Don't Get Jealous, Get Inspired

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Writers are, generally speaking, envious people. We have plenty reasons to be. Libraries, bookstores, and online shops are stacked full with NYT bestselling books from countless authors, stacked with amazing stories thousands of people will cherish and remember for decades or centuries. It's quite easy for a writer to ask the question: why not me? And to tell you not to do that would be going against human nature. Envy happens, it's part of being human, but the problem arises when we let it control us and our goals.

This past week, I finally caught up with the Harry Potter series (finally, I know). Beyond some shocking things I'm surprised I got this far in life not knowing (no spoilers to anyone late to the game like me), getting through that whole series in a short period taught me a very important lesson about jealousy in the writing world. J.K. Rowling is one of the easiest figures in writing today to be envious of. Millions (maybe billions) of books sold worldwide, an amazing and extremely profitable film series, and a cultural phenomenon which will undoubtedly last generations. What more could a lowly writing dream for? I considered all of this throughout my recent Harry Potter journey, and about halfway through the final installment, I came to my final realization. Although jealousy was impossible to avoid, there was something else waiting to fill my head if I just pushed the envy aside enough to let it in: Inspiration.

Instead of focusing on the crazy success that the Harry Potter series and J.K. Rowling has achieved, I focused on the actual story I was absorbing. It is, to avoid spending too much time on this point, quite good. Rather than get jealous at the quality of the story, I found my inner voice speaking quite positively. It was no longer about being upset over another writer's level of success, it was about being proud that writers like that exist and can find success. There's a reason (most) successful writers end up being successful: they write good stuff. Like any industry, there are politics, business, and other factors involved in overall success, but the solution to this is simple. All you have to do is writing something too good to be ignored, and all you have to do to do that is practice your craft.

We get jealous because it's easy. It's easier than admitting another writer's superiority, in either success or writing ability. It's easier to let your jealousy stand in front of you than to make inspiration push you from behind. But they both come from the same place, and it's your job to turn those feelings around. By the time I was done with the Harry Potter serious, I wasn't envious over its success, I was eager to write again. I wanted to write something I would enjoy as much as I did that story, something too good to be ignored. Maybe I won't be able to achieve anything close to Harry Potter-level of success, but who cares? If you work on your writing, and I mean harder than you think anyone has ever worked on it before, then something good is bound to come out of it. And, although the media will try to convince you this isn't true, great things are eventually uncovered by people who love it, and cherished for being great.

Harry Potter did not teach me than any writer can gain that kind of success, it just showed me that that kind of success is possible. And that's a good thought. Millions of people the world over remain passionate about books, and about great stories. Now all I have to do, and all you have to do, is write one. I don't know about you, but if one person out in this world loves my work as much as the masses adore the Harry Potter series, I'll be one happy writer. And the thing about people who love something is they talk about it, they make sure their favorite things are not ignored.

Don't get jealous. Get happy, get inspired. Get happy that there's an audience out there for you to reach, passionate fanboys and fangirls waiting to gobble up and obsess over the next great story. Get inspired to be the scribe behind that great story. Envy will not help any of this, but it's up to you to conquer that spite and turn it into a vehicle for you to think, write, and create.

You know what you shouldn't be envious about? My terrible self-promotion at the end of blog posts, but here it is: If you liked this post, check out my books on AMAZON (also available on B&N, Smashwords, iBooks, and Kobo).

Breaking Through Writer's Block

^Writer's block, a visual representation^

When it comes to writer's block, there's a lot of things someone could do to get through it. But, the complexity and individuality of it is the worst part. Everyone experiences it in their own way, and they have their own sets of "cures" for it. There isn't one single thing that works for everyone, nor is there one single way to accurately describe what writer's block is and what it does to the creative mind. Above all, the "cure" for any blockages is straightforward: write. But, as many of us know, straightforward doesn't mean simple, and it definitely doesn't mean easy.

Write. Sounds easy enough as is, right? But if it was, writer's block wouldn't be a thing. Sure, we all wish we could just let our stories constantly go from our brain to the page with a perfect flow. But that just doesn't happen. For some people, such as myself, it's not so much having a lack of ideas or knowledge of where to go with the story, but rather it is a lacking of motivation or belief in ability. Others, however, do have the issue of not knowing where to take their story in the next chapter, or even on the next page. So what do you do?

