post about a man, whom I would imagine, is entirely unfamiliar with the word doubt. John Locke has become the first indie author to reach 1 million ebook sales. He has written a book, How I Sold 1 Million ebooks in 5 months. Now to be clear, John Locke doesn’t know me, or my Extremely Average blog. I didn’t meet him, but met him through his words. He wrote them especially for me, and possibly the other 699,999 indie authors out there, but mainly for me.
His book describes, in detail, exactly how he did it.
Never have I read a ‘how to book’, learned so little, and been so thankful. There were very few things in his plan, which aren’t part of my plan. He had multiple books 5 months ago, I have three right now (not counting the 78K word science fiction novel, I don’t like to talk about.) He used the tools, which I have put in place, blogging and tweeting. He has approached social media in almost the exact same way that I have, the last 18 months. There was precious little I hadn’t thought of doing.
I read it in one day. It has changed my life.
There is something about writing a novel, which is indescribable. To mold a world, fill it with people (good and bad), and decide its fate, is a powerful thing. The first one, I wrote, came so easily, quite literally by accident. Then I wrote another. People kept reading. I started to look for the ‘catch’.
There has to be a catch.
I added a few writers to my circle of friends on Twitter, and then they suggested a few more. The links they shared were to lists of ‘Ways to Fight Writer’s Block’, ‘Strategies for Finishing that WIP’, and countless others. I was eager to see how ‘real’ writers did things, but wear of shedding my most powerful writing gift…ignorance.
Ignorance of grammar and spelling isn’t great, but it is a godsend when it comes to writing a novel. The ‘real’ writers have to do everything that ‘pretend’ writers, like myself, have to do, but they have to do it after being trained to believe the ‘unwritten rules’ of writing. I would share those rules with you now, but that is a post for another day. In short, the writers of the world, who came before, have created a nearly impenetrable gauntlet of ‘Sacred Belief’. They have, quite cleverly, I might add, made it almost impossible for their acolytes to succeed. Or this is the impression I have formed from reading all those links.
I believe in my plan. Believing is a heavy burden. Doubt is most able to feed, when there is a vast plain of unknown, between the writer and the dream. John Locke has demonstrated that it works. He has patted me on the shoulder and said, “You are on the write path.” (horrible pun…my bad) What he has actually done is wiped doubt from my mind. It was the best day of adult life. (not better than the Big Red Machine winning the World Series in ’75 and ’76…obviously)
This is how a book, which taught me very little, has changed my life. For the last 4 years, I have done little else, but spend my life, knee deep in virtual worlds and social media. My understanding of the medium is greater than anyone new to the game, so I was able to build a solid plan. It sounds like I am bragging, but I have a point. If you haven’t spent 2 years making a living in the virtual world of Second life and a year making a living in social media, and you are a writer, then you will find his book a MUST read. If you have a similar background in this new world, then you will enjoy knowing you were right. Either way, I recommend that every one of the other 699,999 writers give it a read. If you want to learn how to market something else, then you best get out your debit card and pick up a copy, too. It is the best $4.99, I have EVER spent.
If you have even the slightest interest in success, then let me convince you to take action now. Click on the link and buy the book on Kindle. Don’t have a Kindle, then get the print version, or better yet, download a Kindle reader for your computer. But buy the book now, because if you think about it for an hour, you will get distracted, and may never pick it up. You will have headed down a path, which I am sure, will be less wonderful than the one I am on now.