Every year, I take time to reevaluate my business and set new goals. Sometimes, I set my sites on a new direction. I decide to write articles only for magazines that pay $500 and up, for example. In 1999, I finally decided to hang out my shingle and work with other writers and authors. A few years later, I began seeking workshop venues throughout the U.S. And then there are shifts that occur in my career that I have no part in orchestrating.
Recently, a client contacted me and asked if I would be a paid, professional mentor to her entire writing group. Now this is something I never thought about doing. What a concept. But will it work? I’ll let you know if future blog posts.
Here’s what I know so far: There are four hopeful authors in this group and one writer who hasn’t committed her words to paper, yet. The four are all working on nonfiction books and they want help writing their book proposals. So I guess my primary contribution will be conducting book proposal workshops. It shouldn’t be too different from teaching my online book proposal course—only there will be a lot more interaction in the writing group setting. I’m sure I will learn a lot through this process and I certainly hope the authors will, too.
Sometimes authors come to me for help that I wouldn’t imagine myself offering. I’m asked to get involved in projects at levels outside of my perceived job description. For example, a potential client asked recently, if he should solicit financial sponsorships for his project. Someone else called asking whether to go with agent A or agent B. Yet, another new author requested my opinion on fulfillment companies. I find myself in precarious positions, at times, when drawn into the personal decision-making process with an author.
I can, and I will, provide resources and ideas for making a selection, but I can’t make that decision for you. Some people join SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) in hopes that we will make choices for them. They want to know what publisher to approach, whether to self-publish or not, which printer to go with, if POD is for them. At SPAWN, we provide the resources, tips and techniques, but we certainly don’t make the decisions for authors. Visit the SPAWN website at http://www.spawn.org
I find, however, that many hopeful authors and budding freelance writers want definitive answers to their burning questions. They want to know the best publishing choice for their project and whether a certain POD contract is good or not. But the only right answer is the one that they generate only after conducting the necessary research. And the right answer for one person may be the wrong answer for the next person.
Publishing is not an exact science. It is not an extension of your writing. It is a business and it becomes personal with each project and each individual.
Read The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. Why? You’ll learn about the world of publishing and how to navigate within it in order to experience success with your particular project. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html