Sure, you could sit down and force yourself to write. I've done it a fair share of times and it does get me back into the swing of things a lot of the time, but wanna know a secret about that stuff I forced myself to write? It sucks. It sucks hard. That's what happens when you force it out of you. You'll get back into the swing of it sooner or later, but the stuff you force out will be terrible. Doesn't matter who you are or what you write, if you force it, it won't work. And, I don't know about any other writer's out there, but I don't want to put a terrible chapter into a work in progress. Preferably, I wouldn't want to write anything terrible ever, but that's just not possible. But, there is one thing that many writer's block sufferers, my past self included, miss when it comes to breaking through the blocks: When the answer is to write, it doesn't have to be on something serious.

We all love our manuscripts, and we want the best for them (or we should anyway), so breaking through blocks in our minds by working on our much-loved manuscripts might not be good. It wouldn't do you, or your passion a justice. My suggestion, for your sake and the sake of your work, would be to keep a separate writing file just for breaking through your blocks. It doesn't have to be anything serious, as a matter of fact it is better if it isn't. In my case, it's a Word file that, when I need to, I sit down and just write stuff. It is, as I call it, my "spill file". Sometimes it's whatever I'm thinking about right then, or whatever happened that day, or a summary of a story I want to write sometime in the future. Whatever I've got to put on the page, I let it spill out freely. I start by forcing it, letting the crappy writing out into a place specifically made for it, then before I know it I'm writing in that file because I want to. Then I just switch over to my manuscript and keep on keeping on, and my serious writing thanks me for it.

It doesn't even have to be a computer file. I know a good few people who keep journals or diaries to go through it. But, if you're like me, you're not a fan of the diary-style of writing, but it's the same concept. If you're having trouble with writer's block, you have to write to get through it, but not on your passion project. Once you've got your side journal or "spill file" to send all that forced writing and necessary gibberish, you'll be able to do better by your own writing and your work will end up more polished and organized at the end. In short, you can break through writer's block and organize your mind all at the same time, you've just got to put all the words you've got on paper, and get back to your manuscript or project when you can better focus your passion.

And now everyone's favorite part. Shameless plug time! If you liked this blog post, check out what happens when I manage to break through my writer's block and finish my novels: http://www.amazon.com/Mitch-Goth/e/B00C0GMK28/ 

"Pausing" Your Writing

Yes, it is possible. In a world that demands many writers to always be writing, the idea of taking a "pause" on your writing might seem strange or dangerous for your motivation or quality of work. Shut that voice in your brain up and take a break once and a while. Your mind and your writing will thank you in the long run.

We are living in the era of the "write everyday" mentality. If you didn't write something today, be it 100 words or 1000+, your day simply is not complete. A writer must always be writing. Always. How many of us achieve that goal all the time? Very few would say they do, and some of those people are definitely lying. So why should we continue to let this workhorse mentality control our motivations and writing life so much?

I don't know about all the other writers out there, but I stress about my writing schedule a lot. Throughout my week, I usually write 1,500 - 3,000 words each day, 4-6 days a week. And if I start missing more than a couple days in a week, I'll start to stress out about it. Why? The mentality of the constantly working writer. And so I decided to combat that feeling and that mentality. 

Late last month, I was hard at work on my current work in progress, and had hit a string of chapters that didn't come out the way I expected or wanted them. They were, and are, probably fine, but I only saw faults. Still, I kept on forcing the words out in bulk everyday. That didn't help, and so I tried out the exact opposite strategy. I took a pause on my writing, every aspect, and said I'll be back in two weeks tops. It's been nine days and I'm dying to get back to it, more motivated and excited to write than I have been in months.

My advice to the other writers out there: try this. It is the nature of the creative mind to be insecure or unsure about their continuation of work if they stop, but fight against this. Have some self-control, and you will have control over the work you produce. Sure, no one is truly forcing you to keep writing, but no one is forcing you to stop forever either. It takes discipline to take a break from a long, difficult process and then come back to it. But you ought to have discipline for something you're truly passionate about anyway.

Before I took my writing pause, I was burned out, stressed out, and tired from daily writing in the mid 2,000's range. Anyone who works too long or too hard on anything will sputter out after a certain amount of time. Expecting yourself, or anyone else, to keep going through that is frankly stupid and rather irresponsible. I was not producing my best writing in that state, and I knew I would stay on that track of sub-par production if something wasn't done. So I took a step back rather than mindlessly soldiering on, and both my mental health and quality of writing benefited from it.

No artist, writer or otherwise, should be expected to just keep blindly chugging forward on a project when stress and constant work is bringing down them and their craft. For the sake of mental health and the quality of work produced, artists need breaks. But they're also not the most common break takers in the world. So this is me telling you all to do it. Put a pause on it if you know you need time away, time to think over what your next creative move is, time to rest and return excited and energetic over the project again. There is no need to rush when going slow can do you and your work better.



Shameless plug time! If you liked this blog post, check out my books on Amazon!  http://www.amazon.com/Mitch-Goth/e/B00C0GMK28/ 

The KindleScout Experience: Part II

Two weeks left in the KindleScout campaign for my new novel, War Town. I wish I could say I had more information to pass along. At the start, I figured KindleScout wouldn't give me much to go on throughout the campaign, but I had no idea how little I would have to off of. In truth, the only way I know how well my campaign is doing is based on two things. 1) The number of hours spent on the "hot" list. 2) Total campaign page visits. Not a lot.

If we consider the amount of stats given to the owner of any Facebook page versus the campaign runner for KindleScout, we can see just how little info is being given out. I can go to my Facebook page right now, find out how people have visited, liked, where they liked, their general ages, their general locations, what time they liked, what time my likers are online, how many people view what tabs and how long they spend on those tabs. Meanwhile, I get two numbers off of KindleScout, and neither of them happen to be how many nominations I have. 

Over the course of 16 days, I have gotten 96 page visits, or so KindleScout claims. I have no idea whether or not this is true, but I'll go ahead and assume it is. Not the number I was hoping for, but oh well. So far, War Town has spent 0 hours on the "hot" list. I wish I could inform you all as to why this is. But I can't. I don't know. How many noms do you need to get onto this seemingly coveted "hot" list? No clue. Is it a certain number per hour or total? No clue. I know nothing of this "hot" list other than the fact that it exists and, supposedly, the more hours your book spends on it the better for your chances on the campaign. But, Amazon and KindleScout both do state that they make the final decision on publishing a book via Kindle Press at the end. So do the noms really mean anything at all? Maybe? Yes? No? Who knows. A few people in the Amazon offices, probably. Other than that, I have no idea. There's no threshold of noms you need, nor would you even be able to tell if you reached that count or not. For all I know, I could win the contract not getting even one more page view, while someone who spent their whole campaign on the "hot" list could be stepped over. There's a lot that is not being stated in all this, and through 16 days I have gotten very few answers to my questions regarding just what makes KindleScout tick.

With two weeks still left in the campaign, I'm sure there still things to see, try, and blog about. But as it stands right now, I don't have much to tell you all about, nor do I have much to go on personally. Aside from KindleScout's lack of information regarding the status of my nominations and campaign as a whole, it remains an interesting publishing tool and take on the whole process of publication. 

Look out for "The KindleScout Experience: Part II" when it comes and, of course, check out, read, and maybe even nominate War Town on KindleScout HERE

The KindleScout Experience: Part I

Since its inception, KindleScout has been received with cautious, mixed response from independent authors all around, and for good reason. KindleScout is essentially crowdsource publishing, a wild new take on what it means to be good enough for publication. But, without directly participating, there's a lot a writer might miss about this peculiar publishing program. And that's what I'm here for! My new novel, War Town, has been accepted into the program and just when live this morning. As the 45-day KindleScout process goes on with me, I'll be adding new parts to "The KindleScout Experience" blog. This is part one, enjoy.

What is KindleScout? KindleScout is Amazon's new attempt at a publishing contest, the replacement for the now defunct Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. For years, the ABNA was the award to win if you were an indie author. But, not many actually won. One person per year if my recollection doesn't deceive me. So, with a company as explosively expansive as Amazon, it makes sense that they wanted something that produced better results faster. Enter KindleScout. 

A writer, such as myself and some of you reading this, can submit a manuscript of at least 50,000 words in the genres of Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, general Literature & Fiction, Romance, Sci Fi and Fantasy, and YA/Teen. Along with the manuscript, you add it most everything else you would if you were publishing in the classic KDP style. Cover, one-sentence blurb, long description, genre and all that. Below you can see a snap of what the submit-page looks like. Any KDP authors out there will notice lots of similarities. Categories are the same, entries are the same, most everything is the same. But there are a few important differences. For one, you need a one-liner. And when they mean one line they mean it. It can only be a single sentence long. As you can see below, my short one-liner took up all but 16 remaining characters. Another big difference from KindleScout and KDP is the long-form description. You only get 500 characters which, if you know twitter, isn't much. Whatever book blurb you have might be way too long for KindleScout. If you're thinking of submitting to KindleScout, you'd better be concise with your blurb writing.

Once you get through the submitting process, you'll be taken to the policy accepting page, as with many other sites. Normally, I would breeze right by this, as it is pages upon pages of legalese, but this book is my baby, I don't want to land it anywhere I don't want it. And, if I wanted to blog about KindleScout I ought to be thorough. So I perused the long document for a bit. It goes through what it means to publish with KindleScout. If your campaign is successful, you'll get a 5 year deal with Kindle Press and a $1,500.00 advance against your royalties paid shortly after your acceptance for publication, and a 50% royalty rate should you out earn your advance. As far as advances go, KindleScout's is kind of low, but for a single book deal in a world where advance sizes are always going down, it isn't too bad. Royalty wise, you won't get much better than 50% outside of indie publishing. Some may be cautious at the 50% rate when KDP gives 70%, but Kindle Press does more for your book than KDP does. It's not just a new publishing platform, it's marketing.

Marketing is a particularly odd portion of KindleScout. They don't seem to list specifics on how they'll market your book, other than your book will be added into the Amazon marketing list. I assume they'll send out emails about your book, but beyond that it is a fog of vague language. But, that's not to say it is too shady. They all but guarantee solid sales through your contract. The KindleScout contract clearly states that, if a book doesn't earn $25,000 over the 5 year contract, the author has six months to opt out of the whole program and their rights revert to them immediately. In a world of entrapping contracts and shady deals, this is refreshingly straightforward. If sales are particularly abysmal through Kindle Press, you can opt out after 2 years. Five years might seem like a long time, but with the 2 year addition, they can't really entrap you in a piss poor contract. If they don't treat your book right, you can just take it back when the time comes, no strings attached (or so they say). Now, KindleScout hasn't even been around for 5 years, not even 2 if I remember the launch date right. So, whether or not it is truly as easy as they say to opt out of the program due to low sales has yet to be seen, but the way they say it, it seems that way. All that being said, there are some interesting additions to it all. As the agreement seems to read, Kindle Press and Amazon wants to take over ALL of marketing, and the way they state it makes it seem like the author isn't allowed to do much marketing themselves. If this is correct, it makes me a bit more hesitant, as I am always someone who wants in on the marketing of my books, to make sure they are as successful as they can possibly be. Whether or not that is the case, time will tell.

As for my book in particular, it just launched today! KindleScout let me know a day in advance when it would release so I could get my promotional ducks all in a row, which was nice. War Town officially launched into the 30 day (although it says 29 days left on the site) crowdsource publishing campaign. I'll be keeping up on blogging as the process goes on and I learn more about what all goes into KindleScout and how things go as the campaign gets further in. This was just an introduction, and I look forward to informing authors all around about KindleScout, so they can better decide if participation in the program is right for them or not. As I see it now, KindleScout is a cool new take on publishing, but doesn't seem like it would be right for every writer by any means, like people protective over their rights or writers in genres not represented by KindleScout right now. 

Once your submission gets through, this is what your book page will look like. I've got to admit, it's pretty snazzy looking! Beneath that are the sample chapters. They say the first 5,000 words but they cut mine around 4,000. A lot happens in those first 4,000 words so I'm fine with it, but to the other writers out there, be aware that their definition of 5,000 words might be different from yours. Overall, this is just the beginning, and as things go on I'll be sure to inform everyone.

Look out for "The KindleScout Experience: Part II" when it comes and, of course, check out, read, and maybe even nominate War Town on KindleScout HERE

What Makes a Writer Successful

What makes a writer successful? According to some recent articles, success is based on sales, specifically 1,000,000 sales in the past 5 years (link). Is that what makes a writer successful? Absolutely not, not by any means. But, if specific sales numbers don't measure success for a writer, then what does? The answer to that is simple: there's isn't one single answer.

Most sales-centered writers would most likely count success not as 200,000 sales per year, rather as however much they need to sell to live off their writing. Based on their lifestyle and book prices, that could be as low as 10,000 books per year, or as high as 100,000+. Even still, that's a far cry from 200,000 per year. My personal definition of monetary success? 15,000 sales per year. Am I there? No way, but seeing it that way makes success much more realistic of a goal than 1,000,000 over five years.

But success is much more than sales. Even though I don't live off my writing, nor can I really see myself living off it anytime soon, I consider myself a successful writer. But how's that possible, Mitch? Don't high sales make you feel good and low ones make you feel bad? Well, yeah, that's how business works. But success shouldn't be focused on numbers or monetary gain in any artistic business endeavor. If you found out your books took off and paid your bills simply because the public love laughing at your awful writing and ridiculing how bad you were at it, would you still consider yourself successful because your numbers were high? I'd venture a guess and say no, you wouldn't. Success is five star reviews from people you've never met, success is fan art, success is fans reaching out to you to make sure you know just how your writing changed their lives. Success is all in the audience.

Even though I don't sell the way I want to, my career could end with me being happy about it, because I've gotten those reviews, and gotten those bits of fan mails praising what I do and how my writing changed a reader's life. I never thought that would happen, but it did. That's the moment I became successful, sales numbers and money had nothing to do it.

In short, you can't measure a writer's success. It varies between each writer. Some only focus on sales as a measure of success, and within that group is a whole new level of difference. Successful sales for some are a few hundred, if that, while others measure success as millions sold and chart topper books. Those writers usually don't last long. For others, success is in the fan response no matter how many they sell. If they can please a single soul with their work, they're a success. Others still consider themselves successful if they even get their work out there. Success for a writer can't be measured by stats or sales rank, it can only be measured by the writer's own mind. Here's to hoping we all achieve success, whatever success means to you.

The Positive Side of Rejection

I've been writing for a long, and publishing for a good few years now as well. In that time I forgot a pivotal part of the writer psyche, something most every writer deals with: fear. More specifically, writers fear rejections, either from agents/publishers or from readers. I have been ahead of my own fears for a long time, but in that time ahead of it I've learned some valuable things. With the downsides of rejection come positive points. I know, it's hard to think of rejection as positive, but that's all in how you spin it. And when you're a writer you can't let your mind spin it the wrong way.

So how do you spin rejection right? Well, there are many ways to do it. Through my first three manuscripts I dealt with over 200 rejections from agents and publishers and, to this day, I've faced rejection after rejection from them about 50 more times as I work along the independent publishing route. But 250 rejections have taught me one important thing through what they haven't done: they haven't stopped me. And that is where the positive side of rejections comes out. A rejection letter can do a lot of things, but it can't stop you. Only you can. A one-star review can't stop you either. Bad reviews and rejection can't find you and break your hands or take that creative corner of your brain out, all that damage must be self-inflicted.

Rejection hurts no matter how many times you've experienced it or where it comes from. It's like being punched. You think boxers and MMA fighters don't feel the pain from the punches they get after a while? Of course not, they always do, but they fight through that pain until they're the ones beating rejection down. Rejection can throw a million punches into you, but not a single one will knock you out. All you can do is either fight back or throw your match. What would you do?

In the grand scheme of things rejection means nothing. A form letter response to months of work is rough, but it could be much worse for a writer. Some fascist government could come and revoke your ability to write, they could set all your paper and pens on fire, toss your computer into the sea, destroy everything you've ever done. An extreme example, but trials some writers of the past have gone through working in the warlord regimes of the time. Each rejection won't take time off your life, and it doesn't even mean your work is wasted time anymore either. You don't need the industry, the industry needs you whether they're willing to admit it or not. You could go another route with it and still get it read, or you can avoid those bad reviewers and find your niche, the market who can't get enough of you.

With every rejection comes a learning experience and a chance to hold that letter in the air and say "I'm not done yet". With every one star review your book gets comes one person who won't read anything more by you, but with every positive review comes a person who'll stick with you, possibly forever. That's the relationship of success and failure. Each individual failure comes, breaks things down, but leaves quick, which success sticks around even after the fixing is done, to help deadbolt your doors so failure can't get in anymore. 

Embrace your rejections, all of them. I'm proud of my number, 250. 250 form letters I can smile at, because I'm still going. 250 punches I've fought through. All my bad reviews fall in my wake because I'm moving forward and they stay still, and as long as you keep moving that's where they'll stay. Rejection can birth positive thoughts if you let it, or it can beat you to nothing. You have power over rejection, over what it does to you, over whether or not you let it win. And that makes it powerless.